British Literature-Lectures

The 17th century: historical background

 „ A warlike, various and tragical age
 Elizabeth I
 James I (1603-1625)- conflict with Parliament, he wanted to rule only by himself not
with Parliament; he believed that God chose him to be king
 Charles I (1625-1649)- conflict with Puritans; he fought for social reforms
 The Civil War (1642-1649)- execution of King Charles I
 The Commonwealth (1649-1660)- no king, country was a republic
 The Restoration 1660- Charles II returns country to monarchy

The Metaphysical poets

 Metaphysical- a misnomer/a wrong name/ nickname
This term was first used by John Dryden in 1693 to criticize Donne’s poetry. It
was then applied by Samuel Johnson in his “Life of Cowley”( Lives of poets). Name
metaphysical may be misleading because the poetry did not deal with philosophical
speculation but with the themes of religion or love. In Donne’s times science was
referred to as metaphysics.
The metaphysical poets of the School of John Donne.
 John Donne
 George Herbert
 Andrew Marvell
 Samuel Johnson in his “The Life of Cowley” criticized metaphysical poets for using
science in their poetry. He claimed that they “wrote only verses, not poetry”

Features of metaphysical poetry

 Use of metaphysical conceit

o Paradoxical metaphor causing a shock to the mind by the unlikeness of
association
o Used to persuade/ prove a point
 Wit
o The quality of the mind which enables the poet to devise conceits, intellectual
cleverness
 The so-called strong lines
o The term refers to the harshness of style
o A desire for concise expression achieved through elliptical syntax and certain
roughness in versification and rhythm
o More matter- less words
 Themes: love and religion
o Sacred love
o Secular love- intensity of feeling, full of passion, love-mutual feeling (erotic
elements)

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  Private- circulated in manuscripts, published posthumously

Ben Johnson and Cavalier Poets

Ben Johnson challenged the Elizabethan style in poetry, its ornamentation. He shoved
a sense of form and careful craftsmanship:
 Wrote ambiguous verse, avoided unnecessary rhetoric
 Followed ancient ideals “carpe diem”

Lecture 2- 05.03
John Milton 1608- 1674 – the greatest Puritan poet
Three main religious groups:
► The Church of England
► The Roman catholic group
► Puritans and Presbyterians

Puritanism
- Under Cromwell’s rule stern rules were passed
- Simple pleasures were forbidden
- Theaters were closed; dramatic work was small and insignificant
- Culture was confined within the limited field of puritan interests

John Milton- playwright (plays about themes taken from the Bible)
 Literature lacks joy and vitality; is dominated by gloom and sadness
 Literature was affected by Puritan ideology

JOHN MILTON- 1608-1674

 Born and educated in London
 Sophisticated education (Latin, Greek, Hebrew)
 His father was Roman catholic but became Puritan
 His father was rich enough to pay for private tutors
 He was a musician
 Studied in Cambridge
 Nicknamed ‘the Lady of Christ’ thanks to his puritan idealism and contempt of
the student’s entertainment
 Wrote poetry in many languages
 In 1649 he became Latin secretary to Cromwell. He supported the Puritan
rebellion.
 By 1652 Milton lost his sight
 Cromwell’s death and Restoration of Charles II destroyed Milton’s political
hopes
 He was regarded as the most learned poet in the English language
 He wrote a pamphlet about Charles I’s death

