Chapters 6, 7

and 8THE NEO-CLASSICAL AGE

NEOCLASSICAL

“neo” (new) + classical

“period of Enlightenment”

“age of reason”

“era of logic”

-

• Literature of the age is concerned with

“nature “ human nature, Supremacy of

reason.

• Unity in the works of all writers.

• The age is known as classical age or the Age

of Reason.

• Neoclassical literature is characterized by order, accuracy, and structure.

• Some popular types of literature included: parody, essays, satire, letters, fables, melodrama, and rhyming with couplets.

• Parody is an imitative work created to make fun of, or comment on an original work by means of satiric or ironic imitation.

Three Stages

The Neoclassical period of literature can be divided into three distinct stages: the Restoration Period, the Augustan Period, and the Age of Johnson.

The Restoration of King Charles II to the English throne in

1660 after a long period of Puritan domination in England

brought a new change in English literature. Previously closed

theatres were opened again. New groups of writers began to

write plays.

Restoration literature continued to appeal to heroic ideals of

love and honor, particularly on stage, in heroic tragedy.

RESTORATION DRAMA AND PROSE

We generally notice two kinds of developments in this period,

namely the Heroic plays and the Comedy of Manners. These

plays were quite dif ferent from Elizabethan plays in some ways.

Restoration

Drama

Comedy of Manners

Heroic Plays

Heroic plays showed the heroicqualities in noble men, and thewomen were described as verybeautiful. The tragic drama of thisperiod was made up of heroic playswhich were mainly written in heroiccouplet. The main character inthese plays was torn between theduty to their country and their dutyas a lover. In these dramas we findbrave heroes, beautiful women.

HEROIC PLAYS

Heroic couplets are rhyming pairs of verse in iambic

pentameter. An example, from Pope ’s “Eloisa to Abelard ,” is

“Then share thy pain, allow that sad relief; Ah, more than share it , give me all thy grief.”

The heroic couplet became the main meter (poetic technique)

used in drama about the mid-17th century, and the form was

perfected by John Dryden and Alexander Pope in the late 17th

and early 18th centuries.

WHAT IS A HEROIC COUPLET?

FAMOUS WRITERS

John Dryden was a famous

dramatist of restoration period.

He was a genius. His plays were

greatly successful on the stage.

His best heroic plays were The

Conquest of Granada and

Aurengzebe which he had used

the rhymed form. The second one

is about the struggle for empire in

India. His famous play All for Love

deals with the tragic love of

Antony and Cleopatra and was

written in blank verse.

JOHN DRYDEN

COMEDY OF MANNERS

A new type of comedy called the Comedy of Manners

appeared the end of the 17th century. It was

introduced by Sir George Etherege. This comedy was

unique in itself. It was written in prose. These plays

were witty, difficult, bright and heartless. They showed

the life and manners of the upper-class society of the

day. They laughed at the fashionable society. It was

mainly confined to the rich, courtly and fashionable

circle of London. Generally, people from the country

are ridiculed for their humbleness and lack of

sophistication.

COMEDY OF MANNERS

George Etherege wrote The Man of Mode

(1696) which shows the immoral

manners of the society.

William Wycherley, was a satirical

dramatist. His best works were The

Country Wife and The Plain Dealer.

One of the famous dramatists who wrote

Comedy of Manners was William Congreve. His

plays are not as coarse as the earlier plays. His

Old Bachelor was a perfect comic picture of the

hypocritical society. It is about an old man who

pretends to hate women, but marries a bad

one. The Double Dealer is about angry lovers.

Love for Love is funnier and contains clever

speeches and interesting, but foolish,

characters. His best play is The Way of the

World. It truly represents the comedy of manner

of restoration period.

WILLIAM CONGREVE

RESTORATION PROSE

During the restoration period, we also notice

some development in prose work John Dryden

wrote his critical work named Essay on

Dramatic Poesy. In this work, Dryden compares

English drama with French drama. He points

out the limitations of French drama and

considers English drama to be better than

French drama. He has written it in a clear,

reasonable and balanced way. His popularity as

a critic is also very great.

RESTORATION PROSE

John Bunyan wrote two allegorical prose works,

namely The Pilgrims Progress and The Holy War . The

first allegorical story presents Christian ’s difficult

journey to the heaven. The English language has

borrowed some phrases and words from this work and

they are commonly used in day -to-day conversation,

such as Vanity Fair , Slough of Despond , Mr. Great

Heart. In the second work he has presented his own

experience of the civil war. Bunyan sets an example of

writing prose in clear and simple style .

