15 April 2013
Neoclassical Age in English Literature
The names given to this period are confusing: Restoration, 18th century, Neoclassical, Augustan Chronologically the period covers from 1660 to around 1800. In English, the term Neoclassicism is used primarily of the visual arts; the similar movement in English literature, which began considerably earlier, is called Augustan Literature, which had been dominant for several decades. The English Neoclassical movement, predicated upon and derived from both classical and contemporary French models. The period is called neoclassical because its writers looked back to the ideals and art forms of classical times. Neoclassicism showed life to be more rational than it really was. It is necessary an analysis on historical background, literary aspect and literary technique to understand the period in neoclassical period.
Firstly, You need to argue the political and sociology of the period if you want to understand its literature. Before the neoclassical period Oliver Cromwell became lord protector of England, Scotland and Ireland in the half of 17th century. The English Civil War was as much the response to the effects of the Reformation as it was a response to the needs of the rising middle classes, the landed gentry. The war itself involved the king, Parliament, the aristocracy, the middle classes, the commoners, and the army. In Neoclassical period, Monarchy came back to British political system. After Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of England, died, The first monarch of the period is Charles II. He professed to support the Church of England but was secretly Roman Catholic. There was a time of civil profitability and military unrest. On the other hand, The Restoration is the time of great privateer/pirate trade and the celebration of British naval supremacy. It is the time of party politics: the Torries (political party), representing old landed wealth, conservatism, and the House of lords, vs. the
References: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-neoclassical-poetry.htm http://history-world.org/age_of_enlightenment.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoclassicism http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/545/satire-in-18th-century-british-society-alexander-popes-the-rape-of-the-lock-and-jonathan-swifts-a-modest-proposal Pope, Alexander. “Essay On Criticism.” Abrams, M.H., Greenblatt, S. & Stillinger, J. 2000, The Norton anthology of English literature, 8th edn, Norton, New York.