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 Milton’s early poetry
 1629- Ode to the Morning of Christ’s Nativity –celebrates the birth of Christ
 Christ’s birth seen in the perspective of human and eternal history
 It leads to the Last Judgement and Restoration of Paradise.
 Vertical- through heaven-earth-hell and horizontal movement
 L’ Allegro and II Penseroso
 Parallel poems
 Exercises in the pastoral
 L’ Allegro(the happy/ cheerful man) celebrates active life of
engagement with the world, dance, pastoral landscape
 II Penseroso (The melancholy man) reflective live, melancholy, study,
tragedy
 Comus. A Masque Presented at Ludlow Castle -1634
 Comus- child of Bacchus and Circe, who haunts an ominous wood
 Masque- an aristocratic form of dramatic entertainment presented at
courts for king (verse+music+dance)
 Lycidas- pastoral elegy, a funeral elegy
 Milton lamenting the death of his friend from Cambridge, Edward King
who drowned in the sea
 Greek pastoral imaginery- gods, muses, nymphs
 The sonnets
o Written during Milton’s political pamphleteering
o Nearly all sonnets remained unpublished until 1694
 Three groups of poems
 Conventional- to a particular person
 Personal
 Political
 Milton’s political writings
o Wrote anti-episcopal pamphlets
o Defended the liberty of the press against censorship
o Advocated the right to divorce due to intellectual or emotional
incompatibility
o Wrote a pamphlet supporting Charles I’s execution

Lecture 3- 12.03
John Milton- Paradise Lost

 Epic
 First edition published in 1667
 Written in 10 books (later it was divided into 12 books; each book starts with prose
 The argument- subject matter (he explained what given book contains)
 Last epic in English language

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 Paradise Lost- sources
 The Bible- the old and the new Testament
 The Book of Revelation, the Book of Isaiah, the Apocryphal Books
 Greek and Latin classics (epic convention)
 Italian epics (The Divine Comedy by Dante)
 Arthurian legends
 Earlier English Literature

THE STORY
 When God decides to announce the equal status of his son with himself, one-third of
the angels start rebellion under the leadership of Lucifer (Morning Star)
 The war in heaven follows; it lasts three days
 Satan is defeated and cast down to hell along with his angels
 To replace the fallen angels, God creates the world and puts Adam and Eve in the
Garden of Eden
 One of the angels- Lucifer becomes the Prince of Hell
 Satan wants to take revenge on God for his defeat, so he tempts Eve to eat the
forbidden fruit
 Eve tempts her husband to eat the fruit, this is the original sin form which all
mankind’s troubles flow
 Adam and Eve are expelled from paradise to make their home in the rest of the world

Two falls:
 Fall of Satan- he will never be able to return to heaven
 Fall of People- they are able to be redeemed
Paradise Lost:
 The Universe- the largest frame of action : Heaven and Hell
 Chaos- fills all available space
 The world- hanging on a golden chain from heaven at the center
 Paradise- the Garden part of Heaven

Paradise Lost- themes

1. Explaining “the ways of God to man (Invocation)
 Explaining why it was possible for them to commit a sin
 Why evil could exist
2. The question of choice and free will, God’s omnipotence, omniscience
 Why people make choices
 Why doesn’t God prevent people from making bad choices
3. The problem of freedom
 Freedom- total submission to God, God’s will, acceptance of God’s plan
4. The fallibility of man’s reasons (why people make mistakes)
5. The structural hierarchy of the universe – violation of this order
6. The Fall- as purposeful (fortunate fall- Felix culpa)

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 Lecture 4 19.03
The Restoration

The term is used in two senses: historical and literacy

- Historical/political sense: the reestablishment of the Stuart monarchy- the return of
king Charles II in May 1660
- Literary sense: refers to the last 40 years of the 17th century and three principal literary
products of the period: restoration drama, restoration prose and restoration
poetry

Restoration literature
- The restoration drama started a new life: restoration comedy of manners and
heroic drama
- Prose Fiction- developed into novel proper
- In poetry authors turned to heroic couplets to clarify and extravagant wit.
The background:
 Social factors:
o King Charles II and his court
o The restoration audience
o The rise of the middle class
Main dramatic genres:
o The comedy of manners
o The heroic drama
o Restoration prose

King Charles II and his court:

 Merry Monarch- self-indulgent, pleasure-loving, rejected Puritanism, an
efficient politician; he restored court culture
 Although he was married, he had mistresses, his favourite was Nell Gwynne-
one of the leading actresses
 Plays were about affairs/ male-female relations