JOHN BUNYAN

John Locke ’s prose was also clear, earnest and without

ornament, though it lacks the balance in its sentences which

gives Bunyan ’s style its charm. But Locke ’s Essay on the Human

Understanding is one of the most important works of English

philosophy. It gave a new direction of thought, not only in

England but in other countries of Europe.

Samuel Pepys famous diary is also considered as a prose work.

His diary could not be read until 1852, because it was written in

secret signs. It gives the true picture of the social life of that

time and describes some events of the time in detail. His diary,

which presents himself as a hero, is very interesting and

colorful work.

JOHN LOCKE

SAMUEL PEPYS DIARY:

NEO-CLASSICAL POETS:

English poets from 1660 to 1798 are generally

known as neo-classical poets. They are called

so because they had a great respect for

classical writers and imitated much from them.

Order, correctness and established rules were

carefully observed. Set phrases and reasons

were commonly used in their poetry. For neo-

classical writers, poetry was an imitation of

human life.

NEOCLASSICAL POETS

FAMOUS WRITERS

John Dryden is a famous poet of his time. Dryden

wrote a great allegorical satire named Absalom and

Achitophel. In this poem he had used a biblical story in

order to attack the politicians of his time. Another

satire is MacFlecknoe which attacks a rival poet

named Shadwell.

Dryden had a good command of heroic couplets

through which he could write biting satires. The Ode

for Saint Cecilia ’s Day and Alexander’s Feast are his

best short poems. During the later years of his life

Dryden translated many classical works of great

writers from Greek and Latin.

JOHN DRYDEN

Alexander Popewas the most significant figure in poetry during the Augustan period. His witty (intelligent) couplets were often quoted and used as axioms.

Alexander Pope is famous satirical poet of the

eighteenth century. Though Pope was physically

weak because of his long illness, he wrote Essay

on Criticism while he was still young. The book

contains some remarkable expressions. In his

delightful poem The Rape of the Lock he uses a

light subject matter and treats it significantly. In

his satirical poem The Dunciad Pope laughs at the

poor poets who are writing for their living. His later

poems are the Essay on Man and four Moral

Essays.

ALEXANDER POPE

“To err is human, to forgive, divine. ”

― Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism

“Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be

disappointed.” ― Alexander Pope

“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. ”― Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism

“Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul. ”― Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock

“A little learning is a dangerous thing. -Alexander Pope, An

Essay on Criticism

“True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,As those move easiest who have learned to dance.”― Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism

FAMOUS LINES FROM POPE

THE CHURCHYARD

SCHOOL OF POETS

The 18th Century was an age of great prose. Until its

close, there was only second rate poetry. In the closing

years, a change took place in the character of its verse

that finally led to the fine Romantic poetry. The

change was first seen in James Thomson ’s The

Seasons. It was a collection of four poems in blank

verse: Winter (1726), Summer, Spring and Autumn

(1730). These poems described woods, fields, birds

and deserts. Though he occasionally used the artificial

language of the age, he started a new trend in English

poetry.

THE CHURCHYARD SCHOOL OF POETS

The finest poet of this school was Thomas Gray. His Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard is one of the most beautiful and famous English poems. In this elegy, he expresses his sad thoughts as he looks at the graves of the poor villagers in the churchyard of Stoke Pages. He thinks of what they would have become it, they had received the opportunity. But he feels sorry for them because they could not go to the cities to become famous. His ode The Bard is a sad song by a Welsh bard. He curses King Edward I and his race for killing all the bards of Wales.

THOMAS GRAY

“Full many a gem of purest ray serene

The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear:

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,

And waste its sweetness on the desert air.”

― Thomas Gray, An Elegy Written In A Country

Churchyard

FAMOUS LINES

"Full many" is just an eighteenth-century phrase

that means "lots of." So, lots of beautiful, pure

gems are hidden away in dark caves under the

ocean.

And lots of flowers come into blushing bloom

without a human to see and appreciate their beauty

or their sweet scent.

This stanza is about unsung heroes, like the guys

buried in the churchyard without monuments or

"trophies," and both the gems and the flowers are

metaphors for people who do awesome stuff that

doesn't get recognized.

