1. The Augustan Age in 18th century English literature was characterized by reason dominating emotion and social conventions over individual convictions.
2. Writers were heavily influenced by French neoclassical rules and models like Boileau, valuing wit over imagination.
3. Alexander Pope was a dominant figure who advocated for literature to follow human nature and society through works like The Rape of the Lock.
1. The Augustan Age in 18th century English literature was characterized by reason dominating emotion and social conventions over individual convictions.
2. Writers were heavily influenced by French neoclassical rules and models like Boileau, valuing wit over imagination.
3. Alexander Pope was a dominant figure who advocated for literature to follow human nature and society through works like The Rape of the Lock.
1. The Augustan Age in 18th century English literature was characterized by reason dominating emotion and social conventions over individual convictions.
2. Writers were heavily influenced by French neoclassical rules and models like Boileau, valuing wit over imagination.
3. Alexander Pope was a dominant figure who advocated for literature to follow human nature and society through works like The Rape of the Lock.
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY good sense, because it was based on the good - sense The Augustan Age or the Age of Pope ideal of the French critic Boileau. It was an age of en- lightenment when a literature which had become pellu- It was poet Oliver Goldsmith who first designated cid and clear began to diffuse knowledge among a grow- the early 18th century, as the Augustan Age. The age ing public. The supremacy of reason was scarcely chal- has also been called the Age of Pope. The Augustan lenged. There reigned a common belief in the advance- age includes the age of Dryden and Pope. The restora- ment of human mind. tion of Stuart monarchy in 1660 marked the beginning of the Augustan age. Religious and philosophic thought Eighteenth century in England was an age equal The Augustans believed in respectability and de- to the age of Augustus Caesar, when the Roman soci- signed conformity. They had no regard for boundless ety had reached the peak of its glory. The name Au- imagination and overflowing enthusiasm of the Eliza- gustan Age was chosen by writers who saw in Pope, bethan age. Their outlook was rational. The poets of Addison, Swift, Johnson and Burke the modern paral- this age strove to repress all emotion and enthusiasm. lels to Horace, Virgil and Cicero, and all that brilliant Good sense became the ideal of the time, and good company who made Roman literature famous in the day sense meant a love of the reasonable and the hatred of of Augustus. Past ages of England were looked upon the extravagant and mystical. Wit took precedence of as barbarous, and the classics of Greece and Rome were imagination ; inspiration was lost in technical skill. The regarded as models which men of taste were to follow. whole literature of the age was marked by coldness and want of feeling. Characteristics of the Augustan Age The French influence The Classical Age The 18th century literature was indebted to the This period, in the first place, is called the classical growing influence of French literature. One notable fea- age, because reason dominated emotion; social con- ture of French influence may be seen in the tragedies in ventions became more important than individual con- rhyme that were for a time in vogue, of which plots were victions ; form became more important than content. borrowed from French romances. Boileau held supreme The term "classic" is applied to designate writing of the sway over the minds of the literary artists. He was al- finest quality. According to Goethe, "Everything that most a literary dictator. is good in literature is classical." Every national litera- Nature followed ture has at least one period in which an unusual num- An important characteristic of the age was the belief ber of exceptional writers produce books of outstand- that literature must follow nature. Pope exhorted his ing quality, and this is called the classical period of a contemporaries to follow nature. However, the nature nation's literature. The age of Queen Anne is often called of the Augustan period was not the nature of Word- the classical age of England. Addison, Swift, Richard- sworth. The Augustans were drawn towards human son, Fielding, Goldsmith, Dr Johnson, Burke, Gibbon nature rather than the nature we have in forests. Their and Pope are the great luminaries of the age. sole aim was to copy man and manners of society. Alex- Rule of rules ander Pope said : "The proper study of mankind is man". The writers of this age were governed by set rules Reflection of the contemporary society and principles. And, in this crazy adherence to rules The literature of the age was concerned with the the writers were deeply influenced by Boileau and Rap- follies and foibles of the times. Literature became an in, who insisted on precise methods of writing poetry interpretation of life, the kind of life that was led in the and who professed to have discovered their rules in social and political circles of the times. Poetry became the works of Aristotle and Horace. the poetry of the town, the coffee - house and artificial society ; Pope's The Rape of the Lock is a classic exam- r The Stuart monarchy in England was restored in ple. The literature of the age lost all touch with the coun- - 1660 try life and became the literature of the town. r Who said, "the proper study of mankind is man"? Satire - Alexander Pope Satire is the literary art of diminishing or derogat- r –––– is the literary art of diminishing or derogating ing a subject by making it ridiculous and evoking to- a subject by making it ridiculous and evoking wards it attitudes of amusement, scorn, or indignation. towards it attitudes of amusement, scorn, or Satire is usually justified by those who practice it as a indignation corrective of human vice and folly. - Satire Satire became the prominent form of literature dur- Alexander Pope (1688-1744) ing the Augustan age. The satires of Dryden are well known to us. In the age of Pope the love for satire came Alexander Pope was the predominant figure in the to the upper surface and the coldworldliness of Au- poetry of the 18th century. He was the representative gustan life found its expression in polished wit and sat- poet of his century. He was the only poet who present- ire. ed in his works almost all the essential qualities of the classical school of poetry. He was the high priest of a Poetic diction rationalistic and fashionable age. The language of poetry became gaudy and inane The evolution of Pope's poetic career is generally and the ordinary language was kept out from poetic classified into four periods. In the first period he wrote literature. The result was that the literature of the age his Pastorals, Essay on Criticism, and The Rape of the became artificial, stilted, rational and intellectual, losing Lock. The translation of Homer was carried out in the all inspiration, enthusiasm and romantic fervour which second period. The third period, which is the best peri- were the hall-marks of the literature of the Elizabethan od of Pope's life and which has been called the "Twick- age. The Augustans were superior in other ways, nota- enham" or "Horatian" period, witnessed the composi- ble in satire and journalism, in the technical language of tion of the Dunciad and the Epistles. The poet gave us philosophy and science and in the great branch of mod- in his fourth period his philosophical Essay on Man ern literature, the novel, of which they were among the and Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot. English pioneers. The first work of Pope which caught the eye of the The heroic couplet public was The Pastorals. The Pastorals was written In heroic couplet lines of iambic pentameter rhyme when Pope was only sixteen. It was published in 1709. in pairs : aa, bb, cc and so on. The adjective "heroic" is The Pastorals was written in the style of Virgil, but one applied because of the frequent use of such couplets in finds very little imitation of Virgil in it. The real merit of heroic poems (epic) and plays. This verse form was The Pastorals lay in its versification. introduced into English poetry by Geoffrey Chaucer. Following the tradition of Boileau, Pope published During the Augustan age the heroic couplet was his Essay on Criticism in 1711. The Thoughts of Essay recognised as the only medium of poetic expression. It on Criticism are not original. They have all been bor- was no longer possible to write one's thoughts as the rowed from the ancients and the French. He presented pen could move. The fastidiousness of the public ear skilfully the ideas borrowed from others in wonderfully