Eighteenth Century Literature

Literature of the Augustan Period Development of Satire The Rise of the Novel

Queen Anne: the last Stuart Monarch

Alexander Pope:
True Wit is Nature to advantage dressed What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed; Something whose truth convinced at sight we find, That gives us back the image of our mind. As shades more sweetly recommend the light, So modest plainness sets off sprightly wit.

An Essay on Criticism, Part II, 297-300

Alexander Pope:
Expression is the dress of thought, and still Appears more decent as more suitable. A vile conceit in pompous words expressed Is like a clown in regal purple dressed: For different styles with different subjects sort, As several garbs with country, town and court.

An Essay on Criticism, Part II, 318-323

Alexander Pope:
True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, As those move easiest who have learned to dance. Tis not enough no harshness gives offense, The sound must seem an echo to the sense: Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows, And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows; But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, The hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent roar; An Essay on Criticism, Part II, 362-369

Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

J. Swift on Alexander Pope

In Pope I cannot read a line, But with a sight I wish it mine: When he can in one couplet fix More sense than I can do in six, It gives me such a jealous fit, I cry, Pox take him and his wit Swift, Jonathan. 1739. Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift.

Beginning of The Rape of the Lock, Canto I

What dire Offence from am'rous Causes springs, What mighty Contests rise from trivial Things, I sing This Verse to CARYL, Muse! is due; This, ev'n Belinda may vouchfafe to view: Slight is the Subject, but not so the Praise, If She inspire, and He approve my Lays. Say what strange Motive, Goddess! cou'd compel A well-bred Lord t'assault a gentle Belle? Oh say what stranger Cause, yet unexplor'd, Cou'd make a gentle Belle reject a Lord? And dwells such Rage in softest Bosoms then? And lodge such daring Souls in Little Men?

Beginning of Canto II
Not with more Glories, in th' Ethereal Plain, The Sun first rises o'er the purpled Main, Than issuing forth, the Rival of his Beams Launch'd on the Bosom of the Silver Thames. Fair Nymphs, and well-drest Youths around her shone, But ev'ry Eye was fix'd on her alone. [] This Nymph, to the Destruction of Mankind, Nourish'd two locks which graceful hung behind In equal Curls, and well conspir'd to deck With shining Ringlets the smooth Iv'ry Neck.

Cf. Epic Poetry and Mock Epic

Epic Poetry War The Rape of the Lock The war of the sexes

Towering heroes/heroines Invocation to the muse Heroic deeds and battles Supernatural beings (mythological deities, spirits)

Beaux and belles To Caryll, Popes friend Verbal battles Lesser supernatural creatures (sylphs)

Canto V: Clarissas moral

How vain are all these Glories, all our Pains, Unless good Sense preserve what Beauty gains [] But since, alas! frail Beauty must decay, Curl'd or uncurl'd, since Locks will turn to grey, Since paint'd, or not paint'd, all shall fade, And she who scorns a Man, must die a Maid; What then remains, but well our Pow'r to use, And keep good Humour still whate'er we lose? And trust me, Dear! good Humour can prevail, When Airs, and Flights, and Screams, and Scolding fail. Beauties in vain their pretty Eyes may roll; Charms strike the Sight, but Merit wins the Soul.

Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea

1661-1720 A contemporary and a friend of Swift and Pope. Maid of Honour to Mary of Modena (James, Duke of York) Three Hours after Marriage (1717) by Pope, Arbuthnot and Gay, ridicules her as the learned lady, Phoebe Clinket, a character assigned to Popes hand. After Paradise Lost, her poem Nocturnal Reverie and Popes Windsor Forest: nature.

A Nocturnal Reverie (1713)

Occasional poem Topographical poem 25 heroic couplets This poem and Alexander Popes "An Essay on Man" use similar techniques to present opposing views on the propriety of mans ambitious nature.

In such a Night, when every louder Wind Is to its distant Cavern safe confin'd; And only gentle Zephyr fans his Wings, And lonely Philomel, still waking, sings; Or from some Tree, fam'd for the Owl's delight, She, hollowing clear, directs the Wand'rer right: In such a Night, when passing Clouds give place, Or thinly vail the Heav'ns mysterious Face; When in some River, overhung with Green, The waving Moon and trembling Leaves are seen.

Their short lived jubilee the creatures keep, Which but endures, whilst tyrant-man does sleep; When a sedate content the spirit feels, And no fierce light disturbs, whilst it reveals; But silent musing urge the mind to seek Something, too high for syllables to speak. Till the free soul to a composedness charmed, Finding the elements disarmed, In such a night let me abroad remain, Till morning breaks, and alls confused again; Our cares, our toils, our clamors are renewed, Or pleasures, seldom reached, again pursued.

Windsor Forest (1704-1713)

Celebrates the Peace of Utrecht. A mixture of political georgic, panegyric and pastoral. Topographical poem. Windsor Castle, located about 20 miles west of London, was constructed on the site where King Arthur supposedly sat with his Knights of the Round Table and where William the Conqueror built his castle.

Thy forests, Windsor! and thy green retreats, At once the Monarch's and the Muse's seats, Invite my lays. Be present, sylvan maids! Unlock your springs, and open all your shades. Granville commands; your aid O Muses bring! What Muse for Granville can refuse to sing? The groves of Eden, vanish'd now so long, Live in description, and look green in song: These, were my breast inspir'd with equal flame, Like them in beauty, should be like in fame. Here hills and vales, the woodland and the plain, Here earth and water, seem to strive again; Not Chaos like together crush'd and bruis'd, But as the world, harmoniously confus'd: Where order in variety we see, And where, tho' all things differ, all agree.