EXPLANATION

The rise of

Novels

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

PROSE

Eighteenth century period is supposed to be

very fertile period in the development of prose

work. The writer slowly turned into reasonable

things. The prose was thought to be a good

medium in order to express more elaborate

ideas and arguments. The earlier development

in journalism also gave rise to prose work to

some extent.

INTRODUCTION

Daniel Defoe is a good prose writer as well as the first English

journalist . He began to publish the early London newspaper The

Review and ran it for nine years. He has finely described the

Great Plague in London in his Journal of the Plague Year (1722).

Robinson Crusoe is his famous work. It is a story

based on the real events of a sailor who quarreled

with his captain and was left alone on an island for

four years.

Two famous writers as well as journalists Richard

Steel and Joseph Addison worked together in

publishing the newspaper like The Tatler and The

Spectator. They wrote many famous and good essays

on various subjects and published in their

newspaper. They also wrote actions of imaginary

characters. Their works written in pure and simple

English helped much to the development of the

novel.

The Spectator & The Tatler

2015/3/16 38

Perhaps Jonathan Swift was the greatest

English satirist. He has written many bitter

satirical works which severely attack the social

evils and human wickedness. He wrote The

Battle of the Books in favor of ancient writers.

His Tale of Tub attacks on religious ideas. Swift

wrote his famous satire, A Modest Proposal in

order to attack the injustice of English rulers to

the poverty of Irish people.

JONATHAN SWIFT

Gulliver ’s Travels is the most popular satire of Swift. It is very

popular among the young children as a beautiful story. It is

written in four books. It contains the accounts of an English

captain Gulliver ’s adventurous voyage to dif ferent imaginary

places like Lill iput and Brobdingnag. There are many strange

and unusual descriptions in it. It powerfully attacks on man ’s

wickedness and stupidity.

GULLIVER’S TRAVELS

Dr. Samuel Johnson was another famous literary personality

of this period, who wrote all sorts of l iterary works because of

his poverty. He compiled a Dictionary and published it into

five times in his lifetime. It was his famous and major work.

His Lives of the Poets is a critical work which he wrote

carefully and obviously towards the later part of his life.

Edward Gibbon wrote The Decline and Fall of the Roman

Empire in six books. It is the greatest historical work in

English literature which covers the events of thirteen

centuries and relates the ancient to the modern world.

Edmund Broke was mainly famous for his fine oratorical

prose. His works Speech on American Taxation , Speech on

Conciliation with America and Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol

contain some of his best speeches.

English Novels in

the Eighteenth

Century

During the half of the eighteenth century, we notice the

real beginning of the English novel. Although

sometimes Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is called the first

English novel, it lacks some essential qualities.

More appropriately Samuel Richardson ’s Pamela is the

first English novel. Richardson discovered his talent as

a novelist at the age of fifty -one. Pamela is written in

the form of a series of letters. It contains a simple love

story of a virtuous servant girl who eventually married

her master. Richardson ’s next novel Clarissa Harlow

appeared in eight volumes. It is his masterpiece, which

is far better than the previous one. The story of this

novel is a remarkable achievement.

DANIEL DEFOE

SAMUEL RICHARDSON

Henry Fielding ’s first novel Joseph Andrews is a kind

of parody on Pamela. Its hero is supposed to be a

brother of Pamela. In the later part to the novel

Fielding’s interest shifted on another character named

Parson Adams. Tom Jones is the greatest and longest

novel of Fielding. It is both a comic and an amoral

novel about a boy Tom, who is found and brought up in

Mr. Allworthy’s house. His satirical work The History of

Jonathan Wild the Great deals with the life of real

dangerous criminal.

HENRY FIELDING

Another novelist Tobias Smollett worked in picaresque

tradition. He presented a new sort of social realities of

life in his novels. His novel Roderick Random is a

powerful but less pleasing. It describes bitterly the life

of those who sail the seas. Another novel Peregrine

Pickle is concerned with the adventures and travels of

a wicked hero. Smollett seems less violent in this

novel Humphrey Clinker which appeared in the form of

a letter. It contains the account of the journey of a

family. His books often give us interesting information

about life and society in his time.

TOBIAS SMOLLETT

Laurence Stern revealed a whole new concept of form

in novel by writing his famous novel Tristram Shandy.

There is no organization and order in the story. It gives

a great surprise and confusion to the reader. The hero

actually appears in the middle of the novel. There are

rows of stars, solid black pages and blank pages in the

novel. Thus, Sterne gives the readers a shock of

surprise by writing a strange sort of novel. His other

works are not so confusing and are in better prose.