did not appreciate "the mob of gentlemen who wrote terse, epigrammatic and quotable verse. Some of the with ease." In the heroic couplet the poets put all their observations in the Essay on Criticism have passed skill and wrote with an unimaginable correctness and into language, such as, "A little, learning is a danger- precision. ous thing" ; "To err is human, to forgive divine"; Fools r The 18th century was first designated as the rush where angels fear to bread etc." Augustan age by The Rape of the Lock was brought out in 1712. - Oliver Goldsmith The poem is so grateful, delicate, cynical and witty. It is Steele started The Tatler in 1709, and he stated its pur- a poem ridiculing the fashionable world of Pope's day, pose in these words : "The general purpose of this its immediate aim being to laugh at two families of his paper is to expose the false art of life, to puff off the acquaintance into making up a quarrel over a trivial in- disguises of cunning, variety and affectation, and to cident. The quarrel is presented in terms of great epic recommend a general simplicity in our discourse, and conventions and the impact of the poem, which for bril- our behaviour." Under the pseudonym of Issac Bicker- liance of conception and consistency of execution, is staff, Steele recommended truth, innocence, honour unsurpassed in literature. The poem is a masterpiece of and virtue as the chief ornaments of life. The Tatler its kind in mock - heroic style. kept away from politics, its publication was Pope took many years to complete stopped, and its place was taken by The translating Homer's Illiad and Odyssey. Spectator to which Addison and Steele Bentley, the classical scholar, sarcastically made diversified contributions. remarked, "It is a pretty poem, Mr. Pope, As a writer Steele in remarkable for his but you must not call it Homer." For making versatality in conceiving humorous types this remark against the translation, Bentley of characters, for the wide range of his sym- had to suffer a lot in the hands of Pope in pathies, for the readiness with which he the epic satire, Dunciad. adapts himself to his subject matter whether After the publication of the Transla- grave or gay in character. tion of Homer, Pope devoted his energies Steele paved the way for the future entirely to satirical works. The satires of development of periodical literature. The aim Pope are modelled on the style of Horace Alexander Pope of Steel's essays was didactic. He desired to and Juvenal, the classical writers. In his sat- bring about a reform of the contemporary ires Pope attacked the personalities of his age. The su- society manners. He is notable for his consistent advo- preme achievement in this direction, however, was the cacy of womanly virtue and the ideal of gentlemanly Dunciad written between 1725 and 1728. The core idea courtesy, chivalry and good taste. of Dunciad was taken from Dryden's Mac Flecknoe. Joseph Addison (1672 - 1719) While Dryden's attack was exclusively upon Shadwell, Addison's lasting contribution was to the forma- Pope, though aiming principally at Theobald, attacked tion of the periodical essay. Together with Richard Steele the whole battalion of his enemies. he formed and perfected the periodical essay, earlier in Pope's Essay on Man is a poem which reflects his The Tatler and later on in the The Spectator. The first moral and political ideas. The Essay is hopelessly con- issue of The Spectator came out on 11th March, 1711. It fused and contradictory at many places, but as a work was different from The Tatler, in that it consisted of a of art it occupies a place of its own in the poetic evolu- single long essay or pamphlet, whereas The Tatler con- tion of Pope. tained several short articles on different subjects. The The Imitations of Horace and the Epistle to Dr. Spectator had two principal aims. The first object of the Arbuthnot are the most autobiographical works of Pope. paper was to present a true and faithful picture of the 18th century. The second object was to bring about a Prose of the Age of Pope moral and social reform in the conditions of the time. In Richard Steele (1672-1729) short, the essays in The Spectator aspired to be a faith- ful reflection of the life of the time viewed with an aloof Steele was a typical figure of the times and and dispassionate observation, and set out to be a mild represented from the transition from the Restoration censor of the morals of the age. period to the Augustan Age. His first work The Christian Hero was thoroughly Augustan in character. In the Coverley Papers (The Spectator) Addison Richard Steele and Joseph Addison laid the foun- laid stress on character portrayal, and the characters of dation of the periodical essay during the 18th century. Sir Roger de Coverley and Sir Andrew Freeport were finely drawn. In these character - sketches we have the and loose thinking on the one hand, and that of Puritan seed of the novel of character developed later on in the fanaticism and bigotry on the other. Their method was 19th century. admirably adapted to their purpose. They did not in- dulge in sweeping condemnations and unqualified in- Addison's prose style vectives ...... they wrote good humouredly. met all classes Addison taught and practised neatness, lucidity of people on their own ground, and made allowance for and precision of expression. His was the language of the ordinary failings of humanity ; but at the same time "actual talk". they consistently advocated the claims of decency and Addison's prose style, compared with what went good sense." before it, is nearer to the language of conversation. Yet Attention to the interests of women became one it is not the informal language of conversation alto- of the invariable conventions of the periodical essay. gether. Nor is it the ultraformal language of a serious W.H. Hudson says, "..... they addressed themselves and heavy treatise. It is free alike from the heaviness of awowedly and directly to women ; and at a time when high -bound formalism and the levity and licence of women in society were, as a rule, immersed in the mere common speech. It is something like a via media be- trivialities of existence, they did their best to draw them tween the two. Dr. Johnson calls it an example of the into the currents of the larger intellectual life." They "middle style". pointed out their follies and frailties but with a view to Praising Addison's style Dr. Johnson says, "His improve the status of women in society. The women prose is the model of the middle style ; on grave sub- were also thankful to these essayists and read their jects not formal, on light occasions not grovelling essays with keen interest. ................ His page is always luminous, but never blaz- es in unexpected splendour. It was apparently his prin- The periodical essays were written in a simple, clear, cipal endeavour to avoid all harshness and severity of conversational style to be understood by semi-educat- diction, he is therefore sometimes verbose in his tran- ed or unscholarly readers. They avoided individual sitions and connections, and sometimes descends too whims, conceits, witticism and harsh words which could much to the language of conversation." not be appreciated by the middle classes and women The Periodical Essay who were among the main readers of periodical essays. The periodical essay was invented as a piece of Jonathan Swift (1667-1731) journalism towards the end of the 17th century. It Jonathan Swift was one of the greatest literary fig- reached the pinnacle of its achievement in the work of ures of the Age of Pope. His writings have been gener- Steele and Addison. It maintained great popularity ally considered works of fiction and art. Satire is the throughout the 18th century, and disappeared about prime motive in all his works. His satire remains uniform 1800. In the 18th century it was a popular in quality, but differs in degree. We have genre and even more popular than the mock the same vein of satrical tone in his three - heroic and novel. About its phenomenal great satires ––– The Battle of the Books, popularity A.R. Humphrey observes : "If The Tale of a Tub and Gulliver's Travels. any literary form is the particiular creation In The Battle of the Books the and the particular mirror of the Augustan moderns are lashed vigorously. Swift rep- Age in England, it is the periodical essay." resents the Classics by the Bee, which The main reason for the success of flies from flower to flower culling all the periodical literature in the 18th century lay sweetness that each has to offer, and the in the fact that it suited the moral temper of Moderns by the spider, spinning every- the age. In the words of W.H. Hudson, "they thing out of his own insides. The Battle set themselves as moralists to break down of the Books is considered a great prose two