The Great Fire of London

London- the peaceful and entertaining capital, received a damaging blow
1665- The plague struck, killing 100,000 inhabitants
1666- 2-5 September- the Great Fire broke out
Consequences: homelessness of 85% of people

Restoration theatre and its audiences:

 Theatres closed in 1642 by Puritans, reopened in 1660
 New theatres built, closer to the City (more convenient)
 The English stage replaced by the French stage, the continental style
 Indoor theatres, bigger and less intimate than the Globe

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Audiences:
 Smaller and more homogeneous than before, upper classes of London
 The themes reflects preoccupations of the class;
o Pursuit of love and pleasure
o Cynical manipulation of others
o Condemnation of the marriage (=contract)
 Many playwrights associated with the court
 Plays for aristocrats and about aristocrats

Restoration theatre:
 Acting impossible in the proscenium- no direct contact of the actors with audience
 Theatres royal- 1663 playhouse in Covent Garden erected the king patron of the
theatre
o Actors- small, professional companies
o Women introduced on the stage
o More realistic sexual atmosphere on the stage
o Emphasis on women’s sexuality
o The plays resolved around female characters

Comedy of manners
 Written for and about society of the court and aristocracy
 Satirizes the manners of fashionable society, the upper classes, aristocracy and the
court
 Features: wit, elegance, stylishness and sophistication
 Appearances count more than the moral values
 The setting- London- its streets, parks, coffee houses
 The themes: marital and sexual intrigue, adultery and cuckoldry
 Plot: excessively complicated

Stock characters:
 Graceful, young rake: witty, manipulative, well-mannered in pursuit of sensual
pleasure, gentleman of fashion
 Faithless wife, a lecherous widow
 Wits- male and female- exterior attractiveness, ingenuity and quite thinking
 Fops, social climbers, cuckolds, gallants
 Country bumping (prostak)
 Meaningful names (Millamant, Mirabell, Wishfort)

Lecture 5 26.03
Restoration drama- continued
Restoration prose and poetry

Restoration comedy of manners representatives:

 George Etherege

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  William Wycherley
 William Congreve-most important- “ The way of the World”

Heroic Drama:
 A form of tragedy which came into fashion during the Restoration, an exact reversal of
the comedy
 Influenced by the French classical tragedy
 It aimed at epic grandeur
Themes:
 love and honour: the noble hero- in a conflict
The setting:
 exotic countries
The style:
 elevated and artificial: the heroic couplet

Other features:
 exaggerated characterization
 the world presented is a world of absolutes, of the black and white
 Three unities

John Dryden – The conquest of Granada

THE RESTORATION PROSE

 The beginning of modern prose writing
 The royal society of London for improving Natural Knowledge
 Founded by Charles II in 1660- a society for science and scientists

“Good Prose”
 Different from Elizabethan prose
 Straightforward writing/simpler/ less sophisticated
 Meaning clearly expressed
 Easy use of language
 Language of polite conversation
 Aimed for middle class readers
 Not too difficult

Literary criticism
- John Dryden (1631-1700)
o Master of English prose
o Father of English literary criticism

o Essay of Dramatic Prose

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Discussion between (?) characters concerning several aspects of drama:
- Conflict between ancient and modern drama: Elizabethan vs Restoration drama
- Written in informal language

Features of Dryden’s prose:

 Correctness, coherence
 Clarity and simplicity
 Graceful movement (easy to follow)
 Conversational ease

Diarists
-Samuel Pepys:
 Received middle-class education (Cambridge)
 Historian, book collector, keen on the theatre
 1673 member of parliament
 Diary 1660-1669 (stopped writing due to failing eyes.)
 Written in cryptic cypher: included intimate details
 Not to be published

Samuel Pepys and his Diary:

 Deciphered in the 19th century
 One of the best sources of information on his life
 Eye witness reports
 Everyday life details
 The Great Fire of London
 3000 volumes in his book collection

