THE NEOCLASSICAL PERIOD

1660-1798
17th -18th Century
 The Neoclassical Period = Age of Reason =
Enlightenment
 After the Renaissance--a period of exploration
and expansiveness--came a reaction in the
direction of order and restraint.

 The period is called neoclassical because its

writers looked back to the ideals and art forms
of classical times, emphasizing even more than
their Renaissance predecessors the classical
ideals of order and rational control. 

 The classical ideals of order and moderation

which inspired this period, its realistically
limited aspirations, and its emphasis on the
common sense of society rather than individual
imagination, could all be characterized as
rational. And, indeed, it is often known as the
Age of Reason.
 ‘From the head, not the heart’
• The Age of Enlightenment has
been crucial for developments and
advances in human rights,
education, and modern
democracy.
• One of the principal objectives of
the Age of Enlightenment was to
rebel against the authorities.
• The philosophers and artists
insisted that the individual use
reason and logic instead of
accepting what the Monarchy
(King), law, and the Church
presented as truth.
 ‘From the head, not the heart’
The neoclassic poetry differs from that of the
Elizabethan Age, the climax of Renaissance, in three
ways:
First, it is more formal, with its demand to follow
exact rules;
Second, it is more artificial, polished,
straightforward, dull and lacks the creative liveliness
of the Elizabethans;
Third, the chief poetic form is heroic couplet which
replaced the variety of forms in the Elizabethan Age.
 The Neoclassical Period
1660-1798

 1660- 1700 The Restoration = Age of Dryden

 1700-1745 The Augustan Age = Age of Pope

 1745-1798 The Age of Sensibility = Age of Johnson

The Restoration = 1660- 1700

 This period takes its name

from the restoration of the
monarchy (Charles II) to
the English throne and the
triumph of reason and
tolerance over religious and
political passion.
The Restoration = The Age of Dryden
1660- 1700

 One of the writers of this period was

John Dryden.

 Writing should be well structured,

emotion should be controlled, and
emphasize qualities like wit. This is in
sharp contrast to the high seriousness
and sobriety of the earlier Puritan
regime.

 The theaters came back to vigorous life

after the revocation of the ban placed
on them by the Puritans, and new
dramatists therefore appeared.
John Dryden: literary critic
 The first great age of English literary criticism.
 Dryden’s philosophy is clearly stated in the Essay on

Satire:

 The purpose of literature is to give a picture of truth and

imitate nature in the manner of the ancient Greeks and
Romans;
 Literature must satisfy the reason;
 Blank verse suggests disorder, so he insists on rhyme;

Dryden’s prose is logical; he is never carried away by

the sound of words or the lure of a metaphor or simile.
The Restoration
Philosophy
 John Locke (1632-1704) had many views on

government, especially the importance of the contract.

Religion
 John Bunyan (1628-1688) knew the Bible very well

and his style is based on it, as well as his imagery. His

Pilgrim’s Progress is about Christian travelling to the
Eternal City. It is an allegorical story popular for its
narrative skill and humor.
The Augustan Age 1700-1745

This period takes its name from

the original Roman Augustan
Age (27 B.C.-14 A.D.), which
the leading writers of this period
greatly admired its figures.

The new Augustans drew

parallels between the two ages,
and deliberately imitated their
literary forms and subjects,
their emphasis on social
concerns, and their ideals of
moderation, decorum, and
urbanity.
 The Augustan Age = Age of Pope
1700-1745

 Alexander Pope (1688-1744) is the

greatest poet of this period.
 He followed Dryden by using the
couplet in verse.
 When he was young, he wrote his Essay
on Criticism, which contains sayings
often remembered today:
A little learning is a dangerous thing.

True ease in writing comes from art, not

chance,
As those move easiest who have learned
to dance.
The Augustan Age = Age of Pope
1700-1745

 He also translated the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer.

 His other famous Essay on Man shows his
perfection of the heroic couplet:

Hope springs eternal in the human breast:

Man never is, but always to be blest.
The Augustan Age 1700-1745
 The new century threw aside
the strange plots and ideas of
heroic tragedy and turned to
reasonable things.
 Daniel Defoe (1660-1731)
described the Great Plague
of London in his Journal of
the Plague Year (1722).
 His Robinson Crusoe (1719)
is a better and more famous
book. This story is based on
a real event.
ROBINSON CRUSOE (1719)
The Augustan Age 1700-1745
 The greatest prose writer of the
whole century is Jonathan Swift
(1667-1745). He was a great
humorist and a bitter satirist.
 Swift’s most famous satire,
Gulliver’s Travels (1726) is in four
books. As a story it is popular with
the young, who usually read the
first two books: Gulliver’s voyages
to Lilliput (where the people are 6
inches high) and Brobdingnag
(where they are immense). The
Lilliputians fight wars (as the
English do).
Gulliver’s Travels and A Modest Proposal
 The Augustan Age 1700-1745
 Another great novelist of the
century is Henry Fielding (1707-
1754). He started his novel-
writing career almost by accident.
 His Tom Jones is his masterpiece.
It has picaresque elements – the
theme of the journey occupies the
greater part of the book – but it
would be more accurate to
describe it as a mock-epic. We
appreciate Tom Jones for its
boisterous humor, its good sense,
and its vivid characterization.
Tom Jones
The Age of Sensibility = Age of Johnson
1745-1798
 The man whose personality seems to
dominate the whole of the Age of
Sensibility is Dr. Samuel Johnson
(1709-1784).
 He was a kind of literary ruler, giving
judgments on books and authors like a
god. Late in life he wrote his Lives of
the Poets (1779-81) with decision and
clear expression.
 His own writings are less important
than what he said, and a record of his
conversations has been preserved in the
Life of Johnson (1791).
 His name as a scholar will live chiefly
because of his Dictionary of the
English Language (1755).
The Age of Sensibility = Age of Johnson
1745-1798

 Here are a few of Johnson’s statements:

A man, Sir, should keep his friendship in constant

repair.

Let me smile with the wise and feed with the rich.

It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives.

The Renaissance vs. The Neoclassical
The Renaissance
The literature had been passionate,
concerned with the relationship
between man and man, man and
woman as seen from the viewpoint of
feeling and imagination.
The Neoclassical
Feeling and imagination were
mistrusted: feeling implied strong
convictions, and strong convictions
had produced a Civil War and the
harsh rule of the Commonwealth.
Imagination suggested the mad, the
wild, the uncouth, the fanatical.
It was best to live a calm civilized life
governed by reason. Such a life is
best lived in the town, and the town is
the true center of culture; the country
estates are impoverished, and little of
interest is going on there; the country
itself is barbaric.
 The Renaissance vs. The Neoclassical
The Renaissance
Shakespearian nature-pieces,
poems smelling of flowers or
telling of shepherds and
milkmaids.
The heart is in complete control.
Passion
Eloquence
The heart is worn on the sleeve
Literature is moving and
emotional
The Neoclassical
Themes of the new literature are
town themes-politics, the doings
of polite society, the intellectual
topics of men who talk in clubs
and coffee-houses.
The human brain has taken over
and is in complete control.
Good manners
Wit
They do not speak their mind
The literature is neither moved nor
moving