opposed influences –– that of the prof- satire in English literature. ligate Restoration tradition of loose living Jonathan Swift The Tale of the Tub is a brilliant satirical narrative Lord Bolingbroke (1678-1751) on the excesses of the Catholics and Puritans as seen Bolingbroke was a great political figure of the Age from the middle position of the Anglican Church. of Pope. His prose work, marked with rhetoric, reflect Swift's, last satire, Gulliver's Travels, is in four his Tory views. Prominent works of Bolingbroke are A books. The entire work is an elaboration of the attitude Letter on the Spirit of Patriotism (1736) and The Idea expressed by him to Pope, "I heartily hate and detest of a Patriot King (1738. that animal called man." The book describes Gulliver's The Earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713) travels to the four lands of Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Lapu- ta and Houyhnhnmland. The voyage to Lilliput and The Earl (Anthony Ashley Cooper) was an Brobdingnag satirised the politics and manner of the aristocrat of the time. He had little taste for politics and people of England and Europe ; that to Laputa mocked aspired to be famous as a great writer. His Men, Manners, the philosophers; and that to Houyhnhnmland lacerat- Opinions and Times (1711) suited the taste of the time. ed and defied the whole body of Humanity. (1711) suited the taste of the time. Swift's method in all these works is to strike boldly r Pope's poem which reflects his moral and political with sarcasm and irony. In A Modest Proposal for Pre- ideas venting the Children of Poor People from being a - Essay on Man Burden, the terrible suffering in Ireland is presented in r The periodical essay was introduced in the 18th a mocking suggestion that the poor should devote them- century by selves to the rearing of children to be killed and eaten. - Joseph Addison and Richard The prose style of Swift Steele Swift's style is marked for its clarity, precision and r Who started The Tatler (1709) ? conciseness. He never attempted to equip his sentenc- - Richard Steele es with redundant words, aware that from the simplest r TheTatler was replaced by and the fewest arise the secret spring of genuine har- mony. Compton - Rickett says, "Like other great styl- - The Spectator ists of the time –– Pope and Addison ––– he achieves r The writer who took the pseudonym, Issac a triumphant clarity ; but unlike Pope he is never epi- Bickerstaff grammatic ; unlike Addison he had little plasticity of - Richard Steele form. He is plainly and forcefully clear with a greater r An autobiographical work of Swift. strength than theirs ; all the more striking and urgent - Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot for his lack of ornament and concentrated passion." r Pope's poem whose immediate aim was to laugh at Swift made no use of Latin words. Latin words are the two families of his acquaintance into making up a cause for obscurity and Swift was dead set against obscurity. quarrel over a trivial issue Swift is the most original writer of his time, and - The Rape of the Lock one of the greatest masters of English prose. Direct- r The core idea of Pope's Dunciad was taken from ness, vigour and simplicity mark his pages. - Dryden's MacFlecknoe Other Writers of the Age of Pope r –––– is a brilliant satirical narrative of Jonathan John Arbuthnot (1667-1735) Swift on the excesses of the Catholies and puritans as seen from the middle position of the Anglican Arbuthnot was an important literary and political Church figure of his time. He wrote The Art of Political Lying (1712) following in the footsteps of Swift. His political - The Tale of the Tub work, The history of John Bull (1712) ridiculed the war r The Christian Hero is the work of policy of the Whigs. - Richard Steele r The Art of Political Lying was written by cer's Knight's Tale, Nun Priest's Tale, Wife of Bath's - John Arbuthnot Tale etc. These fables show him at his best and entitle him to the rank of a great story teller in verse. John Dryden Dryden's odes are of immense importance. The "Every age had a kind of universal genius", wrote longest and the best known of this class are the Song Dryden in his Essay on Dramatic Poesy, and in no poet for St. Cecilia's Day and Alexander's Feast. Dryden's are his own words more truly verified. In Dryden's works next ode, To the Pious Memory of Mrs Anne Killigrew, we have an excellent reflection of both the good and was written in 1696. Dr Johnson called it the best ode in evil tendencies of the age in which he lived. the language. Dryden was the supreme satirist in verse of his Dryden is known as a great artist in verse as well age. In 1680, a prose tract Absalom's Conspiracy gave as in prose, and his reputation as a poet rests on his Dryden a hint for his most successful satire –– Ab- artistic excellence. T.S. Eliot says, "Much of Dryden's salom and Achitophel (1681). The Duke of Monmouth unique art consists in his ability to make the small into and his evil counsellors, Shaftesbury and Buckingham, the great, the prosaic into the poetic, the trivial into the were mercilessly exposed in Absalom and Achitophel, magnificient." He handed with dexterity the heroic cou- the most powerful satire in English language. plet and the blank verse. In fact, the poetic instrument Shaftesbury was acquitted from the charge of trea- remains wholly in the service of the player's hand. son and a medal was struck to commemorate, the event. John Dryden exercised a powerful influence on Thereupon Dryden wrote The Medal, which was pub- the poets of the nineteenth century. Dry- lished in March 1682. It consists of contin- den's 'lofty line' was adopted by Pope, Gray, uous denunciation of Shaftesbury. Johnson, Churchill and Canning. Dryden Dryden's next poem, Mac Flecknoe was, undoubtedly, the outstanding literary (1682), which has been described as a highly artist of his age. developed lampoon than a satire, makes fun Restoration Satire of Shadwell, the Whig poet. In Mac Fleck- Satire may be defined as the expression noe, we have good-natured contempt. It is in adequate terms of the sense of amuse- redeemed and enlivened by its humour. ment or disgust excited by the ridiculous, Dryden's first religious poem, Religio provided that humour is a distinctly recog- Laici (1682) is a defence of the Church of nizable element, and that the utterance in- England (the Anglican church) against oth- vested with literary form. Without humour er sects, especially the Roman Catholics and satire is invective, without literary form, it is the Presbytarians. John Dryden mere clownish jeering. The manner of the satirist is different from that of a lyric poet. His second religious poem, The Hind Since hatred and contempt are unpleasant feelings the and the Panther (1687) is a long allegorical fable de- satirical poet usually avoids giving them direct expres- signed as an effort to draw the churches together, and sion, and makes frequent use of irony. He banks largely restore their union. In the poem the "hind" stood for on intellectual dexterity and brilliant versification to fas- the Roman Catholic Church and the "panther" repre- cinate his reader and win admiration where he cannot sented the Church of England. hope for sympathy. Dryden's activities during the last years of his life The Restoration age is essentially the age of sat- were mainly confined to translations. In 1697 he trans- ire. Judging and condemning became a common phe- lated the whole of Virgil. Dryden wrote a few fables in nomenon of this age, and this habit naturally gave birth poetry based on the works of Boccacio and Chaucer. In to the spirit of satire. the fables he versified the stories of Sigismonda and The Restoration of the Stuart monarchy brought Guiscardo, Cymon and Iphigenia from Boccacio's royalism in its full glory and natural urge to attack the Decameron, and paraphrased in his own style Chau- old regime of Puritanism found its best expression in satires such as Butler's Hudibras. The open denuncia- olanus became the Ingratitude of a Commonwealth tion of false spiritual authorities became not only a duty (1682). From John Fletcher he adapted The Island Prin- but a pleasure with the Restoration writers. cess (1687); from Chapman and Marston's Eastward Political atmosphere also aggravated the spirit of sat- Ho he derived the Cuckold's Haven (1685); in 1707 he ire. With the Restoration old poetical spirits sprang up giv- rewrote John Webster's White Devil; and Sir Aston ing rise to political satires, particularly the satires of Dryden. Cockayne's Trappolin suppos'd a Prince he imitated in The Whigs and Tories, two major political factions in En- Duke and no Duke (1685). gland, engaged themselves virtually in a pen war. Tate's name is chiefly connected with these man- The influence of classical