John Evelyn 1620-1706

 One of the funding members of the Royal Society
 A man of moral principles (unlike Pepys)
 Diary- written from 1641-1706

PURITAN PROSE
John Bunyan:
 Son of tinker
 Fought in the parliamentary army during the Civil War
 Puritan preacher
 Sent to prison after 1660
 Calvinist spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding (1666) Bunyan sees himself as a
sinner (possessed by the evill)

Puritan writers:

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  Milton and Bunyan

The Pilgrim’s progress

 Dream allegory; the most characteristic expression of the puritan religious outlook
 Story: (t.b.c)

Fictional prose:
Aphra Behn (1640-1689)
 Poetess, playwright (comedy of manners)
 Author of prose romances
 Her works- predecessors of the novel (romantic plots, sense of realism due to the
naratic technique)
 ORONOOKO
o the first text to address the question of the slave trade
o set in Surinam
o sympathy for slaves

Lecture 6 02.04
The rise of the novel

 realistic
 set in contemporary times
 modern prose (precise, clear, non-figurative language)

Novel:
 piece of prose fiction of reasonable length
 cannibalizes other literary forms and mixes bits and pieces together
 shows freedom from generic restraints
 created in the 18th century
 implements idea of freedom
 origin in ancient times

THE RISE OF THE NOVEL:

When?
 In the 18th century
Why?
 It was created in response to the needs of the middle class, it provided
entertainment for middle class people
 Written by middle class writers
 People wouldn’t understand difficult poetry

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  Technical reasons ( big number of readers needed for novels to be profitable;
people could read in that times)
Style
 It was written in a lively style (unsophisticated)
 Meant for uneducated people
Non-literary factors:
1. The rise of the middle class
2. Growth in literary, circulating, libraries
3. Specific philosophy
John Locke (1632- 1704)
Empiricism- “No man’s knowledge here can go beyond his experience”
4. Puritanism
 Practical attitude to world affairs
 Writers are expected to inform, to be useful, and to urge moral behavior
 A spirit of self-inquiry; spiritual autobiography was encouraged
 A love of truth
 God’s intervention

Literary factors:
1. The development of journalism
Richard Steele- The teller
Steele and Joseph Addison- The Spectator
2. Parallel art forms based on fact
o Biographies
o Diaries
o Personal memories
3. Letter writing (epistolary novel)
4. Travel literature
o Books written by navigators and explorers; they were written in a lively,
straightforward style and contained precise scientific observations
5. The Restoration comedy of manners
o Socially diverse audiences (aristocrats, servants, and a middle class
segment)
6. The Picaresque convention
o A form of prose fiction originating in Spain in the 16th century, dealing
with the adventures of rogues- mischievous dishonest people who were
fond of playing tricks
o Lazarillo de Torres
7. The mock romance
o Modelled upon Don Quixote by Cervantes
o About knight-errant who try to put injustices right

Prose fiction of the past vs the novel

“Old fiction” mainly various types of romance

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  Artificial style, looseness of construction
 Affectation; sentimental analyses
 Plots adapted from Italian sources
 Allegorical elements
 Love is the predominant factor in life

Prose fiction of the past The Novel

 Based on past history  Based on contemporary events
 Imitation of the models  Individual experience
 Plots subordinated to the pattern of
the autobiographical memoir

 Characters with meaningful names  Individuals that live in particular

time and place (first and second
names)
 Timeless  Time matters

 Language is ornamented, artificial,  Gives the feeling of reality

figurative, appropriate for given  Languages corresponds to the
genre education of a characters

TEST 2
Lecture 7, 09.04
The Augustan Age 1660-1745

Literature in the Long 18th century

Neo-classicism
1660-1700- The age of John Dryden [The Restoration]
1700-1740- the Age of Pope and Swift (classical tendencies prevail)
1740-1770- The Age of Samuel Johnson (moralistic and sentimental tendencies)

