SURVEY OF ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE

Prelim Exam
Name: Clarie May R. Aurin
l. ESSAY (Part 1)
A. Describe the literature in each stage (the Restoration period, the Augustan Period and the Age
of Johnson) during the Neoclassical period. Cite some details to support your answer. (15points)

The Restoration period was from 1660-1700. It was so named because King Charles I had been
beheaded, and the monarchy restored to order. Famous writers during this era included Milton and
Dryden. During this time, the writing style tended toward clear, concise, and precise sentences. The
Augustan period. The Augustan period started in 1700 and ended in 1750. It is called Augustan because
King George I wanted people to think he was like Augustos Caesar. The Age of Johnson, often referred to
as The Age of sensibility, is the period in English literature that ranged from the middle of the eighteenth
century until 1798. The Age of Johnson represented a transition from a focus on classical study/imitation
to an interest in folk literature and popular ballads, which can be observed in Johnsons own writing.

B. Choose your favourite writer from each period and mention some of his composition. Explain
your reason for choosing that writer. (15points)

My favourite writer is John Dryden. John Dryden was the most influential writer of the Restoration,
for he wrote in every important to the period – occasional verse, comedy, tragedy, heroic plays, odes
satires, translations of classical works , and produced influential critical essays concerning on how ought
to write these forms.

C. Why is Neoclassical period of literature called the period of enlightenment? Explain your
answer. (15points)

In Europe and America, the enlightenment coincided with the first half of the Neoclassical period.
Neoclassicism was an artistic manifestation of aesthetic and cultural ideas, while the enlightenment was
a wider philosophical and political movement focusing on the human condition. Writers of the
Neoclassical period tried to imitate the style of Romans and Greeks. Thus the combination of the terms
‘neo’ which means ‘new’ and classical, as in the day of Roman and Greek classics.