satirists had much to do gled versions of other men's plays and with the famous with the growing satirical spirit of the age. The study New Version of the Psalms of David (1696), in which he of classics promoted familiarity with the works of Hora- collaborated with Nicholas Brady. Tate collaborated with ce, Juvenal and Persius. The writers considered it a John Dryden to complete the second half of his epic matter of prestige to follow in the footsteps of the great poem Absalom and Achitophel. masters of the past. Tate was named as poet laureate in 1692. His po- Finally, the general classical taste of the day ems were sharply criticised by Alexander Pope in The favouring a type of literature which should be clear, Dunciad. Of his numerous poems the most original is concise and topical also gave rise to the spirit of satire Panacea, a poem of Tea (1700). In spite of his consistent during the age. Toryism, he succeeded Thomas Shadwell as poet laure- ate in 1692. He died within the precincts of the Mint, John Dryden wrote three outstanding satires : Southwark, where he had taken refuge from his credi- Absalom and Achitophel, Medal and Mac Flecknoe. tors, in 1715. He was succeeded by Nicholas Rowe. They are masterpieces of political vigour, personal an- imosity and anti-puritan spirit. Dryden comes out in his Other Restoration Satirists satires as a man of his times as much under the influ- ence of political conditions as any one of his victims. Samuel Butler (1612-80) His manner of expression in his satires is sharp and Butler was a Royalist and in his powerful satire, witty and his diction is employed with deftness. Hudibras, he satirised Puritanism in doggerel verse. The work is plainly modelled on Don Quixote of Cervantes. Nahum Tate Nahum Tate (1652-1715) was an Anglo-Irish poet, John Oldham (1653-83) hymnist and lyricist, who became Poet Laureate in 1692. Oldham was also a great satirist of the school of Tate published a volume of poems in London in 1677, Juvenal. His two powerful satires are Satire against and became a regular writer for the stage. "Brutus of Virtue and Satire upon the Jesuits. Alba, or The Enchanted Lovers" (1678), a tragedy deal- Prose literature during the Restoration age ing with Dido and Aeneas and The Loyal General The Restoration gave rise to a new prose style –– (1680), were followed by a series of adaptations from plain, simple and graceful and suitable for historical and Elizabethan dramas. In William Shakespeare's Richard II fictional narrative and for critical and philosophical he altered the names of the characters, and changed thought. the text so that every scene, to us his own words, was The first important factor responsible for the new "full of respect of Majesty and the dignity of courts"; prose style was the establishment of the Royal Society but in spite of these precautions The Sicilian Usurper of London in 1660. In the words of Thomas Spart, the (1681), as his rewrite was called, was suppressed on the historian of the times, the Royal Society was determined third representation on account of a possible political to "reject all amplifications, digressions and swelling interpretation. of style to return to the primitive purity, and shortness, King Lear (1687) was fitted with a happy ending when men delivered so many things, almost in an equal in a marriage between Cordelia and Edgar; and Cori- number of words. Another distinguishing factor responsible for the Bunyan's first book is his spiritual autobiography, new prose was the diffusion of the spirit of common- Grace Abounding. His next work, The Pilgrim's sense and the critical temper of mind which was not Progress, is an allegory. Here the allegory takes the suitable for higher flights of imagination and rhetorical form of a dream by the author. The work is remarkable eloquence. A note of rationality and critical appraisal for the beauty and simplicity of its language, reality of of life came up, and this critical temper did not allow impersonations and the author's sense of humour and them to be poets of exuberant fancy and naturally they feeling for the world of nature. In The Pilgrim's Progress introduced exactness and precision in their writings. Bunyan deals with the journey of a noble from This Added to this was the growing influence of science world to Paradise. which favoured clarity of thought and plainness of style. Another notable work of Bunyan is the novel, The French influence has much to do in the renovation Life and Death of Mr Badman, which gives the picture of English prose. The French had cultivated grace, sim- of a soul on its journey from this world to Hell. plicity and lucidity in their expressions. The works of French authors were translated during this period, and John Locke and Thomas Hobbes that had much to do with the simplification of prose style. Political prose was developed by John Locke and Matthew Arnold summed up the renovation of Thomas Hobbes. Locke is the author of Essay on the English prose during this age in the folowing words : Human Understanding, which is an examination into the the nature of human knowledge. Hobbes, in his Levia- "The Restoration marks the real moment of birth of our modern prose. It is by its organism –– an organ- than, advocates monarchy, and holds the view that mon- ism opposed to length and involvement, and enabling archy alone can preserve the society from disruption. us to be clear, plain and short ––– that English prose Restoration comedy of manners after the Restoration breaks with the style of the times The comedy of manners developed during the age preceding it, finds the true law of prose, and becomes of Dryden was greatly influenced by the French drama- modern : becomes, in spite of superficial differences, tist Moliere. The writers of the Restoration comedy de- the style of our own day". voted themselves specifically to picturing the external Among the creators of modern prose John Dry- details of life, the fashion of the time, its manners, its den must be placed in the front rank. He inauguarted a speech and its interests. new era in English prose and criticism. He may be called The comedy of manners has been criticised for its the father of English prose style. Being a poet and dra- licentiousness, obscenity and immorality. Macaulay matist, Dryden had to state the aims and objects of his denounced the immorality and obscenity prevalent in poetry, argue new points, defend his heroic tragedy, this type of comedy. Leslie Stephen echoed Maculay in and thereby create a taste in public for his works. For saying that this comedy was "written by blackguards this purpose he employed prose. Dryden wrote essays for blackguards". There were defenders too. and prefaces, and his two outstanding works of the Prof. Boname Dobree maintained that Restoration com- genre are The Essay on Dramatic Poesy and Preface to edy expressed "not licentiousness, but a deep curiosi- the Fables. Giving up the long-winded, cumbersome ty and a desire to try new ways of living." Charles Lamb sentences of the earlier prose writers of the 17th centu- ry, Dryden used a language marked with simplicity, defended the obscenity of Restoration comedy as the straightforwardness and ease. A critical touch enliv- device of artists to present the sense of reality in their ens all the writings of Dryden. plays. John Bunyan (1628-88) The prominent writers of the comedy of manners, apart from John Dryden, are Sir George Ethrege, William The other great name in the prose literature of Dry- den's age is that of John Bunyan. Wycherley, William Congreve etc. r Which period of time in designated as the age of Restoration ? AGE OF DR JOHNSON (1745 -1798) - 1660 - 1700 OR r Name a few French writers who deeply influenced THE AGE OF TRANSITION the literature of the age of Restoration. The Trends of the Age of Transition - Moliere, Pascal, Corneille, and Racine. Double tendency r Dryden's play which is regarded as the best Two movements emerged during 1745-1798. One representation of Heroic Play. was still in the direction of classicism. The notable fig- ure in this movement is Dr Samuel Johnson. There was - Tyrannic Love also a romantic reaction against the old order. The search r Name the work of Samuel Butler which is a satire for romanticism started as early as 1740 with the publi- on the Puritans. cation of Thomson's Seasons. - Hudibras The new learning The minor renaissance of the middle and later stag- r The first play of John Dryden es of the 18th century touched nearly all Europe. In - The Wild Gallant literature the revival of the Romantic Movement led to r The first great satire of Dryden in verse. (a) research into literary forms such as the ballad and (b) new editions of older authors such as Shakespeare - Absalom and Achitophel and Chaucer. The publication of Bishop Percy's Rel- r "Every age has a kind of