1770-1798- Pre-Romantic stage (interest in the past, the Middle Ages, feeling, imagination)

The Augustan Age 1660-1745

Two crucial influences: Isaac Newton and John Locke

Isaac Newton (1642-1727) discoveries in physics, scientific advances based on experimental

methodology):
 Laws of motion and universal gravitation (based on experience not faith)
 Skepticism
John Locke “Essay concerning human understanding” (1689): postulates the need for clear
and distinct ideas’ based on empirical evidence: postulates toleration, rational Christianity
(deism)

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Scientific approach- critical, objective and intellectual engagement with one’s environment,
instead of arguments based on faith and traditional opinions
“Reason must be our last judge and guide in everything”

Philosophical concepts:
1. Reason:
 Beliefs in the universal authority of reason in explaining and understanding
 Reason- source and test of knowledge [rejection of the authority of the Church]
 Reason before faith
 Pursuit of order, decorum in literature, toleration and moderation in religion,
Man’s greatness- being a rational entity
2. Nature
 Connotes qualities which are universal and fixed, discovered beneath the
variety of life [general qualities of human nature- not the individual, but the
species]
 Does not change, it’s principles were discovered by the ancients
 Reflection of the order in the mind of God
 Pope essay on Criticism
 Imitation of classical genres

Dominant intellectual and philosophical trends:

 Rationalism: the universe is fundamentally rational
 Empiricism: human experience is the foundation of human understanding of Truth,
authority is not to be preferred over experience
 Deism- a belief that God exists but having once created perfect universe, he no longer
takes an active interest in it

The Augustan Age: the term covers the Restoration and first stage of 18th century; during the
age of Emperor Augustus (Virgil, Horace, and Ovid)

FEATURES OF AUGUSTAN (NEOCLASSICAL) LITERATURE

 Simplicity of prose style: clearness, plainness, conversational ease and directness
 Decorum- consistency with the canons of propriety (action, character, though and
language are to be appropriate to each other)
 The poetry of the period in never intimate: it appeals to the balanced judgement
 No love for oddities, idiosyncrasies
 Broad generalized style
 Poetic diction (personification)

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 ALEXANDER POPE (1688- 1744)
Age of satire

John Dryden- Apsalon and Apito- satire in support of Charles II, in conflict about succession

Alexander Pope-
Essay on Criticism:
 Work that gives instructions
 One of the most quoted poems in English
 General philosophical position is expressed in the words: First follow nature
 Beauty- the result of precise craftsmanship
 Criticism- balance and moderation are the most important: no narrow prejudices
 “little knowledge is a dangerous thing”
 For fools rush where angels fears to tread

o The rape of the Lock

o Editing and translating (The Iliad, the Odyssey, the works of Shakespeare)
o Satires and Epistles
o The Dunciad : [dunce= osioł, baran, nieuk]
Mock heroic verse satire on scribbles and mediocre writers making a living out of
literature
o Essay on Man (1773)
o Expresses Pope’s deism
o Belief in order and the Great Chain of Being

Lecture 8, 16.04
Johnathan Swift (1667- 1745) &the Satire
 Born in Dublin, educated at Trinity College, Dublin
 Cousin of John Dryden, friend of A. Pope and John Gray
 Contributed to Steele’s and Addison’s [The Father and the Spectator] political
journalist
 Together with Pope, Gay, Arbuthnot founded Scriblerus Club- the aim was to satirize
false tastes
 Swift’s task- to satirize the ‘boom’ in travel literature
 1714- Dean of St. Patrick cathedral in Dublin
 Became almost a national hero of Ireland as a defender of Irish cause (A modest
proposal)
 A master of light, ironic satire

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  Suffered from Meniere’s disease- due to its effect on Swift a legend was created that
he was a madman.

