/ : CENTURY PAPER-VIII : BRITISH LITERATURE : 18th IMPORTANT PASSAGES WITH EXPLANATIONS 1. I wander thro’ each charter‘d street. Near where the charter’d Thames does flow A mark in every face I meet Marks of weakness, marks of woe. In every cry of every Man. In every Infants cry of fear. In every voice; in every ban. ‘The mind-forg’d manacles I hear ‘Ans. In the first stanza, the speaker is walking through the streets of London, and, everywhere he turns, he sees the downtrodden faces of the poor. They look weak, tired, unhappy, and defeated. In the second stanza, as the speaker continues his travels, he hears the people's voice everywhere. He hears the same pain and suffering in the cry of an infant to that of a grown man. To him, the people and their minds are not free. They are restrained or “manacled” by their various situations—mostly economical. 2 How the Chimney-sweepers cry Every blackening Church appalls. And the hapless Soldiers sigh Runs in blood down Palace walls But most thro’ midnight streets I hear How the youthful Harlots curse Blasts the new-born Infants tear And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse ‘Ans, The speaker reflects on and emphasizes how the wealthy or the elite take advantage of the poor. During Blake's time, much money went into the church while children were dying from poverty. Forced to sweep chimneys, the soot from the children’s efforts would blacken the walls of the white church. This image symbolizes not only the Church's hypocrisy but the Christian religion (according to Blake). Furthermore, during the time frame of the poem, the wealthy/elite/royals were considered responsible for the wars that broke out, resulting in the death of many innocents and soldiers. Because of this, many women were widowed, and, without some one to support them, many families starved. (Remember that women were not in a position to gain many respectable jobs during this era.) Thus, the unfortunate solider’s blood is on the hands of the wealthy. Pe ihe midnight streets is a direct reference to prostitution and the red district. oi Araceae ee ‘on how the young Prostitutes’ curse—referring to eres Seine eae out of wedlock —their children. Also, the oxymoron Hos meer Ctoj n) and “hearse” (to depart) suggests the destruction of marriage. a are using prostitutes (who are more than likely children doing a dirty (1) Scanned with CamScanner2 Deepa : B.A. (Hons.) English Il Year (Semester-IV, CBCS) and then possibly spreading diseases to ‘ ity), i ting them, job out of necessity), impregnating is last stanza drives home the theme of their wives—thus “marriage hearse”. Thi society’s moral decay. . 3. THE Curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea, The plowman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me. — Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, And all the air a solemn stillness holds, Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds; Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tow'r The moping owl does to the moon complain Of such as, wand’ring near her secret bow'r, Molest her ancient solitary reign. Ans. The evening bell ringing in the church marked the departure of the day. The cattle were slowly moving to shelter, as they passed through the fields, and so did the farmers, who were walking heavily after the day’s hard work. As they went home, they left the poet who was sittng in the churchyard also in the growing darkness of the advancing evening. CurfewyIn medieval times, curfew refers to— the ringing of a bell to prompt people to extinguish fires and lights. The ringing of the evening bell in the church marks the end of the day (feel the expression: the parting day), The first paragraph sets the mood of the poem, gray leaves a cliché of romanticism blended with satire. The senses of the readers are awaken on reading the line, “And leaves the world to darkness and to me”. It portrays the dark environs of Stoke Poges and the atmosphere that surrounds The “weary way” is.a example of transferred epithet. A transfer of Epithet: a word which actually describes it toa word which is closely related to it. The word ‘weary’ is associated with the ploughman but itis transferred to the phrase “way” which is closely associated to it, hence “weary way”. As the rays of the Sun deems, twilight encloses and is slowly gulfed by the serene darkness of the night. The faintly lighted landscape is slowly fading and becoming invisible to the eye. The evening breeze has stopped and the air holds stillness, except the beetles, making a monotonous humming sound. Also one hear the jingling sound of the bells round the neck of the move their head. At last, the night has fallen in the vill fellowship of the light is no more fades: vanishe landscape: the panorama of the countryside, stillness: serene ing flight: monotonous hums, lull: made to sleep, pe y: sleep Sc droning, flight: ‘The evening has sets in and the poet is unable to see anything doesn’t prevents the poet from describing, the evening, scenes, Fe perceive the owl, complain to the moon about her inconve about the disturbance created as someone was pa reign, an ivy covered to could sleepy cattle when they lage of Stoke poges and the S, glimnyring: silhouetting, However, this could strangely neonvenience, She complained ing by its nest from her ancient Scanned with CamScannerImportant Passages with Explanations 3 4. Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree’s shade, Where heaves the turf in many a mould’ring heap, Each in his narrow cell for ever laid, The rude Forefathers of the hamlet sleep. The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn, The swallow twitt’ring from the straw-built shed, The cock’s shrill clarion, or the echoing horn, No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed. For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn, Or busy housewife ply her evening care: No children run to lisp their sire’s return, Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share Ans. Beneath the shade of the yew tree.and elm tree, gnarled and knotted through the ages, lies the narrow burials of the rustic villagers of Hamlet. The poem, was perhaps accustomed with those scenes since childhood, and thus he used the appropriate phrases like “yew-tree’s shade” and “mouldering heap” to present a panoramic view of the surrounding areas where the coffins were laid. Each of them (the common rustics of Stoke Poges) sleep for an eternal period of time in their narrow grave surrounded by grassy plot and heaps of earth rugged: rough, elm: it refers to the elm tree that grows in the graveyard, turf: the heap of grass, narrow cell: grave, rude: simple, hamlet: village. The poet laments over the fact that these men and women, use to wake up by listening to the chirping of the birds, the trumpet sounds made by the cock and their echoes. But now, not even the mist of the morning breeze and the call of the birds and animals shall make them rise from their grave. The breezy call: call of the breeze, incense: the fragrance emanating from the flowers; breathing Morn: the morning which is full of fragrance (from the flowers); twitt’ring: chirping of the birds; clarion: maybe the echoing of the horn of the hunter, lowly bed: grave. Those beautiful glimpse of children climbing to their father’s knees to have the first kiss, the affectionate show of love and the envied kiss shall never to be seen again. These lines present the universal feelings, the inflow of emotions that often one encounters while losing a dear one. At the same time, the void that often get created in their absence is prolifically described by the poet in these verses. These lines symbolize the entire lament of mankind and should not be judged with the poet's personal feelings or the people of Stoke Poges. 5. Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth A Youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown. Fair Science frown‘d not on his humble birth, And Melancholy mark’d him for her own. Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere, Heav‘n did a recompense as largely send: He gave to Mis'ry all he had, a tear, He gain’d from Heav‘n (‘twas all he wish’d) a friend. No farther seek his merits to disclose, Scanned with CamScanner4 Deepa: B.A. (Hons) English Il Year (Semester1V) cBCS) Or draw his frailties from their dread abode, (There they alike in trembling hope repose,) The bosom of his Father and his God. ‘Ans. Thomas Gray’s poem : An Elegy Written in the Country Churchyard does not lament the death of a particular person, but feels for the lot of common man. It shows the critical situation of poor people and also the social and econcmut IN} AE happening in their lives. Gray very clearly expresses the fact and tells the living upper class people that ultimately it does not matter what glory they achieve, or how elaborate the eulogy upon their tombstones. Death is inevitable. It comes to all and at the end they will also die just like the poor. ; It is not a record of personal loss, but is a collection of serious and painful reflections by the side of a village churchyard containing a number of decaying graves, His mourning is not for the famous, the wealthy or the powerful, but for the ordinary people buried in the churchyard. He wonders what they could have become and praises their simple and virtuous lifestyles. Dr. Samuel Johnson, who otherwise was a strong critic of Gray, said of this poem: “the churchyard abounds with images which find a mirror in every mind and with sentiments to which every bosom returns an echo.” The poet's sympathy for the low and the downtrodden is clearly brought out in the poems. Gray's “Elegy” isn’t just about death, and it isn’t just doom and gloom. It’s about the fear of being forgotten after you're gone. Gray looks at the graves of common folks, and instead of just shrugging and figuring that their lives were not worth remembering, he takes the time to think about what made them tick. And apparently this poem hit a sympathetic chord within the eighteenth-century readers. Gray raised the voice of democratic sympathy much before the French or the American Revolution, aiming at the ideas of liberty, equality, and fraternity. He may be said to have inspired the democratic sentiments of Wordsworth who, much later, wrote about poor rustics like Michael, the leech gatherer and the wagoner. Gray often gets interpreted as a kind of turning point from the more formal poetry of the 18th century, with its emphasis on rich and famous people, to the more loose, free-form poetry of the Romantics, which focused more on everyday folks. The later Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was an admirer of the poem and influenced by it, as was Thomas Hardy, who knew the poem by heart. At the end of the century, Matthew Amold, in his 1881 collection of critical writings, said “The Elegy pleased; it could not but please: but Gray's poetry, on the whole astonished his contemporaries at first more than it pleased them; it was $6 unfamiliar, so unlike the sort of poetry in vogue”. In 1882, Edmund Gosee analyzed the reception of Gray’s poem: “It is curious to reflect upon the modest d cares! mode in which that poem was first circulated which was destined to enjoy and t0 retain a higher reputation in literature than any eee oar other English poe any other prem of the world written between Milton and Wendeereet An anonymous review of Gray in the 12th December 1896 issue, the Academy claimed that “Gray's Elegy’ and Goldsmith's ‘Deserted Village’ shine poems in a century of artifice” 6S Shine Forth as the two haat ‘An Clegy Written in a Country Churchyard moves from a me particular place upon the graves of the poor, to a reflection on the cditation in? mortality of? Scanned with CamScanner. for what he sees as the only fault he commit: Important Passages with Explanations 5 humankind and on some of the benefits of being constrained by poverty. The poem alludes to the wish of all people not to die and to the ways in which each is * remembered after death. Gray concludes by imagining his own death and how he hopes to be remembered. He finally concludes that he wants the same as the common, ordinaxy,people he has written about. 