universal genius". This iques (1765), which contained some of the oldest and famous pronouncement of Dryden is made in his most beautiful specimens of ballad - literature, is a land- mark in the history of the Romantic Movement. - An Essay on Dramatic Poesy The new philosophy r The meaning of Dryden's political satire Religio The spirit of the new thinking, which found its Laici. consummate expression in the works of Voltaire was - "Religion of a Layman." marked by keen scepticism and the zest for eager inqui- ry. Scotland early took to it, the leading poet being Hul- r The famous religious poems of Dryden which was me. Finally the new spirit assisted the Romantic ideal written in defence of Roman Catholicism by demolishing and clearing away heaps of the ancient - The Hind and the Panther mental lumber, and so leaving the ground clear for new and fresher creations. r "Much of Dryden's unique art consists in his ability to make the small into the great, the prosaic into Historical research the poetic, the trivial into the magnificent". Name The 18th century witnessed the swift rise of his- the critic who made this observation about Dryden. torical literature to a place of great importance. It touched - T.S. Eliot Scotland first, and was fostered in France. The histor- ical school had an outstanding leader in Edward Gib- r Who is the main object of ridicule in Dryden's Mac bon, who was nearly, as much at home in French as he Flecknoe ? was in English. - Thomas Shadwell New realism r The spiritual autobigraphy of John Bunyan The development of novel, which at first con- - The Pilgrim's Progress cerned itself with domestic incidents was artonishing. Henry Fielding and his kind faithfully dealt with human life. In the widest sense, however, the novelists were Many of the poets of the Age of Johnson sought Romanticists, for in sympathy and freshness of treat- inspiration from the poetry of Spenser. They repro- ment they were followers of the new ideal. duced not only the Spensarian stanza, but even the Decline of political writing great master's archaic diction. The influence of Spenser is evident in the fact that over 50 poems in Spensarian With the partial decay of party spirit the activity of stanza were published between 1730 and 1775. The re- pamphleteering was over. Writers started depending on vival of the Spensarian stanza can be seen in Thom- the public, and this caused the rise of eminent men like son's Castle of Indolence. Johnson and Goldsmith. Return to nature Characteristics of the transitional poets of the The reviving love for nature first became conspic- 18th century uous in Allen Ramsay's The Gentle Shepherd (1725). The first transitional period in English literature was The revival of interest in real landscape was popularised the age of Chaucer. It was a transitional period, because by James Thomson in his Seasons (1730). No doubt, it was the meeting ground of the Middle Age and the The Seasons still shares the features of the Augustan Renaissance spirit. Similarly the age of Johnson is a peri- school in its note of didacticism, highly Latinised vo- od of transition which witnessed a struggle between the cabulary, conventional poetic diction, and frigid and old order of classicism and the new order of Romanti- bombastic style. cism, and the gradual triumph of the new. Thomson, Som- John Dyer made a first hand study of nature in his erville, Edward Young, Gray, Collins, and Cowper are the poem Gronger Hill. From this time on the love of nature prominent transitional poets ; they had their leanings became increasingly prominent in the poetry of Gray, towards the new spirit of romanticism, but none of them Collins, Cowper, Blake and Burns. made a deliberate effort to shake off the worn out diction Cowper's poems reflect his simple pleasures, his then current. Though these poets maintained their alle- love of nature, his interest in the lives of the humble giance to the school of Pope, they were susceptible to a and the simple, and his sensibility. Nature was his best different range of influences, and sought fresh subjects, healer, and he anticipates the lake poets he anticipates fresh forms, and fresh modes of feeling and expression. the lake poets in the way he expresses his gratitude. He We may, at the same time, recognize the breaking up of believed the country is divine and town diabolical. He the Augustan tradition in the work of these poets. In the summed up the idea in the off-quoted line. words of Moody and Lovett, "the death of Pope in 1744 is conventionally regarded as marking the end of the "God made the country, and man made the town". period during which the classical ideal was dominant in The return to feeling literature. This ideal was now to give way gradually to The prominent characteristics of the transitional what is called the Romantic movement." poets were the return to feeling, strong passion, senti- ment, aspiration and melancholy. The Augustan poets Characteristics of the Age of Transition rejected the exhibition of any manifestation of feeling Reaction in form and their poetry appeared to the intellect rather than The neo-classical poets strictly adhered to the moved the heart. Edward Young's Night Thoughts was closed couplet. With the transitional poets, a reaction the first great appeal to melancholy. He discovered an set in against this tradition, and experiments were made exquisite pleasure in nocturnal churchyard meditation, in other kinds of verse, such as the blank verse and the his thoughts haunting newly dug graves, with the pale Spensarian stanza. Growing admiration for Milton was light of moon shining down upon him. Young was fol- the principal cause for the rise and popularity of blank lowed by Robert Blair's The Grave, Thomas Warton's verse. Notable poems of the time written in blank verse The pleasures of Melancholy, Gray's Elegy Written in a are Thomson's Seasons, Someville's The Chase and Country Churchyard and Collin's Ode to Evening. Edward Young's Night Thoughts. The cult of romance Prominent Transition Poets A Romantic poet is the lover of the wild, fantastic, abnormal and supernatural. His delight is in imagination James Thomson (1700-1748) which leads his thoughts into the past, and to remote Thomson was a Scottish poet endowed with a love lands. The transitional poets went to the Middle Ages, and appreciation for nature and the dreamy life of the and the world of the supernatural. Gray's The Bard is Middle Ages. His poem, The Seasons, introduced for based on a Welsh medieval legend, and his other poems, the first time genuine love for nature. It is a blank-verse Fatal Sisters and The Descent of Odin reproduced Scan- poem with descriptive passages dealing with natural dinavian legends. The interest in the Middle Ages was scenes, mainly those with which he was familiar during due largely to the revival of ballad literature. Bishop Per- his youth on the Scottish border. The poem exerted a cy's The Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765), a strong counter influence against the artificial school of collection of ballad literature of the past, proved a great poetry. power in spreading romantic tales. Thomson's The Castle of Indolence was published Medieval revival was accompanied by the heroic in the last year of his life. The poem is in the Spensarian and legendary world of Celtic antiquity. James Macpher- stanza, and in the true Spensarian fashion it gives a son published his Fragments of Ancient Poetry Col- description of a lotus - land, into which world - weary lected in the Highlands of Scotland and Translated from souls are invited to withdraw. Gaelic or Erse Language. The work was successful in Thompson gave voice to deep aspirations which arousing readers' curiosity in the Celtic mythology. many shared. He restored nature to one of the first plac- Thus some of the transitional poets heralded the es among the subjects of poetry, and to a place from revival of romanticism which reached its acme in the hands which she was never to be dislodged. of Wordworth and Coleridge. Though these transitional Edward Young (1638-1765) poets represented one or the other characteristic of ro- Young belongs to the Graveyard School of Poetry. manticism, yet, they were not thorough romantics, be- The notable poems of Young are The Universal Pas- cause they had also their association with the Augustan sion and Night Thoughts. The Universal Passion is a school. This is evident in their use of poetic diction, use satire against fame and women. The Night Thoughts is of personification, and the note of didacticism. a long meditation on the futility of life. The poem con- r What is generally regarded as the slogan of the tains a series of reflections upon the brevity and tragic, "transition poets" ? uncertainties of life leading to a view of religion as man's - "Return to Nature" consoler. r According to Moody and Lovett whose death is With Young, self came into the foreground and regarded as conventionally marking the end of the his work represents the real beginning of the literature neo-classical period ? of sensibility. Necessarily subjective in principle, it ends - Alexander Pope with all its might to bring about the overthrow of the barrier of the intellectuality, measure, and order, as well r The transition poets were believed to have as the general effacement, by which classicism limited, anticipated the romantics in their writings on repressed and transposed the troubled impatient flow nature. To whom do we attribute this line that best of life. explains the change of outlook ? "God made the country, and man made the town" Thomas Macpherson (1736-1796) - William Cowper Macpherson contributed immensly to popularis- ing the literature of the Middle Ages and the Highland r The Complaint and The Consolation form part of by publishing his two books, Fingal (1762) and Temo- Edward Young's poem ra (1763). The central motive of these poems is the pa- - Night Thoughts thetic sense of regret for what once has been. They pass in review the glorious imagery of bygone days sion nor the strangeness of the Romantic School. Ac- and they touch upon the sadness of modern times. cording to Compton - Rickett, "Cowper is a blend of the old and the new with much of the form of the old and Thomas Percy (1729-1811) something of the spirit of the new." Percy, the Bishop, was an antiquarian scholar with literary sensibilities. His two prominent works are The Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774) Reliques (1765) and Northern Antiquities (1760). The His contribution to the poetry of the Romantic revival Relics included many old Scottish ballads from the time Goldsmith shared the qualities of classicism and before Chaucer to the end of the reign of Charles I. romanticism. Though he stood midway between the Literature owes a deep debt to Percy as the first popu- school of Pope and the Romantic School, Goldsmith lariser of old English ballads. The ballads had a splen- was more sympathetic to the former. In his ideals and did effect in quickening the romantic impulse, by virtue concepts of literature, Goldsmith was a staunch sup- of their naive feeling and simple passionate expression. porter of the classical school. For him the classical cou- The work of Percy helped to restore to English poetry plet (Heroic Couplet), the form adopted in Traveller, simplicity of emotion, of language and poetic art. was the best vehicle for the highest kind of poetry, the didactic poetry. In his use of the heroic couplet, Gold- George Crabbe (1754-1832) smith was a dedicated follower of Alexander Pope. Crabbe came late among the transitional poets and Goldsmith's language was in accordance with the he used the heroic couplet of Pope in the expression of rules set up by Pope. He indulged in stilted (too formal), his romantic sympathy for the poor. Crabbe was a clergy- pompous and Latinized expressions and showed a great man, and his three poems, The village love for abstractions and personifica- (1783), The Parish Register (1703) and The tions, which were loved by Pope. For Borough (1810), bring him in line with the instance, he used "angel for the finny precursors of the Romantic Movement, be- prey" for fish and "attic warbler" for cause in these works he realistically but the nightingale. sympathetically described the life of the Goldsmith retained the didactic or simple villagers and coltagers whom he had teaching element in his poetry, and known as a priest. He painted the life of the thereby he kept up his link with Pope poor as he know it, sternly and uncompro- and his followers. His poems The Trav- misingly. The motivating power behind eller and The Deserted Village are Crabbe's poetry is his desire to state the philosophical and didactic. plain unvarnished truth about the life of Goldsmith also exhibited his pow- the peasant and to destroy the idealised, er of writing satiric poetry in his Retal- artificial picture of it presented by the 18th iation. The pictures of Garrick, Burke century pastoral. and others in the poem are pungent, William Cowper (1731-1800) Oliver Goldsmith sharp and satirical in tone and style. Cowper's poetry breathes a sympa- Goldsmith's treatment of nature thy which shows a long association with the world of and rural life is romantic. He loved nature, and in his reality and an intimate knowledge of its way. His themes poetry, there are beautiful pictures of natural beauty. are common place, but they represent the elementary Goldsmith's sympathy for the poor and simple peo- truths of the heart, rather than of intelligence ple of The Deserted Village and the simple peasants of In technique, Cowper belongs to the old rather Switzerland in The Traveller connects him with Word- than to the new. Some of the good qualities of the old sworth. His heart moved with sympathy at the sight of school that he shared are clarity, painstaking care of suffering people and idealized the simple lives of the expression, and, on the whole, an easy tranquillity of poor. Like Gray, Goldsmith found a splendid source of atmosphere. We shall find in his work neither the pas- inspiration in "the short and simple annals of the poor". Goldsmith's poetical works r Which poem of Goldsmith deals with his Goldsmith's first poem, The Traveller, deals with wandering through Europe ? his wandering through Europe. The poem, written in - The Traveller heroic couplet, is a series of descriptions and criticism r Which poem of James Thomson gives a description of the people and places he had seen. The work reveals of a lotus - land into which world weary souls are a clear perception of the suffering of the poor, where invited to withdraw ? "laws grind the poor, and the rich men rule the laws." - The Castle of Indolence The poem abides by the heroic couplet, and to that extent he is Pope's pupil. r "A Pope in worsted stocking". The poet who is labelled thus by Horace Smith. The Traveller is a didactic poem, and it aims at the teaching of some sphilosophic truths. Its purpose is to - George Crabbe establish the preposition that, when all things are taken 4 Horace Smith called Crabbe so, because of the into account and advantages and disadvantages are latter's frequent use of the heroic couplet, duly tabulated and balanced, one country offers to a popularised by Alexander Pope. wise man as good a chance of happiness as another. r The Castway is a poem by The poem is highly pictorial and picturesque. It - William Cowper brings before us fleeting pictures of various countries r Who was characterised as the "marvellous boy" of Europe. Italy with its rich natural scenes, Switzerland by Wordsworth in his Resolution and with its hard-toiling peasants, Holland with its sea and Independence ? slavery, France with its drollery and gay - display, and - Thomas Chatterton England with its proud people, full of the zeal for free- dom, come dancing before our eyes as we pass from r The Parish Register was written by one description to another. - George Crabbe The Traveller is autobiographical in character. r Name Goldsmith's poem that is regarded as It tells about Goldsmith's own experience and is intensely autobiographical in nature. subjective in nature. The poem is really a masterpiece. - The Traveller The Deserted Village r The expression "attic warbler" is reflective of The poem, which appeared in 1770, is full of charm- Goldsmith's pompous style. "Attic Warbler" means ing pictures of village life and contains melancholic - Nightingale personal reflections. Thomas Gray (1716-1771) The Deserted Village is a pastoral lyric that carries no artifice but genuine emotion that beats into rhythm, Gray began his poetic career in 1742. During this the ecstacy of beholding the joys of the peasantry, the year, he wrote the Odes, On Spring, On a Distant pathos of seeing those joys transforming into sorrows, Prospect of Eton College and Hymn to Adversity. These and the indignation that is not against the government poems reveal two things first, the appearance of that that framed laws to grind the poor and elevate the rich. melancholy that characterises all the poetry of time, and second, the study of nature, not for its own beauty or r Name the poems of Goldsmith that were described truth, but rather as a suitable background for the play by Swinburne as "priceless and adorable power of of human emotions. In each poem, sentiment leads to a sweet human emotion". reflection, and reflection to moral. - The Deserted Village and The Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard is Traveller the supreme expression of his poetic genius. It is his r –––– was Goldsmith's first poem. most popular work. Some vital characteristics of - The Traveller Romanticism are present in the Elegy. Firstly, the poem expresses sympathy with the lot of the common people The poetry of Gray is intellectual and rational is who lived far away from the madding crowd, thereby character. It is always disciplined by his intellect and failing to gain recognition. This adoration of the annals refined by his taste. of the simple people is essentially a romantic trait and There is a love for nature in Gray's poetry, but no Gray introduces it in the Elegy commemorating life of subjective treatment of nature as we notice in the the people living in the country sorroundings. Secondly, romantic poets. Gray finds delight in the presentation there is a note of pessimism and melancholy in the poem, of scenes of nature. which was, later on, cultivated and developed by Keats Love of humanity is an important characteristic of and Shelley. The love for nature and landscape, the Gray's poetry. We come across, in his poems, love of solitary atmosphere of the night, the haunted places humanity, particularly for the villagers which was later where the owl hoots, all clearly show that the poet had on cultivated by Wordsworth. In his Elegy Gray brings caught the spirit of Romanticism in a subdued form. before us most sympathetically the life-story of the The Elegy represents Gray's transitional frame of mind. villagers who led a simple life far away from the madding Gray's The Progress of Poesy is a poem on the crowd, and who were not governed by feeling of history of poetry. The Bard is closely associated with jealousy, ambition and hatred. This representation of Celtic mythology. The poem is founded on the command the simple life makes Gray one with Wordsworth in the of Edward I that all the bards should be killed. Another treatment of human beings in villages and cottages. poem, Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, exhibits The note of melancholy and gloominess is a Gray's comic or humorous side. The poem tells how a notable characteristic of Gray's poetry. This was cat in search of a fish in a tub got drowned and felt primarily because the life of the poet was sorrowful. sorry for her greed. Even a humorous poem has a note The poet's own personal life is represented in The Elegy of moral attached to it quite in the manner and style of with a note of melancholy in the concluding part of the 18th century poetry. poem. The presentation of the life of the country people The Fatal Sisters and The Descent of Odin are is also coloured by the same gloomy note. For Gray poems in which Gray reveals himself as an ardent lover human life was a painful affair. of nature and the beautiful. The poems mark the end of There is a natural sensitiveness to musical cadence Gray's poetic career. During the course of thirty years in Gray's poetry. Gray learnt the power of music from of his poetic career Gray could not produce much. Milton and Dryden, and in his poetry there is a flow Inspite of his slender poetic output Gray is regarded as and a melody which we find in the odes of Dryden. one of the greatest poets of his age. William Collins (1721-1759) Characteristics of Gray's poetry Collins's poetry is marked by a note of melancholy. In Gray's poetry we have glimpses of sentiment His debilitated state of health gradually settled into and emotion which later on were cultivated with absolute melancholia. Another feature of Collins's po- devotion by the romantic poets. In the earlier poems of etry is the note of simplicity. Gray there is the touch of cold intellectuality but from Regarding his affinity to nature it should be said the publication of The Elegy to The Descent of Odin, that the pictures of landscapes and natural scenery pre- the emotional tone gets the upper hand and the poems sented in his poems are realistic as well as graphic. In written after 1750 are coloured by emotion and sentiment. his Ode to Evening the note of naturalism is fresher In Gray's poetry we have for the first time a than is to be found among the poets of his age. departure from the treatment of town life. He focussed It is as a lyric poet, as a singer that Collins stands his attention on the Middle Ages and the Norse and out from among his contemporaries. A note of music Scandinavian Mythology. The poems, The Bard, The and lyricism is well struck in the Ode to the Passions. It Fatal Sisters and The Descent of Odin are based on is in Ode for Music and Passions that Collins's love for medieval superstition, primitive legends and beliefs. music and lyricism is brought. A peculiar romantic characteristic which is found r About whom does Campbell say : "His lyrical in Collins's poetry is his love for liberty. In this way the pieces are like paintings on glass which must be poet proved to be the true harbinger of the Romantic placed in strong light to give out the perfect Movement. radiance of their colouring". Robert Burns (1759 - 1796) - Thomas Gray Robert Burns was probably the greatest of Word- r The line, "My Love Is Like a Red Red Rose" is sworth's forbears. With the appearance of Burns it could attributed to be said that the days of Romanticism had come. Burns's - Robert Burns sole poetical work of any magnitude is his Volume of Po- r –––– was Goldsmith's first poem ems (1786), which he edited five times during his life time, - The Traveller making numerous additions and corrections each time. Burns is regarded as the national poet of Scot- William Blake (1757-1827) land. Many of the familiar features in Scottish poetry William Blake was the most mystical and metaphys- reappear in Burns. Love and intimate knowledge of na- ical poet of the Romantic Revival during the 18th centu- ture, quaint dialect, passionate concreteness of imag- ry. Blake's first publication was Poetical Sketches ery, rich allusiveness (qualities of Scottish life) are found (1783), a series of imitative poems, in which he experi- well illustrated in his poetry. mented with various forms, in the manner of Shakes- Regarding Burns's contribution to the eighteenth cen- peare, Spenser and Milton. Songs of Innocence, which tury poetry, it could be said that inspite of his feeble attach- came out in 1789, are short lyrics concerning Blake's ment to the school of Pope, he heralded the birth of Roman- views of the original state of the human society, sym- ticism. The inner elements of Romanticism - personal effu- bolized in the joy and happiness of children. The po- sion, sensibility, a keen love for nature, a wealth of imagina- ems present a passionate sympathy and deep sincerity tive fancy and a symapthetic interest in the poor and the for the child. animals - are to be found in the work of Burns. The French Revolution (1791), The Visions of the r Which poem of Thomas Gray is regarded as the Daughters of Albion (1793), America (1793) and The supreme expression of his poetic genius ? Europe (1794) are the revolutionary prophetic works of Blake. The French Revolution and America contain - Elegy Written in a Country Blake's thoughts about freedom, not only political Churchyard freedom,but freedom from the restrictions of conven- r Gray's poem which is considered to be the history tion and established morality. In 1794 appeared the of poetry. Songs of Experience. In this is presented the two con- - The Progress of Poesy flicting aspects of nature which is so beautiful yet so r Name the poem of Gray which is associated with cruel. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell is the most Celtic mythology. prophetic of Blake's poems. - The Bard Main features of Blake's poetry r –––– is a poem that displays comic or humorous Blake was a lyrical poet. In his earlier lyrics, Blake aspect of Gray. followed the Elizabethan models, and in his Poetical Sketches and The Songs of Innocence are embodied - Ode on the Death of a some of the best lyrics of English language. Still in some Favourite Cat poems, for example, A War Song to an English Man, r Ode to Pity is a melancholic poem written by the mystic note is traceable. - William Collins In The Songs of Innocence, we have happy notes, r Collins's love for simplicity is presented in his purity, sweetness, intensity of feeling, simple perfec- - Ode to Simplicity tion of diction and a variety of rhythm. Blake's The Little Black Boy is a metaphysical ities that he experienced in his vision. To present all poem. In his Songs of Experience thought begins to that he saw and believed to be real, he thought that predominate and the prophetic creed become clear still. ordinary language would fail miserably. Thus he took After this volume, Blake ceased to be a writer of pure to symbolism. Like Shelley he used the objects of na- lyrics, and became more and more a poet of visionary ture as symbols to suggest spiritual realities. Blake's idealism, symbolism and mysticism. It is in this note of symbols are also taken from The Bible. His symbolic symbolism