LAURENCE STERN

GOTHIC

NOVEL OF

TERROR

The Novel of Terror is the peculiar product of the later

eighteenth century. It is a new type of romantic fiction inspired

by the general interest in medieval life and art, in ancient

ballads, and in Gothic castles and churches The story is full of

mystery and violent emotion, set in a far -away time and place,

with ghosts, spirits, and satanic forces, and with descriptions of

old unhappy far-off things and battles. The central figure is,

usually, a serous and restless villain. The beautiful, innocent

and sensitive heroine has to be rescued by a brave lover. The

scent is usually a haunted castle or a dark room of an old

church, full of secret passages and private chambers. The

background is wild and desolate nature. The supernatural forces

also help with physical and mental violence. In this mysterious

background there is romantic love.

THE GOTHIC NOVEL OR THE NOVEL OF TERROR

INTRODUCTION

Horace Walpole wrote The Castle

of Otranto (1764), a novel about

the medieval age. It contains

descriptions of impossible

events, such as the destruction

of a building by a ghost inside it.

William Beckford wrote Vathek

(1786), with a background of

ancient Arabia. It is about the

grandson of Harun-al Rashid

becoming a slave of Eblis, the

devil . Vathek commits horrible

crimes with Eblis, and in the end,

he is punished in hell.

HORACE WALPOLE

The most popular novelist of the Novel ofTerror was Mrs. Ann Radcliff. Her novelsare better quality because she provides theexplanations for the mysterioushappenings in her novels. She had a realfeeling for nature. She causes interest bydescribing strange scenes and sights, suchas moving walls and secret passages. Hergreat novel The Mysteries of Udolpho(1794) is about Emily, who is held captivein a castle by her uncle. Her other novelswere Romance of the Forest and TheItalian. She also wrote A Sicilian Romance(1790) and An Italian Romance (1791)

MRS. ANN RADCLIFF

QUESTIONS:

MULTIPLE AND SHORT

ANSWER TYPE

1. The Neo-classical literature was based mainly on___________(romance, music, reason, imagination)

2. The neo-classical poets and dramatists alwaysimitated classical rule of accuracy and order. Is ittrue or false?

3. ______________is an imitative work created tomake fun of the original work. (Elegy, Parody, Epic,Lyric)

4. Heroic tragedies are written in ______( sonnetform, Spenserian stanza, heroic couplets)

5. Heroic couplets never rhyme. True or false?

6. Comedy of manners was introduced by ______(Sir George Etherege, William Wycherley, Dryden)

7. The Way of the World is a good example of __________(Heroic tragedy/Comedy of Manners)

8. ____________sets an example of writing prose in clear and simple style. (John Bunyan/Dryden/John Locke)

9. For neo-classical writers, poetry was an imitation of human life. True or false?

10. Order, correctness and established rules were not carefully observed by the neo-classical poets. True or false?

11. _______________witty (intelligent) couplets were often quoted and used as axioms. (Dryden’s/Alexander Pope’s)

12. “To err is human, to forgive, divine.” These lines are written by _______________.(Pope/Dryden)

13. “ Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard “ is one of the most beautiful and famous English poems. It is written by ______(William Shakespeare/Thomas Gray/Alexander Pope)

14. _______is a good prose writer as well as the first English journalist. (Daniel Defoe/Richard Steele/Joseph Addison)

15. _______________is the most popular satire on man’s wickedness and stupidity by Jonathan Swift. (The Battle of the Books /A Modest Proposal /Gulliver’s Travel)

16. Dictionary was first published by Samuel Johnson. True or False?

17.Robinson Crusoe is called the first English novel by ___________(Defoe/Richardson/Fielding)

18. __________is a simple love story of a virtuous servant girl who eventually married her master written by Samuel Richardson. (Pamela/Joseph Andrews/Tom Jones)

19.The novels that deal with supernatural forces like ghosts, violence and romantic love are also called _________novels.(Gothic/Stream of Consciousness)

20.Mrs. Ann Radcliff’s novels are better quality because she provides____________:

A.Beautiful pictures in her novels.

B.Better description and narration in her novels.

C.the explanations for the mysterious happenings in her novels.

Short Answer Questions:

1. Explain these lines:“Full many a gem of purest ray serene

The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear:

Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,

And waste its sweetness on the desert air.”

― Thomas Gray, An Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard