ENLIGHTENMENT: THE AGE OF REASON (1660-

1780)
CONTENT:

 Historical context
 Key concepts of the Engligthenment
 Popular genres
 Key authors:
 Daniel Defoe
 Jonathan Swift
 John Dryden
 Alexander Pope
HISTORICAL CONTEXT (1660-1798)

 Wilfull suppression of immediate past (English civil wars) and

glorification of more distant classical Roman past
(Neoclassical period = Enlightenment)

 Industrial revolution  1750’s patenting steam engine

 Rise of philosophy and science

(against Christian fundamentalism and Puritanism of earlier centuries)
 KEY CONCEPTS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT (P.28-30)

 Complacency and comfort

 The rise of the Middle Class  coffeehouses, proving “good taste”, rise in literacy
 Wit: “verbal skill and briljant verbal repartee”, a time of “polished debate and clever talking”
 Marketing
 Decorum: great emphasis on manners and virtues
 Self-publicizing (for men and women). Self examinationas requirement for being morally
correct.
 Scientific instrumentation  God as Divine Clockmaker. People obsessed over how the world
worked.
 Rationalism: intellectual attitude, Reason as superior, no aquiring knowledge through faith or
intuition
POPULAR GENRES

 Self-publicating: journals, essays, letters, diaries

 Epistolary novels

 Prose as preferred and predominant writing genre.

KEY AUTHORS OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT

 Prose:
 Daniel Defoe
 Jonathan Swift

 Poetry:
 John Dryden
 Alexander Pope
DANIEL DEFOE (1660-1731) P. 38

 Butcher’s son (Foe), poor background

 Imprisoned for pamphlet “The Shortest Way With the

Dissenters”(1702)
 In prison: “The Review”  founder of modern journalism/political
commentary or “father of the gutter press”
 His works based on stories he heard or read
 Deliberate use of common speech, journalistic writing style
DEFOE’S FAMOUS WORKS

 Moll Flanders (1722)

 How a thief and prostitute acquired wealth later in life
 Robinson Crusoe (1719)
 Children’s book?
 Intention: showing God’s providence
 28 / 5 years
 Published under name of Crusoe
 “prototype of modern capitalist”  materialistic
 Exploitative and self-centered
Originial Title:
The Life and Strange Surprizing
Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Of
York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and
Twenty Years, all alone in an un-
inhabited Island on the Coast of
America, near the Mouth of the Great
River of Oroonoque; Having been cast
on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the
Men perished but himself. With An
Account how he was at last as
strangely deliver'd by Pyrates
JONATHAN SWIFT
JONATHAN SWIFT (1667-1745)
 Irish descent, lived both in England and Ireland during his life

 1699: ordained priest in the Anglican tradition

 1713: Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin

 Politically active in London (Tory party) until 1714

 Famous works (mostly under pseudonyms):

 A Tale of a Tub (1704)
 The Battle of the Books (1704)
 Gulliver’s Travels (1726)
 A Modest Proposal (1729)
HISTORICAL CONTEXT

 18th Century Irish-English relations

 English in power (King George II)
 Poverty and hunger were widespread

 Religious/political situation:
 Catholics repressed by the English (protestant) rule  excluded from power and ownership
GULLIVER’S TRAVELS

 More political satire

 Parody of the letters that were published (many at the time believed Lemuel Gulliver
existed)

 Four travels highlighting and criticizing different aspects of society

SATIRE
IRONY/SARCASM/SATIRE

 Irony:
 Humor through language/situations that seem to be the opposite of what was expected

 Sarcasm:
 Insincere speech, often with a sharp/cutting edge Both
 Irony can be used (Satire and
Sarcasm)
depend on
 Satire: listener for
understandi
 form of rhetoric ng.
 Uses various stylistic and literary devices (humor, irony, exaggeration, ridicule)
 Criticizing people’s stupidity or vices through imitation
 Often in context of contemporary politics or topical issues
JOHN DRYDEN (1631-1700) (P. 35-36)

 Poet, literary critic, translator, playwright

 Heavily influenced English poetry  heroic couplets dominant poetic form in 18th Century

 Widely read, often quoted, celebrated in life and after death

 Greatest poet 17th Century

HEROIC COUPLET

 Rhyming pair of lines (AA BB CC)

 Iambic pentameter
ALEXANDER POPE (1688-1744) (P.34,37)

 Famous for his use of the heroic couplet, influenced by Dryden

 Greatest poet of the 18th Century

 First full-time professional English writer

(subscription fees for his translations)

 Known for his irascible character

 Religious minority
 Exclusion from formal education (self-taught, as well as private tutors or priests)
 Physical disabilities (spinal tuberculosis)
SUBSCRIPTION:

“a publication method whereby members of the public gave money in advance of a text’s appearance with the
agreement that they would receive handsome, inscribed editions of the completed volumes.”

- poetryfoundation.org
 POPE’S FAMOUS WORKS (BOOKLET PAGE 34)

Major works Translations and editions

 Homer’s Iliad
 Essay on Criticism

 Homer’s Odyssey
 The Rape of the Lock

 Edition of Shakespeare’s works

 Dunciad

 An Essay on Man