6. My Reconcilement to the Yahoo-kind in general might not be so difficult, if they would be content with those Vices and Follies only which Nature hath entitled them to. I am not in the least provoked at the Sight of a Lawyer, a Pick- pocket, a Colonel. . . . This is all according to the due Course of Things: But, when I behold a Lump of Deformity, and Diseases both in Body and Mind, smitten with Pride, it immediately breaks all the Measures of my Patience; neither shall I ever be able to comprehend how such an Animal and such a Vice could tally together, Ans. This quotation comes from the end of the narrative, in Part IV, Chapter XII, when Gulliver describes the difficulties he has had in readjusting to his own human culture, He now associates English and European culture with the Yahoos, though the hypocrisy he describes is not a Yahoo characteristic. By attributing a number of sins to “the due Course of Things”, Gulliver expresses his new conviction that humanity is, as the Houyhnhnmns believe, corrupt and ungovernable at heart. Humans are nothing more than beasts equipped with only enough reason to make their corruption dangerous. But even worse than that, he says, is the inability of humanity to see its own failings, to recognize its depravity behind its false nobility. Gulliver's apparent exemption of himself from this charge against humanity— referring to “such an Animal” rather than to humans, may be yet another moment of denial. In fact, he is guilty of the same hypocrisy he condemns, showing himself unaware of his own human flaws several times throughout his travels. He is a toady toward royalty in Lilliput and Brobdingnag, indifferent toward those in misery and pain when visiting the Yahoos, and ungrateful toward the kindness of strangers with the Portuguese captain, Don Pedro. Gulliver's difficulty in including himself among the humans he describes as vice-ridden animals is symbolic of the identity crisis he undergoes at the end of the novel, even if he is unaware of it. 7. Tlhey go on Shore to rob and plunder; they see an harmless People, are entertained with Kindness, they give the Country a new Name, they take formal Possession of it for the King, they set up a rotten Plank ora Stone fora Memorial, they murder two or three Dozen of the Natives, bring away a Couple more by Force for a Sample, return home, and get their Pardon. Here commences a New Dominion acquired with a Title by Divine Right... the Earth reeking with the Blood of its Inhabitants. Ans. This quotation comes from Part IV, Chapter XII, when Gulliver, having returned home to England after his stay among the Houyhnhnms, tries to apologize ed while on his journeys: failing to gland. First, he justifies his failure by not be worth the effort of conquering however, he goes even further by criticizing the picture of colonization as a criminal enterprise ses of trade and military power is one that looks claim the lands he visited in the name of Enj saying that the countries he visited would them. In the section quoted above, Practice of colonization itself. His justified by the state for the purpo: Scanned with CamScannerDeepa: B.A. (Hons.) English II Year (Semester-IV, CBCS) adical for Swift's time. Others criticized aspects or enslavement of indigenous peoples, but few f purportedly civilized cultures. Swift as he first describes something en gives it the name 6 familiar to modern eyes but was r of colonialism, such as the murder or er failed to see it as the justifiable expansion o} employs his standard satirical technique here, y without naming it in order to create an image in our minds, th of something different, provoking us to rethink old assumptions. 8, “Friendship without freedom is as dull as love without enjoyment, or ‘wine without toasting”. Ans. This quote is taken from william Congreve , The ‘Way of the World’. Two kinds of relationships are of perhaps equal importance in this story—romantic relationships and platonic relationships, especially those between characters of the same gender. Though Witwoud is justifying having spoken ill of his rival and yet supposed friend Petulant, what freedoms one has in either kind of these relationships is very important to the play, as is especially underscored in the scene in which Ms. Millamont and Mirabell lay out the terms of freedom in their proposed marriage. That the simile refers to love, “enjoyment” of love, and wine alludes to the sexy and generally debaucherous nature of the play, especially in later acts. 9. “If we will be happy, we must find the means in ourselves, and among ourselves. Men are ever in.extremes; either doting or averse”. Ans. This line is taken from The Way of the World. And in this line, a woman discusses her, and the ability or necessity of all women, to live for themselves rather than for men. However, this quote is ironic because of the situation the women are in this scene and later, attempting to discover whether the other loves the same manas she, whether she is committing adultery, and how one may use the other to keep or gain money and reputation. 10. “A man may as soon make a friend by his wit, ora fortune by his honesty, as win a woman by plain dealing and sincerity”. Ans. In this quotation again encapsulates the problematic relationship in the play between friendship, romance, money, fashion, and lies. Mirabell sarcastically implies that one cannot get a friend with wit, a fortune with honesty, or a woman with sincerity, and his, point is proven at the end of the play when his schemes, along with a dash of charming wit, result in a successful ending for him regarding friendship, women, and money. aa Scanned with CamScannerPaper No. : VII Name of the Paper: British Literature : 18" Century Name of the Course : B.A. (Hons.) English Il Year Semester : IV(CBCS) Duration : 3 Hours . Maximum Marks —: 75 Model Test Paper- Q. 1 The Way of the World as a Restoration Comedy ? Ans. The comedy of Manners emerged during the age of Dryden, the age of Restoration. Therefore, it is also called Restoration Comedy. “The Restoration comedy of manners reached its fullest expression in The Way of the World (1700) by William Congreve, which is dominated by a brilliantly witty couple”. This sort of comedy is called comedy of manners for the writers in the restoration theatre have shown the ‘manners’ and “morals’ of the ways of life of the higher class aristocratic fashionable society, however, not of the lower class or middle class society. The themes of the Restoration comedy of manners are love, marriage, adulterous relationships amours and legacy conflicts; and the characters generally include would be wits, jealous husbands, conniving rivals and foppish dandies. It “relies for comic effect in large part on the wit and sparkle of the dialogue often in the form of repartee, a witty conversational give-and-take which constitutes a kind of verbal fencing match”. Now let us evaluate Congreve's The Way of the World as a comedy of manners. The society depicted in The Way of the World is the upper class fashionable society of London. The action of the play takes place in three places. The first is the chocolate House which was used for socializing and entertainment during the Restoration. The second is St James's Park in London where the upper class people walked before dinner. Most of the male and female characters of the play are cultured, talented, formal, artificial, fashionable, depraved, ‘cold’ and ‘courtly’. Their qualities are actually a part of Restoration age culture. : The Restoration period was an age of loose morals and, and was devoid of moral values. The Way of the World contains this current through the illicit love and adulterous relations—e.g., relation between Fainall and Mrs. Marwood, between Mirabell, the hero, and Mrs. Fainal. Mirabell married Mrs. Fainall off to Fainal, being afraid of her being pregnant. Fainall’s illicit relationship with Mrs. Marwood having been exposed, Fainall faces the situation fearlessly and shamelessly: . “If it must all come out, why let ‘them know it; it’s but the way of the world”. Even Mrs. Marwood and Lady Wishfort secretly loved Mirabell, ‘The Way of The World also exposes the worldliness and greed of the young men of the time. Mercenary motives led them to seek rich heiresses in marriage Mr. Fainall marries Mrs. Fainall, a widow, for her property. Mirabell does not want to marry Millament without her property. In The Way of The World, we are acquainted with the vanities, affectations and fashions of the time, Mirrabell satirically remarks in the proviso scene on women’s fondness of wearing masks, going to the theatre with or without their husbands’ knowledge, idle gossip, slandering the absent friends etc, In her contact with Mirabell, Millament proves her habit of late rising, contemplation in solitude general iaziness etc. She says, ”) Scanned with CamScanner8 Deepa: B.A. (Hons.) English II Year (Semester-IV, CBCS) “ye abed in a morning as long as T please”. / Mirabell also ridicules pregnant women’s wearing tight dresses in order to maintain their figure which can: actually deform their children. Moreover, intelligent women like Millament allowed a crowd of admirers toa school of fools to gather around them in order to show their demand and worth. Millament’s vanity is revealed in causing her lover pain to have a'sense of power “One's cruelty is one’s power”. Above all, Lady Wishfort, a higher class fas! her age of fifty five. Mirabell ridicules her saying, “The good lady would marry anythi And the make up and dressing up of women of the speech of the footman about Lady Wishfort of the house— Lean not swear to her face ina morning, before she is dressed”, ‘The upperclass people could give up anything only to maintain/save the family name and fame. Lady Wishfort wants to conceal the scandal of her daughter by any means. She says, “V1 compound, I'll give up all, myself and my all, my niece and her all- anything, everything for composition”. ‘The Way of The World brings before us witty even their servants and fools are witty. As a res witty which is something unrealistic. Therefore, the play, like other plays of its kind, is called an ‘artificial’ comedy. In this play, Witwould and Petulant are presented as fops and false wits, the so-called ‘fine gentlemen.’ Their pastime is to accompany ladies and passing vulgar remarks at them. They are Millament's suitors for ‘fashions sake.’ Their air and activities amuse us. Sir Wilfull, Witwould’s brother, calls Witwould, “the fashion’s a fool; and you're a fop, dear brother.” Petulant hires women to come and ask for him at the chocolate ~ house. Complicated plot construction is also regarded as a quality of comedy of manners. In this play, the five acts contain sixty five scenes in total, and there are very complicated relations among the characters. Such as, Mirabell, the hero is loved by Millament, Mrs. Fainall, Mrs. Marwood, and even Lady Wishfort secretly. The Way of the World presents a faithful picture of the manners of the restoration and the eighteenth century social picture. The presentation is full of comedy and satire. Thus the play is a good example of restoration comedy of manners. Q. 2. Swift as a Satrist. Discuss. ‘Ans, In 1726, Jonathan Swift published a book for English readers. On the surface, this book appears to bea travel log, made to chronicle the adventures of 2 man, Lemuel Gulliver, on the four most incredible voyages imaginable. Primarily, however, Gulliver's Travels is a work of satire. “Gulliver is neither a fully developed character nor even an altogether distinguishable persona; rather, he is a satiric Sevice enabling Swift to score satirical points”. Indeed, whereas the work begins with more specific satire, attacking perhaps one political machine or aimed at one particular custom in each instance, it finishes with “the most savage onslaught on humanity ever written’, satirizing the whole of the human condition. In order to convey this satire, Gulliver is taken on four adventures, driven by fate, a restless ‘and the pen of Swift. Gulliver's first journey takes him to the Land of Lilliput, hionable lady, seeks a husband in ing that resembled a men”. society is expressed in the Restoration ladies and gentlemen ult, the dialogue is throughout spirit, Scanned with CamScannerPAPER-VIII : British Literature : 18"" Century (Model Test Paper-I) 9 where he finds himself a giant among six inch tall beings. His next journey brings him to Brobdingnag, where his situation is reversed: now he is the midget in a land of giants. His third journey leads him to Laputa, the floating island, inhabited by strange (although similarly sized) beings who derive their whole culture from music and mathematics. Gulliver’s fourth and final journey places him in the land of the Houyhnhnm, a society of intelligent, reasoning horses. As Swift leads Gulliver on these four fantastical journeys, Gulliver's perceptions of himself and the people and things around him change, giving Swift ample opportunity to inject into the story both irony and satire of the England of his day and of the human condition. Swift ties his satire closely with Gulliver's perceptions and adventures. In Gulliver's first adventure, he begins on a ship that runs aground on a submerged rock. He swims to land, and when he awakens, he finds himself tied down to the ground, and surrounded by tiny people, the Lilliputians. “Irony is present from the start in the simultaneous recreation of Gulliver as giant and prisoner”. Gulliver is surprised “at the intrepidity of these diminutive mortals, who dare venture to mount and walk upon my body”, but he admires this quality in them. Gulliver eventually learns their language, and arranges a contract with them for his freedom.-However, he is bound by this agreement to protect Lilliput from invasion by the people of Blefuscu. The Lilliputians relate to him the following story: In Lilliput, years ago, people once broke eggs on the big end. However, the present king’s grandfather once.cut himself breaking the egg in this manner, so the King at the time, the father of the present king’s grandfather, issued an edict that all were to break the eggs on the small end. Some of the people resisted, and they found refuge in Blefuscu, and “for six and thirty moons past” the two sides have been at war. Gulliver, such an argument would be completely ridiculous, for he could hardly distinguish the difference in the ends of their eggs. For Swift, Lilliput is analogous to England, and Blefuscu to France. With this event of the story Swift satirizes the needless bickering and fighting between the two nations. Swift's satire were the peculiar customs of the nation of Lilliput. The methods of selecting people for public office in Lilliput are very different from that of any other nation, or rather, would appear to be so at first. In order to be chosen, aman must “rope dance” to the best of his abilities; the best rope dancer receives the higher office. While no nation of Europe in Swift's time followed such an absurd practice, they did not choose public officers on skill, but rather’on how well the candidate could line the right pockets with money. Gulliver also tells of their custom of burying “their dead with their heads directly downwards...The learned among them confess the absurdity of this doctrine, but the practice still continues”. At this point in the story, Gulliver has not yet realized that by seeing the absurdity of the Lilliputians’ traditions, that he might see the absurdity in European ones. With this Swift satirizes the conditions of Europe. As Swift's story of Gulliver unfolds, the satire begins to take a much more peneral focus: humanity as a whole, Gulliver manages to escape the land of iniature, and after a brief stay in England, returns to the sea. Again, he finds himself ina strange land, but this time, he is the small one, with everything around him many times the normal size. When he encounters the first natives, he fears for ife, “for as human creatures are observed to be more savage in proportion to their bulk”. This is but one of the many attacks on humanity that Swift's satire will Scanned with CamScanner10 Deepa: B.A. (Hons) English Il Year (Semester-IV, CBCS) i d with respect, largely due to ile in Lilliput Gulliver had been treate¢ age perfor nis Tand of giants, Brobdingnag, he is treated 25 a curiosity fora ctor shows for public amusement, until the royalty of this na on fea i i i his court, he r a i During the time Gulliver spends att f Paar ar ainece the King, who listens with much eagerness. Gulliver tells us: a: Lwould hide the frailties and deformities of my political mother, and place woul a ‘advantageous light. This was my sincere her virtues and beauties in the most ntags - ‘ch, although it endeavor in those many discourses I had with that mighty monarch, | unfortunately failed of success. | 7 ' Gulliver excuses the King for these remarks, believing that “great al jowanoss should be given to a king who lives wholly secluded from the rest of the pon ‘Although the reader may find the king to be correct, Gulliver does not, even though he should “admit that the workings of the parliamentary government is vitiated by the method of selecting peers ... so that ... the original idea of the institution is “blurred and blotted by corruptions”, and so Swift must take him on another voyage to shed light upon the matter for him. Before embarking on his third voyage, Gulliver returns home. However, he is “confounded at the sight of so many pygmies, for such I took them to be”, speaking of the men who rescued him, having for so long been accustomed to viewing people many times his own size (II.viii.170). They return him home; however, Gulliver's restless spirit will not allow him to remain long. Again he left home, and this time he ended up in the realm of Laputa, the floating island. His first impression of the people is not very good; for although they are highly skilled in mathematics, Gulliver has “not seen a more clumsy, awkward, and unhandy people, nor so slow and perplexed in their conception of other subjacts” (IIL ii.191). By this point in the story, Swifts own views of humanity begin to show through Gulliver, as Gulliver relates, “But rather I take this quality to spring from a very common infirmity of human nature” (III.ii.192). Gulliver doesn’t remain long on the island of Laputa. He instead goes down to the surface, and in time makes his way to Glubbdubdrib, the Island of Sorcerers. The Governor of this island allows Gulliver to listen to numerous people from history, both the distant and near past. In this place, Gulliver comes face-to-face with the negative aspects of human nature. Swift, by “drawing our attention repeatedly to this idea of steady human degeneration and the natural depravity of human nature, Swift seems to suggest broadly that man must realize that he is degenerate in order to strive for moral regeneration”. It is during Gulliver's fourth journey that Swift’ satire reaches its pinnacle, where “Swift put his most biting, hard lines, that speak against not only the government, but human nature itself” (Glicksman). [n this journey, Gulliver comes to the land of the Houyhnhnms, which are creatures that look like horses but have the ability to reason. Also in this land are the Yahoos, of which Gulliver could only say that “Upon the whole, I never beheld in all my travels so disagreeable an animal, nor one against which I naturally conceived so strong an antipathy”. With great irony, Swift brings Gulliver into contact with a Yahoo once again, “My horror and astonishment are not to be described, when | observed in this abdominal animal a perfect human figure” (1V.ii.269-270), Indeed, Gulliver finds that the only difference between himself and the Yahoo to be the Yahoo's lack of cleanliness oad clothes; Scanned with CamScannerPAPER-VIII: British Literature : 18 Century (Model Test Paper!) 11 otherwise, a Yahoo would be indistinguishably human. With this line, Swift's satire achieves its goal, and shows that the flaws of humanity are overwhelming, and let to continue, result in a total degradation of the human. Gulliver's ultimate travels are to a greater understanding of human nature and its flaws, Matthew Levy argues that as the “visited society” has an effect on Gulliver, “he no longer can be said to function as a constant or impartial measure” ; however, this is the point: that Gulliver's perceptions change, and so do his narrations, as a result, and through this Swift can convey his satire and social commentary. After the first voyage, his image of humanity is little changed, likewise for the 2nd, although after this point, Gulliver's image steadily declines until the fourth voyage, when he meets the Yahoos. In this way, Swift presents his commentary on the human condition through Gulliver's Travels. Q.3. London as a political satire. Ans. Samuel Johnson, the premier English literary figure of the mid- and late eighteenth century, was a writer of exceptional range: a poet, a lexicographer, a translator, a journalist and essayist, a travel writer, a biographer, an editor, and a critic. His literary fame has traditionally —and properly —rested more on his prose than on his poetry. Asa result, aside from his two verse satires (1738, 1749), which were from the beginning recognized as distinguished achievements, and a few lesser pieces, the rest of his poems have not in general been well known. Yet his biographer James Boswell noted correctly that Johnson’s “mind was so full of imagery, that he might have been perpetually a poet”. Moreover, Johnson wrote poetry throughout his life, from the timehe was a schoolboy until eight days before his death, composing in Latin and Greek as well as English. His works include a verse drama, some longer serious poems, several prologues, many translations, and much light occasional poetry, impromptu compositions or jeux d’esprit. Johnson is a poet of limited range, but within that range he is a poet of substantial talent and ability. Johnson’s early translations and his Latin verse reflect two poetic modes that he would pursue for the rest of his life. Other poems extant from his earlier years show his abilities in the kind of occasional or impromptu verses that appear in large numbers in his later writings. In addition to the more serious and substantial “Ode on Friendship”, there are the complimentary verses “To a Young Lady on Her Birthday” and “To Miss Hickman Playing on the Spinet”, along with “Ona Lady leaving