Neo – Classical period (1660 – 1785 )
This age is called Neoclassical or pseudo – Classical Age to mean the artificiality of writers of this age. They imitated the accident Greek and Roman literary tradition but lacked the originality of the writers of that period.
The neo – Classical Age comprises three shorter ages:
1. The Restoration Period ( 1660 – 1700 )
2. The Augustan Age ( 1702 – 1745 )
3. The Age of Sensibility ( 1745 – 85 )
The Restoration Period (1660 – 1700)
Main Literary Features of the Age:
1. Imitation of the ancient Greek and Roman Writers gives rise to Neo – Classicism.
2. Puritan controls loosen and a wave of foppery and vulgarity sweeps the creative works.
3. Great English epics are written with proper elegance and grandeur.
4. Drama returns with the then French licentiousness and gaiety; it loses Elizabethan seriousness and splendour .
5. Comedy of manners and heroic tragedy became major dramatic genres.
6. Translation of great classical texts starts appearing.
7. Satirical verse becomes popular.
8. Literature of two extremes co – exists: Great epics, like Paradise Lost, and the moral wisdom, like The Pilgrim’s Progress, are written. At the same time sexual comedies, like The Country Wife, are also written.
The Augustan Age (1702 – 1745)
Main Literary Features of the Age:
1. Neo – classical spirit continues .
2. Poetry becomes a visual as well as a verbal art following Horace’s theory “as in painting, so in poetry .” ( “ Ut Pictura poesis ” ) .
3. Precise , formal and elegant become the standard style of writing .
4. Moderation, realism and rationalism become the main principles of creative works.
5. The regular pentameter couplet and blank verse are developed to the best possible perfection
6 . Lyric poetry looses dominance .
7. Satirical verse continues.
8. Satirical prose appears; it blends fact and fiction in new forms, such as , biographies , travelogues , political allegories , and romantic tales .
9. Novels and journalism begin.
10. Translation of great classical texts continues.
11. Wit or inventiveness, and aptness of descriptive images or metaphors become major literary devices.
12. Literature mirrors political awareness.
13. Urban culture overpowers literature.
The Age of Sensibility (1745 – 1785)
Main Literary Features of the Age:
1. The Restoration spirit dies away.
2. The age marks a gradual change in poetic taste and techniques .
3. The heroic couplet and blank verse decline and ballad and lyric revive .
4. Pindaric ode appears .
5. Intellectual Prose writings flourished.
6. The novel takes a definite shape and rises to dominate the literary scene .
7. Poetry shifts its focus from intensely social issues to melancholy, isolation and reflection.
8. Features of romanticism that flourishes in the next age come into view .
9. Literary criticism finds a solid ground .
Major Authors of Neoclassical period
1. Samuel Johnson
Birth : 18 September , 1709 Litchfield , England .
Death : 13 December 1784 London , England .
Important Information :
# He is an essayist , a poet .
# He is popular for compiling first English dictionary .
# He is famous mainly as a lexicographer .
# He is the first composer of English Dictionary .
Famous Works :
# The Vanity of Human Wishes
# Iren
# The Dictionary of The English Language (1775)- the First English dictionary.
# The rambler
# Universal Yester.
# The Idler
# The Patriot
# Princes of Abisinia ( Nobel )
2. Jonathan Swift
Birth : 30 November 1667 , Dublin , Ireland
Death : 19 October , 1745 Dublin , Ireland
Important Information :
# Pet Name : - M. B. Drapier
- Lemuel Gulliver
- Issac Bickerstaff
# He is the most famous English Satirist In English Literature; also an essayist; a political pamphleteers .
Famous Works
# Gulliver’s Travel
# A Modest Proposal
# A tale of a tub
# Drapier’s Letters
# A journal to stella
# The Battle of the books
Famous Poems
# Ode to the ancient society
# Baucis and Philemon
# A description of the morning
# Cardenus and Vanessa
# The furniture of a women's mind
# The day of judgment
3. Alexander Pope
Birth : 21 May , 1688 , England
Death : May 30 , 1744 , Twickenham , U. K.
Important Information :
# He was an 18th century English poet.
# He is best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer.
Famous Work :
# An essay on Criticism
# The Rape of the Lock
# Eloisa to Abelard
# The Dunciad
# Ode on Solitude
# Imitations of Horace
# Messiah
# Windsor Forest
# Three Hours After Marriage (With Others)
# Essay on Man
# Moral Essays
# Windsor Forest
Famous Poems
# Essay on Criticism
# Essay Man on
# Dunciad Moral Essays
# Rape of the lock
# Later life and works
4. Henry Fielding
Birth : April 22, 1707, Sharp ham , U. K.
Death : October 8 , 1754 , Lisbon , Portugal .
Important Information:
# He was buried in British cemetery, Lisbon, Portugal.
# He is the father of English Novel
# A Novelist and a dramatist .
Famous Play and Tragedy:
# Love in several Masques
# Took Upon your daughter
# Grub Street Opera
# The Lottery
# The Miser
# Rape Upon Rape
# The Temple Beau
# The Modern Husband
# The Mock Doctor
# Eurydice Hissid
Famous Novel:
# Toms Jones ( 1752 ) Amelia
# Joseph Andrews
Famous Poem :
# A Pipe of Tobacco
# Masquerade ( His first Publication )
Other Authors Of Neo – Classical Period
|
Authors |
Works and important notes |
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William Congreve (1670 – 1729 ) Poet and Playwright and restorian comedian . |
- The Old Bachelor |
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- The Double Dealer |
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- Love for Love |
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- The Mourning Bride |
|
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-The Way of the world |
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George Farquhar ( 1678 – 1707 ) Irish Dramatist , Priest . |
- The Recruiting Officer |
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- The Beaux’s Stratagen |
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- Love And Bottle |
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- The Constant couple |
|
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Thomas Gray ( 1716 – 1771 ) Poet and historian . |
- Elegy Written in a country Churchyard |
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Oliver Goldsmith (1728 – 74 ) Playwright , Busker . |
- The Vicar of Wakefield |
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- The Deserted Village |
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- The Traveler |
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- The good Natured Man |
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- The citizen of the world |
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- She stops to conquer |
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