MASTER OF SATIRE:
 Late 17th century and much of the 18th- the Golden age of satire
 Alexander Pope [verse satire] and J. Swift [prose satire] two greatest satirists in
literature
 Satire- a literary work that seeks to criticize and correct the behavior of human being
and their institutions by means of:
o Humor
o Wit
o Ridicule
 Satires:
o The Battle of the Books (1704)
 A mock heroic satire favoring the ancients against the modern writers
 A battle between books at the Royal Library
 A satirical commentary on ancient and modern learning and criticism
o A tale of a tub
 A satire on religions: Catholicism, Anglicanism, and radical
Protestantism (Dissenters)
 An allegory of the Reformation
 A story of three brothers: Peter (St. Peter), Martin (Luther), Jack
(Calvin), who inherit a coat and alter it according to their own tastes, to
make it more fashionable
 Meant as defense of the Church of England, ridicules all three
opponents

“Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World” by Lemuel Gulliver

Gulliver’s travels:
 Book 1. Voyage to Lilliput
o Lemuel Gulliver- shipwrecked on the island of Lilliput (inhabitants- 6 inches
tall)
o The emperor- represents the British Monarchy
o The Lilliputians- delusion of grandeur, pride
o Satire on political parties: High Heel and Low Heel party
o Religious disputes- Big Endian and Little Endian
o War with Blefusal- war with France
o Criticism of vanity, cruelty corruption, moral degradation
 Book 2. Voyage to Brobdingnag, the land of the giants

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 o Mankind is the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that nature ever
suffered to crawl upon the surface of the Earth
 Book 3. Voyage to Laputa, flying island
o Satire against philosophers, men of science and historians
 Book 4. Voyage to the land of Houyhnhnms- rational worse-like creatures (Perfection
of Nature)

A Modest Proposal (1729)

 The theme of exploitation of Ireland by England
 Swift recommends that it would be more humane to breed Irish children as food for
the rich
 The pamphlet shows extreme savagery of Swift’s irony

Lecture 9, 23.04
The Rise of the Novel
Samuel Richardson and Henry Fielding

1719- Daniel’s Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe

 Mimetic literature imitates what one can experience
 Interest in low life (illegal activities)
 Picaresque tradition

Samuel Richardson (1689- 1761)

 Lower middle- class origin
 Did not receive formal education- was too poor
 Worked as an apprentice at a printing shop
 Became an established printer and publisher himself
 Wrote his first novel at the age of 51
 Epistolary novels
 Earned by writing love-letters
 “familiar letters” advices on everyday problems
 “Pamela” inspired by his letters devoted to girls on how to avoid being threatened by a
man

PAMELA letters and diaries

Story of 15 years old girl employed by lady B. as a servant

 Bestseller ( Cinderella story)

PAMELA OR VIRUTE REWARDED

The characters and plot:
 Pamela Andrews: beautiful but poor 15 years old servant, a chaste girl
 Mr. B as nobleman who makes advances towards her

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  He locks her up and attempts to seduce and rape her
 Mr. B intercepts and reads Pamela’s letters to her parents: he proposes to her after he
is moved by her innocence
 She becomes a model wife and mother

 Perhaps the first truly ‘modern’ novel because of a realistic presentation the dayt-to-
day behavior and psychology of the characters
 The novel of personality (psychological insight)
 The novel of moral conflict in society
 The novel of sensibility( insanity of feelings)
 The distance to the reader is shortened through the use of letters

CLARISSA (1747)
 An epistolary novel in 547 letters
 The longest novel in English
 Multiple correspondents
 Characters: a young lady that elopes with a rake (who imprisons and rapes her; she
dies in shame)

The History of Sir Charles Grandison

 One more epistolary novel
 Set in aristocratic society
 A portrait of a perfect gentleman
 Moralizing message (tedious and preaching-like)
 Published by “Editor”

Henry Fielding (1707- 1754)

 A playwright who became a novelist ‘by accident’ after introducing the Licensing Act
in 1737 (censorship)
 A journalist and lawyer, a magistrate- sędzia pokoju
 First English novelist who openly claimed he wrote fiction

SHAMELA ANDREWS: parody of Richardson’s Pamela

 Sham= pretending to be real; false
 A satirical epistolary novel published under a pen name
 Ridicules Richardson’s Pamela
 Pamela Andrews shown as a cunning social climber, a hypocrite, who wants to seduce
Mr. Booby

HISTORY OF THE JOSEPH ANDREWS

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  Parody of Pamela, Joseph was Pamela’s brother
 Mrs. Booby employs Joseph and seduces him
 Work of fiction rewritten
 In the preface Fielding says he establishes a new genre of writing: the “comic epic-
poem in prose” or comic romance
 The first theory of the novel+ instructions for the readers
 Depicts social panorama
 By linking the novel with the ancient traditions of the epic, Fielding nobilities the
novel as a genre
 Joseph Andrews begins as a parody of Pamela
 The motif of a journey in which characters meet different people
 Realism in Joseph Andrews is limited
o “I describe not men, but manners: not and individual but a species”

Fielding recycles literary texts including:

 The epic
 The romance
 The comedy of manners
 The picaresque

Other works:
The History of Tom Jones

Lecture 10
Lawrence Sterne (1713-68)
 an Irishman, son of a poor soldier
 Well-educated- student of Jesus College, Cambridge
 Became a vicar of a village north of York
 Travelled to France and Italy for his health’s sake

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy

 A famous comic novel
 Begins with Tristram’s conception
 Describes in detail his eccentric family
 The first novel about writing a novel
 Countless digressions
 Shaggy-dog story
 He is not born until the 4th volume

“Writing is but a different name for a conversation”

 First novel based on psychological theory- on Locke’s Essay concerning Human

Understanding

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  Parody of the novel form and formal realism, which he treats literary
 Fictional autobiography: first person; starts ab ovo

A sentimental journey through France and Italy

 Written and published in 1768, when Sterne was facing death (covers only France)
 Written in convention of travel writing
 Subjective discursions of personal taste and sentiments
 Describes impressions of the characters, not places he visits
 A journey of the heart
 Sterne popularized the word “sentimental”

REALISM IN DEFOE, FIELDING, RICHARDSON

Defoe: realism of sensory perception
Richardson- realism of internal experience
Fielding: realism in the presentation of human nature and society
Sterne: Parody of formal realism

Lecture 11
The Age of Johnson (1750- 1785)

Two trends in Poetry:

 Neoclassical Poetry
 Nature Poetry

Samuel Johnson:
 Journalist- wrote for the Gentleman’s Magazine
 Poet- satires in imitation of Juvenot (nie moge sie doczytac po sobie xd)
o The vanity of Human wishes
o True beliefs will be rewarded
 These satires connect him with neoclassical poetry

Dr. Johnson’s Dictionary

 1755- a dictionary of the English language
 The first true English dictionary
 Meant to impose order on the language
 40 000 words, 100 000 quotations
 Examples from Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden, Pope, Richardson

Other works:
1759- Rasselas- a philosophical fable
1765- awarded a doctorate by Unity of Dublin- practicing virtue in Rasselas
1765- Edited plays of Shakespeare
1781- Lives of the Poets- biographical work; appreciation and criticism of popular poets

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 18th century poetry
1. Neoclassical poetry
2. Poetry opposing the neoclassical poetry
a) Nature Poetry
b) The Graveyard school of poetry
The decline of Neoclassicism
 Preromantic tendencies (appeared in the English poetry centuries before romanticism)
 Nature poetry- James Thomson, Oliver Goldsmith
 The graveyard school of poetry and The Gothic novel
 Nature poetry:
o Nature became and independent theme in poetry
o Movement away from poems about gardens and landscapes
o James Thomson: The Seasons
 Sympathy for ordinary people
 Contact with nature was emotionally important

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