her place of Abode” and “Ona Lady’s Presenting a Sprig of Myrtle to a Gentleman”, the latter composed hastily to help a friend. A Latin quatrain, “To Laura’, resulted whena friend proposed a line and challenged Johnson in company to finish it; he complied instantly. Finally, an epilogue written for a play acted by some young women at Lichfield presages his later theatrical pieces, while “The Young Author” prepares for the future treatment of a similar theme in one of his great verse satires. Almost the entire range of Johnson’s mature poetic interests is represented in his early pieces. a Juvenal's cS fae his friend Umbricius pauses at the archway of the Porta aaaesnaeers aaa be against city lite ashe leaves Rome forever for deserted ‘Thames at Greenwich to ‘len ae Eval arly rails as he waits on the banks of the ornot'Thales i del part tor Wales. (Much ink has been spilled over whether 's is modeled on Johnson’s friend Savage, but the best evidence suggests Scanned with CamScanner12 Deepa : B.A. (Hons.) English II Year (Semester-IV, CBCS) that Johnson had not met Savage at the time he wrote the poem.) Following the example of Pope and others, Johnson insisted that the relevant passages fron, Juvenal’s satire be published with his own poem at the bottom of the pages, becays, he believed that part of any beauty that London possessed consisted in adapting Juvenal’s sentiments to contemporary topics. Thus Juvenal’s work provides a natura, point of departure for evaluating Johnson’s achievement. Between an introduction and conclusion, Juvenal’s original satire is broken into two major sections. The first focuses primarily on the difficulties faced by an honest man trying to make a living in the city, while the second part considers the innumerable dangers of urban life (falling buildings, fires, crowds, traffic, accidents, and crimes). Johnson in general follows Juvenal’s structure, but as he reworks the subject, the sections he retains and those he alters reveal his own particular concems, Johnson when he wishes can capture Juvenal’s meanings exactly. “SLOW RISES WORTH, BY POVERTY DEPREST” is a classic example, as he powerfully restates Juvenal’s “haud facile emergunt quorum virtatibus obstat / Res angusta domi” (it is scarcely easy to rise in the world for those whose straitened domestic circumstances obstruct their abilities), Johnson can also use balance and antithesis in the couplet to juxtapose for satirical effect in a manner reminiscent of Pope; a fawning Frenchman, for example, will “Exalt each Trifle, ev'ry Vice adore, / Your Taste in Snuff, your Judgment in a Whore”. But Johnson does not usually concentrate either on details or on close rendition of Juvenal, and because of his different satiric emphases, London becomes in important ways his own poem. First of all, Johnson’s treatrent of country life includes significant additions to Juvenal. Early in London, with no Juvenalian basis whatsoever, he adds two lines describing what Thales expects to find in the country: “Some pleasing Bank where verdant Osiers play, / Some peaceful Vale with Nature's Paintings gay”. This couplet sets the tone for Johnson’s subsequent rural depictions. In Satura III Juvenal lauds the country not for its beauty or the ease of life there, but as the only possible alternative to the city. Johnson, however, takes Juvenal's simple descriptions of country life and produces a combination of eighteenth-century garden (with pruned walks, supported flowers, directed rivulets, and twined bowers) and Miltonic Paradise (including nature's music, healthy breezes, security, and morning work and evening strolls). The country is totally incongruous with Johnson's views; he loved the bustling life of London and, like George Crabbe, always emphasized that humari unhappiness emanates from the same causes in both the city and the country. His treatment of the country in London reflects prevailing poetic convention rather than conviction; his predominantly conventional additions to Juvenal in this area highlight the extent to which London is very much the work of a young poet eager to please, who played to contemporary tastes accordingly. Johnson’s additions to Juvenal in the rural depictions are significant, his omissions in portraying the wretched life of the urban poor are even more telling: “SLOW RISES WORTH,” justly the best-known line in the poem, has had impact enough to obscure the fact that Johnson’s general treatment of poverty in Londot is cursory, particularly when compared to Juvenal’s. He leaves out fully half a venal’s section on the general helplessness of the poor in making a Jiving in th? Juver surveying urban vexations, he omits Juvenal’s sections on crowds, trait on senta, and thefts, leaves out the falling buildings (although collapsing olde" Scanned with CamScannerPAPER-VIII : British Literature : 18 Century (Model Test Paper-I) 13 houses were a frequent hazard in eighteenth-century London), and condenses the fight scene. In the process he loses some of Juvenal’s most telling episodes, for urban life is, of course, made intolerable not so much by huge disasters as by incessant small annoyances. The noise, the loss of sleep, and the difficulties in getting from one place to another disappear in Johnson's version because he is not interested in the small personal perils of city life. He told Boswell that the true test of civilization was a decent provision for the poor, and he personally offered such provision to unfortunates whenever he could. Although his passages on the poor in London are usually competent and occasionally eloquent, he drastically condensed Juvenal’s treatment because he wanted to focus his own poem on political rather than personal conditions”. The accuracy of Boswell’s description of London as “impregnated with the fire of opposition” is clear from the many political references that Johnson adds to Juvenal. He expands Juvenal’s introductory section to include nostalgic references to the political and commercial glories of the Elizabethan age and several times in the poem opposes Spanish power. In elaborating Juvenal’s passage on crimes and the jail, he manages to attack Walpole’s misuses of special juries and secret-service funds, the House of Commons, and the king himself. Johnson never forgets politics in London, even when he is at his most conventional. For example, the lines on the country include references to the seat of a “hireling Senator” and the confections of a “venal Lord”. Johnson’s emphasis on politics in London was undoubtedly due to factors in the contemporary political scene as well as his personal life at the time. The year 1738 was one of widespread popular unrest, and the nation, already in ferment over the court and Walpole’s ministry, was outraged over alleged Spanish suppression of British commerce. In the midst of the uproar Johnson, a newcomer to London, unsure of himself and his ability to achieve success anywhere, associated with various acquaintances who opposed the government as he eked out the barest of livings in the great capital. Young and frustrated, he was understandably eager ‘enough to view the current political situation as the direct cause of adverse personal as well as national conditions. This satire was so virulent that, according to Johnson’s early biographer James Harrison, even a government inured to invective issued a warrant for his arrest. London in many places shows Johnson's technical proficiency in employing the heroic couplet. It is an exuberant poem, full of life and high spirits. London does not finally bring out all of Johnsons powers, because the satire is weakened in places by the false stances into which he is forced by convention and political theres. But it is an impressive performance, and certain passages, such as the description of the dangers of friendship with great men, reflect Johnson's full poetic abilities. ‘The final lines of this passage show Johnson rising above the specific poetic situation to present the overview of the mora The movement of satire into reflection here, buttressed by the enlargement and extension of the particular into the general, is characteristic of Johnson at his best. Indeed, these movements from satire to meditation and from the particular to the general combine a decade later with a more mature view, sometimes savage about life itself but alw. sympathetic to the struggles of suffering individuals, to produce The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749), Johnson’s second Juvenalian imitation, Scanned with CamScanneru Deepa: B.A. (Hons.) English Il Year (Semester-IV, CBCS) Pope's One Thousand Seven Hundred and Thirty Eight, another of his Horatian imitations, was published —also by Dodsley—a few days after London, and the two poems were favourably compared. Boswell reports that Pope himsely responded generously to his putative rival; he asked Jonathan Richardson to try tg discover who the new author was, and when told that he was an obscure man named Johnson, Pope commented that he would not be obscure for long. The popular success of the poem seemed to support Pope's prediction. However, the political topicality and the poetic conventionality that contributed so much to the contemporary ss of London considerably lessened its later appeal. Its status asa major Johnsonian poem has always been secure and its substantial poetic power recognized, During this early period in London it was increasingly clear that Johnsons marriage was in trouble, Bruised by this second marriage to which she had brought so much and which had so reduced her circumstances, Tetty was retreating steadily from Johnson and also from life in general, ‘The two gradually began to live apart much of the time, as Tetty steadily deteriorated, ultimately taking refuge in alcohol and opium and in her final years seldom leaving her bed. Johnson did all that he could to support her, writing furiously and stinting himself to provide for his wife, He sometimes walked the streets all night because he lacked money for even the cheapest lodging. His own Account of the Life of Mr. Richard Savage, a short masterpiece of biography, appeared in 1744. In 1745 he published a proposal for a new edition of Shakespeare, composing Miscellaneous Observations on the Tragedy of Macbeth to illustrate his critical approach. This project did not materialize, but a greater one did. The next year he signed a contract with a group of publishers to produce an English dictionary, on which he laboured for the next seven years in the garret of the house he rented at 17 Gough Square. Ineach of the next three decades Johnson wrote one prologue, and they can be considered as a group, despite their chronological dispersion. In 1750 johnson learned that John Milton's only surviving granddaughter, Elizabeth Foster, was living in poverty, and he convinced Garrick to put on a benefit performance of Comus (1637) to aid her. The new prologue Johnson composed lauds “mighty” Milton's achievement and the fame he has garnered, but characteristically Johnson also praises “his Offspring” Mrs. Foster for “the mild Merits of domestic Life” and “humble Virtue’s native Charms,” Late in 1767 he wrote a prologue that he had promised long before to Oliver Goldsmith for his comedy, The Good Natur’d Man (1768). With a parliamentary election approaching, Johnson, in a rather gloomy piece that, unsurprisingly, was not'very popular, compared the pressures on the playwright and the politician to please the rabble. Thomas Harris, the manager of Covent Garden, solicited Johnson’s last prologue in 1777 for a