Literature in English (UNICAN): RESTORATION AND THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT (1660-1798) Historical Background:- ENGLISH CIVIL WARS (1641-1645, 1648-1649) between the King (Charles I and Charles II, Stuart Kings who overestimated the power of the Monarchy) and the Parliament (led by Oliver Cromwell), a confrontation which also had economic and religious overtones (Puritans against the Church of England, urban traders against rural land-owners).- After a protectorate, the Monarchy was restored with James II in 1660 (“the Restoration”). His attempt to reintroduce Roman Catholicism led to his deposition with the “Glorious Revolution” (1688), which established that the king could only rule with the Parliament’s consent.
A compromise was reached between the fanatical republicanism of the Puritans and the fanatical absolutism of the two ill-fated Stuarts.- 1707: The Acts of Union created the Kingdom of Great Britain (England and Scotland, previously only common monarchs). Queen Anne became the new Queen and the Parliament of Great Britain was created. JOHN DRYDEN (1631-1700). Restoration Drama and Prose. The Restoration of King Charles II to the English throne in 1660 brought a new change in English literature. Previously closed theatres were opened again. New groups of writers began to write plays. 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 superior to French drama.
He has written it in a clear, reasonable and balanced way. His popularity as a critic is also very great. John Bunyan wrote two allegorical prose works, namely The Pilgrims Progress and The Holy War. 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. Samuel Pepys famous diary is also considered as a prose work. The Restoration Drama John Dryden was a famous dramatist of restoration period. Restoration Literature Characteristics. Restoration Poetry Analysis. The period from 1660 to 1798, sometimes extended to 1832, known as the long eighteenth century, is the age of satire. The genre traces its roots at least as far back as the fifth century b.c.e. comic playwright Aristophanes, although the models for Restoration writers are primarily the Augustan Horace and the early second century c.e. Juvenal. English precedents include the sixteenth century John Skelton, John Marston, and Thomas Nashe.
After 1660, however, the popularity of this literary form soared. Court ladies provided targets for often-anonymous lampoons. Writers did not spare each other. One of the best contributions to the poetomachia of the period is Dryden’s Mac Flecknoe: Or, A Satyre upon the True-Blew-Protestant Poet, T. The Restoration Period in English Literature: Timeline & Overview. This lesson will explore what is known as the Restoration era of English literature, which lasted from 1660 to about 1688. We'll look at the context, themes, and styles that define this period of literature. Explore our library of over 10,000 lessons Click "next lesson" whenever you finish a lesson and quiz. Got It You now have full access to our lessons and courses. Watch the lesson now or keep exploring. Got It You're 25% of the way through this course! The first step is always the hardest! Way to go! Congratulations on earning a badge for watching 10 videos but you've only scratched the surface.
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After the Restoration in 1660, when Charles II came to the throne, there was a complete repudiation of the Puritan ideals and way of living. In English literature the period from 1660 to 1700 is called the period of Restoration, because monarchy was restored in England, and Charles II, the son of Charles I who had been defeated and beheaded, came back to England from his exile in France and became the King. It is called the Age of Dryden, because Dryden was the dominating and most representative literary figure of the Age. As the Puritans who were previously controlling the country, and were supervising her literary and moral and social standards, were finally defeated, a reaction was launched against whatever they held sacred.
All restraints and discipline were thrown to the winds, and a wave of licentiousness and frivolity swept the country. In the beginning realism took an ugly shape, because the writers painted the real pictures of the corrupt society and court. Like this: James II. James II succeeded his brother, Charles II, in 1685. However, the attempt by James to move his country to absolute Catholicism led to the 1688 Revolution and the removal of James II from the throne. James was born on October 14th 1633. His father was thre executed Charles I and his mother was Henrietta Maria. James was their second son, the older being the future Charles II. In 1660, Charles retuned to Britain as Charles II as a result of the Restoration Settlement. During the reign of Charles, James was appointed Lord High Admiral. In 1669, James was received into the Catholic faith. James became king in 1685. The ‘honeymoon’ era only lasted a few months. In 1686, James embarked on a programme to persuade Anglican clergy and Tory politicians to join with him in an attempt to persuade Parliament to repeal the Test Act and the Penal Laws.
To many James seemed to be on a deliberate collision course with Parliament in a manner that resembled the mistakes made by Charles I. Introductory Lecture on the Neoclassical Period in English Literature. Introductory Lecture on the Neoclassical Period in English Literature Key terms: Restoration, 18th Century, Neoclassical, Augustan, Enlightenment façade, complacency, wit, reason, decorum, self-examination, self-publicizing diary, prose essay, periodical, ode, satire, novel Tory, Whig, non-conformist politeness, taste, self-control The names given to this period are confusing: Restoration, 18th Century, Neoclassical, Augustan.
Chronologically the period covers from 1660 to around 1800 (usual date is 1798, publication date of Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads). It is a period where counterfeiting and façades are very important; in some ways the country was trying to act like the Interregnum and English civil wars had not happened, and there is both a willful suppression of the immediate past and a glorification of the more distant, classical Roman past--which is why it is called the Neoclassical period. The first monarch of the period is Charles II. Political and Economic Complications. The Whigs. The term Whig was initially a term of political abuse used by the Tories. It was meant to discredit those who held different beliefs to the Tories and roughly translated it meant ‘Scottish Presbyterian rebels’. First used in the reign of Charles II, by the time of the Exclusion Crisis (1679 to 1681) it had become an accepted political label.
The first Whig ‘leader’ was Shaftsbury and his opponent in the Tories was Danby. The first Whigs were a difficult group to summarise in terms of their wholesale beliefs. The first Whigs were curious political bedfellows. What were the ideological beliefs of the Whigs? They believed that the consent of the people was the source of political power and authority and that monarchs were in power only as a result of a contract with the community.
Their other main belief was that Dissenters should be tolerated. In the reign of William and Mary, the Whigs split in two. Introductory Lecture on the Neoclassical Period in English Literature. Introductory Lecture on the Neoclassical Period in English Literature Key terms: Restoration, 18th Century, Neoclassical, Augustan, Enlightenment façade, complacency, wit, reason, decorum, self-examination, self-publicizing diary, prose essay, periodical, ode, satire, novel Tory, Whig, non-conformist politeness, taste, self-control The names given to this period are confusing: Restoration, 18th Century, Neoclassical, Augustan. Chronologically the period covers from 1660 to around 1800 (usual date is 1798, publication date of Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads).
It is a period where counterfeiting and façades are very important; in some ways the country was trying to act like the Interregnum and English civil wars had not happened, and there is both a willful suppression of the immediate past and a glorification of the more distant, classical Roman past--which is why it is called the Neoclassical period. The first monarch of the period is Charles II. Political and Economic Complications. The 18th century: Neoclassicism – The Augustan Age – The Transition/ Pre-romantic Age | Spazio personale di mario aperto a tutti 24 ore su.
The 18th century is known as The Age of Enlightenment or The Age of reason, to stress the rational trend of the period and the attitude according to which reason and judgement should be the guiding principles for human activities . It saw the birth of a new literary movement: Neoclassicism or Rationalism. This movement was greatly influenced by the ideas of John Locke and Isaac Newton.
The importance of Newton is clearly seen in the epitaph written by Alexander Pope: “Nature and Nature’s laws lay hid in night; God said,’ Let Newton be! ‘And all was light”. In his Principia Matematica the scientist showed that the universe was governed by mechanical principles and exact laws rather than by divine ones as it was believed before.
He left little place for God and we may say that he destroyed the traditional religious view of the world making God subject to the laws of science. Every thing was regulated by reason, nature too. Like this: Like Loading...