performance of Hugh Kellys A Word to the Wise (1770) to benefit the author's widow and children. When first produced in 1770 the play had been disrupted by Kelly's political enemies, and Johnson’s conciliatory and well-received prologue asked the audience to “Let no resentful petulance invade /Tly oblivious grave's inviolable shade.” All Johnson’s prologues resulted from the generosity to friends and to those in need so characteristic of him throughout his life. All of them are competent examples of the genre, while the poem for the opening of the Drury Lane Theatre, and to 4 lesser extent the prologue for Comus, rise to real excellence. The Drury Lane prologue has long remained one of Johnson’s best-known poems. Scanned with CamScannerPAPER-VIII : British Literature : 13!" Century (Model Test Paper-I) 15 __in the fall of 1748 Johnson had returned to Juvenal, and in The Vanity of Human Wishes, an imitation of Juvenal’s tenth satire, he wrote his greatest poem. He later said that he wrote the first seventy lines of it in one morning, while visiting Tetty at Hampstead. Like the Drury Lane prologue, the entire section was composed in his. head before he puta line of it on paper. He also mentioned to Boswell in another connection that he wrote a hundred lines of the poem in one day. Satura X is Juvenal’s greatest satire, and in The Vanity of Human Wishes Johnson produced a poem of equal worth. He directly shares some of Juvenal’'s concerns, for both use the theme of the folly of human desires and petitions for wealth, power, long life, and beauty, and early in each poem both emphasize the importance of using reason to guide one’s choices. As they focus on various wishes, each poet introduces the theme of the liabilities inherent in the process of desiring, In both Satura X and The Vanity of Human Wishes fulfillment of desire is followed by envy from others and ultimately by personal dissatisfaction with the gain. Although inherent in Juvenal, this latter theme of the insatiability of the human imagination isemphasized much more in Johnson, who is concerned with general psychological factors, with the human mind and heart, while Juvenal is more interested in specific events and their influences on individuals, Johnson amplifies Juvenal's initial four- and-a-half lines to eleven lines, to present through images of moving and crowding the effect and extent of the emotions produced’ by the imagination, and he also specifically names some of these emotions. In considering each of these desires later in his poem he explores the additional theme of their treachery and their betrayal of the human being’s best interests. In The Vanity of Human Wishes Johnson followed Juvenal's basic structure, as he had in London, altering it to emphasize the concerns of his own poem. Juvenal’s Satura X has 365 lines; that Johnson managed to imitate it in only 368 lines suggests his massive and masterly condensation, particularly since couplet verse often requires expansion and amplification. Both poems contain seven sections: an introduction and a conclusion enclose five sections on politics, eloquence or learning, war, long life, and beauty, The relative importance of the topics in each poem is clear from the amount of attention devoted to them by the two poets. Juvenal throughout Satura X emphasizes the physical, the sensuous, and the licentious, while Johnson in The Vanity of Human Wishes is most concerned with the spiritual and the psychological. He is not particularly interested in the sins of the flesh, In the section on old age, for example, Juvenal dwells at length on physical decrepitude, while Johnson refers only briefly to such infirmities and presents the avarice of an old man, a vice not mentioned by Juvenal. Significant differences also appear in the passages on beauty in the two poems. Juvenal presents a long, section on masculine beauty, centered on graphic details of scandalous individual misconduct, which Johnson omits completely, preferring to focus on more general human problems. On the other hand, in the passages on female pulchritude, Juvenal contents himself with brief references to the dangers that beset beautiful women, while Johnson traces the complete moral disintegration of a beautiful young woman by using abstract terms. The whole passage exemplifies Johnson's careful development of the theme of the treachery of human desires, which lead people astray while they remain until the end ignorant of their gradual destruction. Juvenal’s orator becomes in The Vanity of Human Wishes Johnson's scholar, in part for autobiographical reasons. At some point near the time he left Oxford, Scanned with CamScanner16 Deepa : B.A. (Hons.) English II Year (Semester-IV, CBCS) Johnson had written a poem entitled “The Young Author,” which in revised form he had published in the Gentleman’s Magazine in 1743. This poem in many ways anticipates the mature treatment of the quest for scholarly renown in The Vanity of Human Wishes. Hester Thrale (later Piozzi) wrote that years later, when reading ‘The Vanity of Human Wishes to the family and a friend at Streatham, Johnson burst into tears while reading the section on the scholar. Events in his life also dictated one famous emendation in the passage. Johnson had originally listed the problems besetting the scholarly life as “Toil, Envy, Want, the Garret, and the Jail”. In the last passage of his poem Johnson amplifies Juvenal'’s succinctly abrupt “nil ergo optabunt homines?” ([s there nothing, therefore, that people should pray for?) to six lines of deeply moving rhetorical questions about human fate. This amplification again shows the plethora of emotions produced by the human imagination, and in addition emphasizes another theme of the poem, the overwhelming human desire to be free from the emotions that simultaneously bind and blind. Juvenal becomes flippant, but Johnson turns fervently serious when each advises turning to prayer. Juvenal’s Stoicism and Johnson's Christianity dominate the endings of their respective poems. Both urge leaving individual destiny to heaven, and both assert that higher powers know what is best for human beings. Both poets urge people to pray for endurance, for acceptance of death, and for a healthy mind. (Johnson omits the last half of Juvenal's famous “mens sana in corpore sano” [a sound mind in a sound body], in part because he knew from personal experience that humans can endure despite the most debilitating physical ailments.) But Juvenal’s Stoicism’prompts him to say that humans themselves can do all that is necessary to have a tranquil life—"monstro quod ipse tibi possis dare” (I am pointing out what you are able to do for yourself)—while Johnson emphasizes the Christian concept of dependence on God: “celestial Wisdom calms the Mind, / And makes the Happiness.she does not find”. Johnsons closing lines emphasize that the human desire to free the self from the many treacherous emotions generated by the imagination can be fulfilled only by going beyond the self and worldly concerns and by relying on divine omniscience in order to compensate for the limitations in human knowledge that lead to folly. Juvenal in his poetry assumes a dual persona, On the one hand he writes as a stern moralist castigating wrongdoing, but he also writes as a rhetorician and particularly as a wit, delighting in invective, exaggeration, and filth. Johnson recognized these two sides when he wrote in the Life of Dryden that Juvenal was “a mixture of gaiety and stateliness, of pointed sentences [epigrams], and declamatory grandeur.” Johnson in his own imitation chose to reproduce mainly Juvenal’s “stateliness” and “declamatory grandeur”. Johnson's slow and dignified couplets abound in vivid personified abstractions that with characteristi¢ compression rende¢ an impression of philosophic generality. The Vanity of Human Wishes is marked by a moral elevation and seriousness that Satura X does not, 0" the whole, share. Juvenal delights in the narrowly personal; for example, hilarious conversations following Sejanus’s fall vividly depict personal reactions. Johnsot™ in contrast, uses no dialogue in his poem, for he is concerned with general huma" feelings on a broader scale. He does, of course, use individual men and women examples, and his replacement of Juvenal’s classical personalities with mor contemporary figures. is masterfully done, However, Johnson does not nam Scanned with CamScannerPAPER-VIII : British Literature : 18" Century (Model Test Paper-I) 17 individuals nearly as often as Juvenal does, and in many sections, such as the early stanzas on wealth, Johnson deals in generalities while Juvenal freely intersperses specific names. The moral elevation and large vision so characteristic of The Vanity of Human Wishes are one reflection of the ways that Johnson moves from Satura X asa base to take his own poem beyond satire. Johnson’s anger, his aggressiveness, and his capacity for savage and brutal wit made him eminently suited for writing satire, but his satiric urges were indulged more in his conversation than in his writings. Mrs. Thrale wrote that Johnson did not “encourage general satire”, and that he had an “aversion” to it—an aversion that accounts in part for his unfairness to Swift in the Lives of the Poets . Johnson's personal struggles to control his aggressive tendencies, to maintain good humor, and to be good-natured made him leery of releasing a satiric urge that might be so strong that it could only be destructive rather than constructive. Moreover, because of his recognition of his own pride, fears, vanity, and anxieties, he felt a sympathy with others that prevented him from attacking them too harshly. His keen understanding of his own shortcomings led him to the kind of sense of participation that makes strong, vicious satire impossible. Johnson was finally more comfortable as a moralist than as a satirist. Bate has called Johnson's characteristic procedure in'many of his great writings “satire manqué,” or “satire foiled,” a process in which satiric potential dissipates through understanding and compassion. Bate describes it as “a drama of thought and expression always moving from the reductive to explanation and finally to something close to apology”. Johnson's tendency to employ satire manqué is shown at some points in London, but in that poem his youthful exuberance and self- consciousness, along with the political focus and obeisance to contemporary poetic practices, led him to a greater proportion of actual satire. The fact that The Vanity of Human Wishes is much more satire manqué than satire accounts for a great deal of its power. Juvenal’s professed aim in his satires was to shame the men of his time out of the vices they practiced in their private lives, but Johnson’s largeness of thought and feeling led him far beyond Juvenal's tactics and topics. In The Vanity of Human Wishes Johnson is concerned with a human problem more pervasive, more insidious, and more important than deliberate wrongdoing, for he focuses finally on the errors that people are unwittingly led to commit. Intentional vice chosen for pleasure can be unmercifully castigated, but the ignorance that leads people to pursue unworthy ends and thus lose their potential as human beings cannot be combated effectively by mere invective. Johnson uses the satirical mode but elevates it above the petty limitations of bitter humor, vile invective, and grim epigram aimed at individuals in order to encompass humanity whole with sympathy and a sense of participation, so that he can offer his corrective vision. The affinities of the poem with tragedy are in certain way’s stronger than its ties to satire. Johnson's contemporaries admired his second Juvenalian imitation, but their Tesponse to it was muted. As Boswell reports, Garrick jokingly remarked that When Johnson lived much with the Herveys, and saw a good deal of what was passing in life, he wrote his ‘London, which is lively and easy. When he became more retired, he gave us his ‘Vanity of Human Wishes,’ which is as hard as Greek. re Scanned with CamScanner18 Deepa: B.A. (Hons.) English II Year (Semester-IV, CBCS) Had he gone on to imitate another satire, it would have been hard.as Hebrew.” Moder critics who compare the two poems have drawn exactly the opposite conclusion, universally praising The Vanity of Hunan Wishes as Johnson's greatest poem. Many find the essence of Johnson in the series of moral writings he composed during his forties, stretching from The Vanity of Human Wishes, through the essays he wrote for three different periodicals, and ending with Rasselas. In these works Johnson’s own experiences of suffering and endurance, his extensive knowledge of human nature, his psychological acumen, and his abiding honesty and sympathy coalesced to deal with life as it is in order to help his readers through it. A great literary figure, Johnson also was preeminently a moralist. From 1750 to 1752 every Tuesday and Saturday he wrote the Rambler, his own periodical series and his favorite of all his works. Originally the mottoes and quotations in each Rambler were untranslated, but when an Edinburgh edition appeared with translations, Johnson added them in his revised edition (1756). About 250 of these were in verse, of which Johnson himself produced over sixty, filling in the rest from friends and contemporaries, from Dryden's translations of Virgil and Juvenal, from Philip Francis’s versions of Horace, and from other sources. Some of the translations were reprinted in the Gentleman's Magazine in October 1752. The selection ended with Johnson's own translations of verses from Boethius and Lucanus, the mottoes before Ramblers 7 and 12, and with a wish that Johnson “would oblige the world with more of his poetical compositions”. But he seems to have been writing little poetry at that time, although in April of the same year he had revised his college translation of The Messiah before it was published in the Gentleman's Magazine with Pope's poem in parallel columns. He is believed to have been responsible for selecting various mottoes and also for translating them anc other quotations as he did in the Rambler. The Idler, Johnson's final series of essays, was contributed to a weekly newspaper (the Universal Chronicle) and was written in an easier style than his earlier pieces, as Johnson tried consciously to replicate the lighter tone of Addison and Steele. Johnson undertook the Rambler and his contributions to the Adventurer in part to get relief from his drudgery on the dictionary, while the Idler provided breaks from his work on Shakespeare. He also wrote the essays to earn money. But in addition, in all three series he was concerned with making a serious moral impact. Johnson’s contemporaries buried him in the Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey; near the foot of Shakespeare’s monument. Beneath his statue in St. Paul’s Cathedral they placed the word “POETA.” His poetry was generally disliked and disregarded during the nineteenth century, but in the next century interest in it began to revive, and the reaction became much more positive. Donald Greene and John A. Vanes 1987 Bibliography of Johnsonian Studies shows that from 1970 to 1985 the most popular area of study among all the genres in which Johnson wrote was his poet": Among writers of heroic-couplet verse, Johnson ranks with Goldsmith just below Pope and Dryden as masters of the form, More generally Johnson's overall statu” asa poet depends on the amount of emphasis the individual critic places on poet range and scope and on uniformity of excellence over many works, TS. Eliot, example, wrote in “Johnson as Criti c and Poet” that the claim of an author to be? major poet “may, of course, be established by one long poem, and when that lo" Scanned with CamScannera poem is good enough, when it has within itself the proper unity and variety, we do not need to know, or if we know we do not need to value highly, the poet’s other works. I should myself regard Samuel Johnson as a major poet by the single testimony of The Vanity of Human Wishes. ...” But however Johnson is finally ranked, the importance of his poetry both in th i i : e context of hi and in the larger context of his age is unquestionable. ae PAPER-VIII : British Literature : 18 Century (Model Test Paper-I) 19 Scanned with CamScanner1 4 Deepa: B.A. (Hons.) English Il Year (Semester-IV, CBCS) Q. 6. Character’s in Defoe’s work Ans. Englishman who stands out as a symbol of human conduct facing the hardship of everyday life. Therefore, the imaginary of fictitious voyage of an ordinary Englishman constitutes but a pretext in order to bring into rel He amode| destiny. The protagonist takes on or is invested with qualities according to the demands of the narrative in which he finds himself. He narrates his troubles, adventures, attempts and meditations ina simple, natural and spontaneous manner, His way of speaking is that of a lucid, or Clear-minded and simple man who expresses his thoughts with good sense and without affectation. The novelist eliminates as much of the mental activity as possible. He maintains interest over the succession of various incidents by concentrating on the hero's state of mind rather than on his activities. The first person novel, exemplified in this work, is the best for this kind of narrative. Robinson Crusoe is ni ‘ot only the hero of the novel but he is also the prototype of the early eighteenth cei ;ntury Englishman. The work is to be praised particularly & imparting that sense of truth about English life. The character cf Robaaos, Crusoe is a kind of combination of the features of the or explorers of that time. His ill, its diligence and inventive toa Precise aim or purpose. His thirst for knowledge and culture i with a certain wisdom and greatness. In approaching th protagonist Defoe proves his craftsmanship. He shows hinvas yearns for human coi e character of the ahumane and good- the appearance of Frid: along new relationships spring up on the island: those betwe Although Robinson is somehow an egocentric character, h in order to educate and stimulate his servant, In doing to the novelist shows the hero in the best possible light and lays special stress on other facets of hi personality. He is also depicted as an industrio and hard-working man. He is very careful about what he does with his Supplies; he always has in mind that anything he finds might be useful one day. Daniel Defoe does not lay special stress on the secondary characters of the Novel. He invests them with the qualities or individuality they need to hav, tlay’s character, for example, remains faitly comfort ty arouRhout the book. Since his mare function is to provide help and comfort to Crusoe but not to initiate any of the major action himself, his required traits are docility, strength, agility, adaptability and affectionateness, Quite often Defoe emphasizes Friday's loyalty, The rest of the Crusoe World ix cither stimulus to which Crusoe en master and servant. e does whatever he can Peopled with {1 ( ‘at characters, who provide aN respond oF simp! ly narrative relief, Scanned with CamScannerPaper No. : VU Name of the Paper: British Literature : 18"C. : entui Name of the Course : B.A. (Hons,) English II Year 2 Semester : IV(CBCS) Duration : 3 Hours Maximum Marks =: 75 Model Test Paper-II Q. 1 Write a short note on Restoration Comedy. eee of manners is a style of comedy that reflects the life, ideals and : ipper class society in a way that is essentially true to its traditions and philosophy. The players must strive to maintain the mask of social artifice whilst eee to the audience what lies behind such manners. In other words it is to “ The real artificial and the artificial real”. The Restoration period heralded an exciting and boisterous period in theatre after theatres were closed by the Puritans and Commonwealth government between. 1642 and 1660 (due to Cromwell). Charles 11 was a fun loving, woman loving and theatre loving king and it was under his reign that drama flourished once more. Audiences were predominately from aristocratic backgrounds. ‘The Restoration period was noted for its comedies although more serious drama was produced by writers such as John Dryden and Thomas Otway. The English comedy of manners began with Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and then can be seen at its best in Restoration comedy and in the work of Wilde, Shaw and Pinero. In more recent times, work by Coward, Orton and Rattigan en-captured the elements whilst in more modern day drama, Neil Simon and Edward Albee provide worthwhile examples. Humour was in the satiric treatment of those who allowed themselves to be deceived or who attempted to deceive others. Laughter was directed against the fop, the pretender at wit, the old trying to be young or the old man with a beautiful and youthful wife. Prologues and Epilogues were important and plays would often begin or end with special pieces such as poetry, often delivered in a coarse, boisterous and hilarious fashion. The Restoration stage was poorly lit due to hooplike chandeliers that generally obstructed the vision of the audience. Oil lamps and candles were used until the eighteenth century when Actor-Manager David Garrick removed the chandeliers and placed them out of sight of the audience. He also used backlighting to illuminate the stage. Dress was the contemporary dress of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries where every possible part of the body was adorned —large brimmed plumed hat, heavy periwig with curls tumbling over the forehead and down to the shoulders, a square cut coat and a waistcoat hanging to the knees, wide stiff cuffs and ruffles reaching to the knuckles and ribbons on every unmarked surface. Women wore gowns with bell shaped skirts and sleeves with high mantillas and veils. Indoors, women were allowed to show their faces, hands, necks and bosoms, ide, they wore large hooded cloaks. As time progressed, men showed more aling. The men beards, but ou of their legs and women’s attire became more clinging and rev often wore eye patches. Both sexes wore excessive make-up, false noses, (25) Scanned with CamScannerwe 26 Deepa : B.A. (Hons.) English I Year (Gemester-IV, CBCS) moustaches, powder, rouge, pencil, lipstick and beauty patches. Facial expression was avoided because it tended to crack the facial make-up. ‘The voice was brilliant and brittle, witty in language, often prose was used, and rapid repartee was the norm. ‘Actors imitated the Parisian aristocratic style of aijdreve with its rich heritage from Moliere. Tone was used to convey emotional quality to the audience and precise pronunciation was encouraged. Singing, dancing, posture, gesture and walking were all taught as special training schools in Britain. Intricate vocal pauses and timing was developed and tempo of delivery was rapid. As Restoration comedies were predominately presentational, movement was focused on entering and exiting through doors. ‘Action-took place mainly downstage on the apron of the stage. Highly graceful and elegant patterns of movement were encouraged and all actions should be precise and inventive. Gesticulation was very important andan entire array of facial grimacing, winking and smiling was developed. The fop (an effeminate male) was fashionable and also the butt of muctrof the sarcastic repartee in the plays. They minced, strutted and used copious flowing hand gestures and posing, Female actors flirted over and behind fans, half-masks and handkerchiefs. Bows and cuttsies in the seventeenth century manner were used directed both at other actors and the audience. When one character passed another, they would often perform the en passant, a slight bow from the waist with one foot sweeping fn an bre around the other foot without losing the pace of the walk. Snuff (a mixture of tobacco, heibsand spices and occasionally drugs) was often used by both men and women on stage. Men always kissed a lady’s hand when leaving, held their hands away from their body to emphasise their lace cuffs, handkerchiefs and walling sticks and canes. Woman balanced enormous and Gutlandish hats and carried a muff that was used not just for warming the hands but also to carry secret objects such as notes. They walked in a curved, graceful fashion and held their dresses slightly off the floor. Characterisation in Restoration Comedy One-dimensional often caricatured by their very name and were driven usually bya single emotional drive such as seduction, lust, greed, lust. A major distinction between characterisation in Restoration comedy and French Neoclassic comedy is the actor’s sense of involvement with a character. Whereas serious involvement necessary for playing most of the major roles in Moliere, in Restoration Comedy performing will probably be more successful if certain level of detached objectivity is retained. Q.2 Gulliver ‘Ans, Gulliver isa bold adventurer who visits a multitude of strange lands, it is difficult to regard him truly heroic, Even well before his slide into misanthropic at the end of the book, he simply does not show the stuff of which great heroes are made. He is not cowardly — on the contrary, he undergoes the unerring experience if nearly being devoured by a giant rat taken captive by pirate shipwrecked 0 far away shores, and shot in the face with poison arrows. Yet despite the courage Gulliver shows throughout his voyages, his basic greatness. This impr jon we form because he rarely shows b soul oF experiences great passion of any sort. Gulliver’s goal on his sea voy Scanned with CamScannerPAPER-VIII : British Literature : 18" Century (Model Test Paper-II) 27 He says that he needs to make money after the failure of his business, but he rarely mention finances throughout the work. Gulliver’s lack of ingenuity and savvy. Gulliver seems to think up tricks, and thus ends up being passive in most of the situation in which he finds himself. He is held captive several times throughout his voyages, but he is never once released through his own stratagems, relying instead a chance factors for his liberation. Gulliver is gullible. He misses the obvious ways in which the Lilliputians exploit him. Travelling to different countries and returning to England in between each voyage he provides us with literal facts and narrative events. He is self hating, self proclaimed yahoo at the end, announcing his misanthropy quite loudly, but even this attitude is difficult to accept as the moral of the story. Gulliver is not a figure with whom we identify but, rather, part of the array of personalities and behaviours about which we must make judgements, Q.3. Analysis Gray’s, ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’. Ans. Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Writtén in a Country Churchyard” was first published in 1751. Gray may, however, have begun writing the poem in 1742, shortly after the death of his close friend Richard West. An elegy is a poem which laments the dead. Gray’s “Elegy Written ina Country Churchyard” is noteworthy in that it mourns the death not of great or famous people, but of common men. The speaker of this poem sees a country churchyard at sunset, which impels him to meditate on the nature of human mortality. The poem invokes the classical idea of memento mori, a Latin phrase which states plainly to all mankind, “Remember that you must die”. The speaker considers the fact that in death, there is no difference between great and common people. He goes on to wonder if among the lowly people buried in the churchyard there had been any natural poets or politicians whose talent had simply never been discovered or nurtured. This thought leads him to praise the dead for the honest, simple lives that they lived. Gray did not produce a great deal of poetry; the “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, however, has earned him a respected and deserved place in literary history. The poem was written at the end of the Augustan Age and at the beginning of the Romantic period, and the poem has characteristics associated wiih both literary periods. On the one hand, it has the ordered, balanced phrasing and rational sentiments of Neoclassical poetry. On the other hand, it tends toward the emotionalism and individualism of the Romantic poets; most importantly, it idealizes and elevates the common man. Scanned with CamScannerQ. 6. William Congreve’s , The Way of the World as a Restoration Comedy. Ans. Comedy of Manners: “It deals with the relations and intrigues of men and women living in a sophisticated upper-class society, and relies for comic effect in large part on the wit and sparkle of the dialogue[...Jas well as on the violations of social standards and decorum by would-be wits, jealous husbands, conniving tivals, and foppish dandies e.g., William Congreve, William Wycherley (The Country Wife), George Etherege, George Farquhar. Mirabell (a reformed rake) is sincerely in love with and wishes to marry Millamant, who, though a coquette and a highly sophisticated wit, is a virtuous woman. Mirabell some time before has married off his former mistress, the daughter of Lady Wishfort, to his friend Fainall. Fainall has grown tired of his wife and has been squandering her money on his mistress, Mrs. Marwood. In order to gain access to Millamant, Mirabell has preteiided to pay court to the elderly and amorous Lady Wishfort, who is the guardian of Millamant and as such controls half her fortune. But his game has been spoiled by Mrs. Marwood, who nourishes a secret love for Mirabell and, to separate him from Millamant, has made Lady Wishfort aware of Mirabell’s duplicity. Lady Wishfort now loathes Mirabell for making a fool of her—an awkward situation, because if Millamant should marry without her guardian’s consent she would lose half her fortune, and Mirabell cannot afford to marry any but a rich wife. an Scanned with CamScannerNo. : VOL . Rane of : pritish Literature : 18" Century Name of the Paper 3 Name of the Course : B.A. (Hons.) English I Year Semester : IV (CBCS) Duration : 3Hours Maximum Marks: 75 Model Test Paper-IIl Mrs: Marwood. Q. 1. Write a short note on the character of “ : ‘Ans. Mrs. Marwood is not carefully drawn. The mistress of Fainall, she loves Mirabell. Hypocrisy is a necessary part of the way of their world for everyone, but it is the most significant characteristic ‘of Mrs. Marwood. Mrs. Marwood talking to Mrs. Fainall. Both women speak hypocritically, both are engaged in delicate maneouvers designed to gain information but to reveal aoe both are suspicious. Mrs. Marwood is hypocritical in her relation with Fainall Shean pretend to be wholeheartedly and unreservedly in love with him, while actually she is disguising her feelings for Mirabell, not with complete sucker. Her disguiged love for Mirabell is an important motivation in the action. Tt is one sIthough only one — of the reasons why she encourages Fainall in his plot. When Millareant insults her, tauriting her with love for Mirabell and her greater age, she «ig like the traditional villain of the tragedies of the period, revengeful because her vanity is offended. But Mrs, Marwood’s essential hypocrisy and villainy show up most clearly in her relations with Lady Wishfort. Here she feigns friendship, She tries to spoil Mirabel's plan ag confidante and adviser, she ries to get Lady Wishfort to accede to Fainall’s demands. : Q. 2. Write a short note on Neo-Classicism. Ans, The names given to this period are confusing: Restoration, 18th Century, Neoclassical, Augustan, the period covers from 1660 to around 1800 (this riod date is 1798, publication date of Wordsworth and Coleridge work, ‘Lyrical B fads) It is a period where counterfeiting and facades are very iy aren comer the country was trying to act like the Interregnum and ae as happened, and there is both a willful ereecan vo ie at Late pened * imme . glorification of the more distant, classical Roman past—which is oy Mis ealled the Neoclassical period. It is also a period of consci OY ee looked at themselves and kept asking “Am {playing my’ eee Great Fire of London, too, they had the chanie to toally Se Sal did son away that let them mask their past Ser eee st monarch of the period is Cl facades of theage. He profes ESSEC or a af Roman Catholic. In public he proiessed | pe Ser ee esta ue et but in publichad a series of mistresses, ae ly to his childless queen Henrie Mean eenan Charles wean aees several of whom bore him bastard child? The fagade of saying one thing and doing ancther wa a eee et 8 another was a major challenge it (32) tu Scanned with CamScannera sit Mterature : 18" Century (Model Test Paper-IIIY 33 period. After the religious Puritan revolution, most Britons were terrified of another religious takeover of government; the rumors about Charles’ Catholicism, complicated by the Titus Oates plot of 1678, led to fears of a Catholic conspiracy and eventually to the 1680 Bill of Exclusion and the 1700 Act of Settlement which permanently prohibited a Catholic from taking the throne of England. When James Il inherited his brother’s throne and made moves toward imposing Catholic toleranceand Catholic ministers on England, the government rebelled and imported James stolid Protestant son-in-law, William, from Holland, William and Mary took the throne jointly in the “glorious revolution” of 1688; they were succeeded by Mary’s sister Anne, and then eventually by distant German relatives from Hanover. George I was actually 52nd in line to the throne by blood, but the closest male Protestant relative, so he became king on childless Anne’s death. The time was of a civil profitability and military unrest. Britain was involved ina series of commercial wars against the Dutch, French, Austrians, Spanish, and eventually its own American colonists over the luctative trade opportunities with the New World and with the South Seas. The Restoration is the time of the great Privateer/pirate trade and the celebration of British naval supremacy. Like the dot.com boom of the late twentieth century, the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries were a time of sudden new wealth based on the beginnings of the stock exchange, of pyramid investment schemes like the South Sea Bubble, and all the accompanying commercialism and materialism that accompany new- found affluence. It is the time of party politics: the Tories, representing old landed wealth, conservatism, and the House of Lords, vs. the Whigs, representing fortunes made in trade, the City, and expansionist beliefs. " It was the age of the Almighty Pound. Economics were the justification for Participating in the Afro-Caribbean slave trade, colonialist expansion into India and eventually Australia and the Far East, and the enclosure of public grazing lands and anti-poaching laws in communal forests. The monarchic succession had one major consequence that is stil! felt. Anne was a relatively weak ruler, and she was succeeded by a distant cousin who didn’t even speak English. As a result, the Prime Minister's position grew increasingly important. Robert Walpole officially received the title in 1721 but had held the Position for years before his attitude is best summed up by his quotation about Parliament, “All those men have their price.” A shrewd manipulator, he was the ultimate Whig politician. The interests of the new wealthy classes were his chief concern, He actually tried to keep Britain out of wars because it was bad for business but when British trade interests were attacked, he mobilized the country for war. He was succeeded in the position by a series of notable Whigs, including Pitt the Elder and Pitt the Younger, who successfully pursued a policy of valorizing the moneyed classes, : It is the age of the rise of the Middle Class. They were obsessed with proving they had ‘good taste’, Gentlemen flocked to coffee houses in the City of London to discuss the latest periodicals, while ladies organized elaborate rituals for drinking that expensive, bitter new imported beverage, chocolate. Scanned with CamScanner— 34 Deepa : B.A. (Hons.) English II Year (Semester-IV, CBCS) Itisan age of conspicuous consumption; Martha Stewart would have felt right at home. For the first time periodicals are filled with advertisements for home decorations, fashions, and furniture. Architecture enters the Baroque Period. It becomes very important to wear clothing by the best designers, to have your haiz done by the best hairdressers . People whose parents were servants now had servants themselves, The age of complacency is marked by a significant rise in literacy, because for the first time, the Middle Class had time for leisure and wanted entertainments to fill it. This is the age of the rise of the newspaper and the periodical, the return of the public theatre, and the birth of the novel. The commercialism and the promotion of Whig interests led to the invention, really, of marketing. The early periodicals are filled with advertisements like “Mr. Philips has received a load of China silk that will interest ladies of most discriminating taste” and the like. One of the biggest things in newspapers was the daily or weekly list of arriving ships and their cargoes—people wanted to know what new things had come in and would be for sale. The early ancestors of People magazine and the society pages show up in the Court Circular and the lists of marriages and birth announcements, New professions spring up in this period: hairdressers, fashion designers, boot makers, dancing masters, professional portrait painters, etc. Everybody wanted to look ‘right, act ‘right,’ and have a house that looked ‘right’. They hired landscape architects like Capability Brown to redo their houses and grounds, and often tore down structures, built artificial ruins, dug new lakes and rerouted streams to make their views more picturesque and therefore more pleasing to the eye and mind. And they bought what would give them that look. Longman quotes a line froin the Spectator that is very important: “The man of polite imagination is let into a great many pleasures that the vulgar are not capable of receiving”. The emphasis on looking right and acting right meant that this was an age of decorum, Great vaiue was placed on manners, on virtues like self-control and self- governance, and above all on balance—what Chaucer would have called mesure. One was not supposed to rebel or act out or be outrageous; one was supposed to show control. At the same time, there was a certain guilty pleasure in outbursts; is common to find the expression “I could not forebear to...” or “T surrendered to.” in writing. But politeness counts, as does pithy witticism. No more enjambment and blank verse; this is the age of the memorable end-stopped heroic couplet. So literature takes a decidedly pedanticand pedagogic bent in this period— it meant to show its readers how to go on, how to think, talk, behave, and interact in the world. Writers viewed themselves as shapers of Taste, and took the responsibility very seriously. ‘This was an aye when there was an acceptability, even a requirement, for sel! publicizing. They saw this not as conceit but as self-awareness and believed th=! self-examination was a requirement for the morally correct person. It's the age“! diaries, of published collections of letters, and of other reflections on the self. Pop? announced that “the proper study of man is mankind” and really meant it. Wome" Scanned with CamScannerPAPER-VIII; British Literature : 18" Century (Model Test Paper-III) 35 were expected to do this as well, and this is the first period where women writers were able to publish under their own names and gain some acceptance at it was a few women writers were even able to earn their livings as professional writers. But women were certainly not encouraged to be rebellious or independent. Their novels show women defying convention—but generally to win the husband they wanted. They still had no independent legal existence; they remain as legal chattels ofhusband or father. Their sphere of power was the home, where they were mistress of the house. It is in this period that the term “domestic arts” begins to be used for a woman's duties, It’s also the first period where we see guidebooks for parents, children’s literature, and manuals on how to run households. Education for women remained as it had been since the later Middle Ages—girls learned enough reading and writing and-math to run a household, were encouraged to read novels and periodicals, but the schools and universities remained a male preserve. Some people might believe that an Age of Reason would be an age where religious faith was not important, but this was not the case. One of the chief reasons for founding the Royal Society was an attempt to use science to explain and glorify the wonders of Divine creation, according to its charter. This is the first great age of scientific instrumentation—accurate.clocks, the reckoning of longitude, the refinement of the microscope and the telescope—and all were put to work to explain. the marvels of the universe. The New Science was seen as explaining to man for the first time how God worked—one corimon image was of God as a kind of Divine Clockmaker, setting all things in order to run perfectly. - Newton's work on gravity led them to believe that God’s work could be described in mathematical terms. For the first time, they believed that rational explanations could back up faith—i.e., that reason supported belief. It’s the age of the study of anatomy and of dissection; autopsies were public spectacles, and medical schools and hospitals built operating theaters, a term that is still used, becausé they assumed there would be an audience to watch the experts work. Mathematics was used to explain many of the workings of the world. In this age, one of the most celebrated occupations was to be a virtuoso—not a scholar but a lay person who studied how the world worked, kept interesting items on display in his house. There is a connection between virtuoso and virtue—to study the science of God's creation was a mark of moral excellence. At the same time the facade of piety grew thicker. Going to church becane as much a social as pious act. One wanted to go to the right church; St. Georges’ Hanover Square in London was the most fashionable one to be married in. Architects like Christopher Wren were hired to rebuild churches to make them more fashionable. The Church of England dominates but there were Toleration Acts and Methodism was popular, especially in rural areas and among the poor. All these changes meant profound changes for literature. The emphasis on self- reflection meant that genres like diaries, letters, and essays were more popular and often read alone, ina separate reading room or ‘closet’ within the home. At the Same time the new social fluidity meant that genres like the newspaper and Periodical, the novel, the popular ballad, and the theatre would also find Scanned with CamScanner.A. (Hons.) English II Year (Semester-IV, CBCS) 36 Deepa: widespread public audiences. Itis the age of the penny dreadful and the lending library. Journalism becomes a power for the first time, and Fleet Street, where most of the journalists lived, became a powerful center of the City. The battles between Whigs and Tories were played out in literature—it was probably the most significant age for literature influencing politics in English literary history. Well-educated Tories like Swift, Pope, and Dryden turned to Horatian and Juvenalian satire, to odes, and to mock-epics to skewer Whig political stances. Translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey were used to lampoon Walpoles actions. The satires became objects of aesthetic admiration even as they were wielded as trenchant political weapons. Swift's , ‘A Modest Proposal‘ is the ultimate example—it is such a superb piece of artistry that it almost masks the depth of the pain it reacts against. In literature this is an age of conversation , the novel, for instance, begins with epistolary form, asa story told ina collection of letters. But it is also enhanced by self-reflection—Robinson Crusoe is the first-person diary ofa supposed shipwreck survivor, turned into fiction. Poets performed these conversations in many ways: in miscellanies and commonplace books and anthologies; and especially in imitations. The concept of wit affects the literary style in many ways. The most significant is its effect on verse form: blank verse and enjambment take 2 back seat in most writers to the heroic couplet, the rhymed, end-stopped couplet of iambic pentameter. The proliferation of the printing press, the cheapness of paper, and the rise of literacy and economic stetus meant that many more people could participate in reading. Literary forms that appealed to wide range of classes were developed in this period, and we get the begiraings of literary snobbery. Swift coins the terms high-brow and low-brow to reflect the kinds of reading taste he saw developing, and those prejudices remain into our day. Its the first great age of literary criticism, where essays on the virtues (and weaknesses) of authors and biographies of major figures begin to dominate. ; Q. 3. Gentleman vs. Tradesman in Daniel Defoe's The complete English Tradesman. Ans. Since the Restoration and the second half of the 17th century, England had been experiencing prosperity, brought about by the development of manufacturing and commerce, especially overseas through its American colonies (Age of mercantilism ). This led to the growth of a new wealthy middle class—the tradesmen —who came to compete with the landed élite for social prestige and political power. In his letter XXII in The Complete English Tradesman published in 1726, Daniel Defoe tackles this issue by highlighting the paradox that while being prominent economic contributors, tradesmen were held in ill repute, and often frowned on by the social élite who despised them. A strong proponent of the moralfand material- virtues of trade, he argues that, on the contrary, tradesmen are worthy and respectable in order to rehabilitate their social status. After he published in 1713 A General History of Trade, this work (two volumes) js regarded as the first comprehensive business textbook which combines economic Scanned with CamScanner