and mysticism in his lyrics that Blake differs expressions through poetry kindle the imagination of from Burns and Swinburne whose lyrics are simple and the readers and arise in them a curiosity for a world realistic. C.M. Bowra remarks" : Indeed no English poet, unknown. except Shakespeare, has written songs of such experi- As a poet of childhood, Blake's contribution is ence, lightness and melody. His words have an Elizabe- immense. The innocence of childhood finds its finest than lilt, a music which emphasizes their meaning and expression in Blake's Songs of Innocence. The sorrows confirms exactly to it." that subdue one in the growing years are presented Blake struck the note of humanitarianism in his realistically in the Songs of Experience. It is commonly poetry. A note of love and sympathy was sounded by believed that in his treatment of childhood Blake antic- Blake in his poetry for the common and oppressed peo- ipated Wordsworth. ple of the society. His sympathy included even animals r Name the pre-romantic poet who is also noted as and birds. an engraver. Blake was the poet of revolt, and he thundered at - William Blake king's and priests and oppressive rulers in his prophet- r The first publication of William Blake was titled ic writings. He revolted against the religious conven- - Poetical Sketches (1783) tions of the day and mercilessly attacked priest craft and hackneyed conventions of the contemporary r Blake presents the defence of the satisfaction of church which he thought to be the greatest obstacle in physical appetite in his poem titled the way of human progress. - The Visions of the Daughters Blake was a mystic and visionary idealist. The of Albion world of Blake was spiritualistic, infinite, illimitable, and r The Little Black Boy of Blake is a –––– poem everlasting rather than temporal and momentary. In his - Metaphysical world of thoughts, ideas and visions, love was the su- r In his zeal and enthusiasm for liberty and equality preme governing authority. of man, Blake is believed to have anticipated the Blake was the supreme mystic poet of his age. Like romantic poet all mystic poets Blake emphasised the momentariness - Shelley of the body and immortality of the soul. He regarded r In the poem Clod and the Pebble, what do clod the world as a dark prison and physical senses as nar- and pebble stand for ? row windows darkening the infinite soul of man. - Clod - Selfishness As a follower of naturalism, Blake dealt with the - Pebble - Selfish love simplest phases of life, with the instinctiveness of a child, r Name the collection of Blake's poems that deals with the love of flowers, hills, streams and the blue sky. with the innocence of childhood. Yet the mystical vision of the poet transformed these familiar things into something strange and wonderful. - Songs of Innocence Blake had his own vision and he lived in a world Eighteenth century poetic diction which was entirely his own what he experienced in his strange spiritual vision was inexplicable in ordinary The term poetic diction is applied specifically to words and phrases. Thus it was inevitable and neces- the practice of the neo-classical writers who believed sary for him to arrange visible symbols of invisible real- that the poet must adopt his diction to the mode and elevation of the genre called poetry. When the eigh- r Who was the outstanding eighteenth century teenth century poets began to write epics, pastorals or critic who expressed his keen dislike for Milton's odes, they required a special diction to raise the matter Lycidas on the ground that much in it was unnatural to the height of the form. This special diction, some- or away from common experience ? what stilted (stiff and unnatural) and artificial was chal- - Dr Johnson lenged by William Wordsworth in preface to the sec- r De Vulgari Eloquentia which contains valuable ond Edition of The Lyrical Ballads (1800). Wordsworth observations on the language of poetry, is the work of protested against what he called "the gaudiness and innane phraseology of many modern writers". - Dante It was John Dryden who is actually credited with the Drama of the Eighteenth Century introduction of poetic diction. In his translation of Virgil, Decline of drama Dryden employed dignified diction. Dryden's mind was fired by an unflagging admiration for great poetry, and During the 18th century drama steadily declined. this feeling finds expression in his translations and odes. There are many factors that led to the decline of drama. The eighteenth century poets were particular about First of them was the popularity of novels; free from the division of poetry into various kinds, such as elegy, most of the conventions which burdened the theatre, it satire, epic ec. And, these different types called for dif- succeeded better in depicting life, manners and ideas. ferent kinds of vocabulary. In the eighteenth century, During this age actors and actresses became more im- writing poems was a communal art in the sense that the portant than playwrights. The attraction which the peo- poet was not free to choose an independent mode of ple felt for actors rather than for playwrights discour- writing . He had to learn much before he could write aged writers to produce good plays. correctly. He could not offend rules and distinctions Another factor was the revival of old plays, it hin- acknowledged by the poets and readers. dered the creation of new plays. The plays of Shakes- Alexander Pope applied artificial diction in his peare, Beaumont and Fletcher were revived. This re- translation of Homer. Pope felt that the dignity and sub- vival gave no incentive to writers to the age to produce limity of Homer could not be effectively expressed in new plays. They thought the writing of new plays would ordinary language. Pope used the term poetic diction" be a futile effort since people of the age were more in the preface to his translation of the Iliad to mark the interested in the revival of old plays. The French fash- difference between the vocabulary of prose and poetry. ions and costumes were in vogue in the 18th century. After Pope poets such as Thompson, Gray, Col- The theatre managers were attracted by the gorgeous lins, Cowper, Goldsmith and Dr. Johnson made use of and extravagant fashions and the attention of the audi- poetic diction, the prominent characteristics of which ence was taken off from the living stage. were the use of conventional epithets, compound - ep- Drama declined during this age because it failed to ithets, avoidance of direct statement and the use of receive the support of the king. William III was no pa- fantastic phraseology. tron of the theatre, nor was Queen Anne. Without the r Which group of writers are chiefly associated with support of the king it was difficult for dramatists to the concept of poetic diction ? make their influence felt in the public. During this age - Neo-classical writers dramatists were debarred from indulging in the presen- tation of obscene scenes. It was Collier who inaugarat- r Name the romantic poet who first challenged the ed the moral reform in the drama and the audience felt artificial diction, which was the hall-mark of the that drama should only be written on lines of moral eighteenth century writers ? edification. Naturally the scope of drama became re- - William Wordsworth stricted and sentiment began to have its way in the r Biographia Literaria is the work of world of comedy. Everything that seemed to have the - Samuel Taylor Coleridge tone of fun and humour was regarded as a matter of distaste by the public. It was of great significance that Goldsmith and Sheridan broke new ground by writing perhaps the greatest figure among the writers of the the comedy of humours and by setting their face against sentimental comedy. He made the pathetic treatment of the sentimental comedy of this age. a moral sentiment, the basis of the action of a comic Moral restraint was followed by political restraint. drama. His works are Lying Lover, Tender Husband and The Licensing Act was passed in 1737. As a result, The Conscious lovers. dramatists were restrained from writing in which there Henry Fielding (1707-54) was the slightest reflection on the political figures of He was equally a great novelist, writer of comedy the time. Tragedy particularly suffered because of the and farce. He made clever adaptations of French works. classical spirit of the age. Full blooded tragedies, marked It was in parody and political satire that he obtained his with emotional excitement and fervour could not be pro- personal success. He achieved success in his Tragedy duced in the age because of the attitude of reason and of Tragedies or The Life and Death of Tom Thumb the rationality towards literary productions. Great, Pasquin, The Historical Register for the Year. Sentimental comedy His raillery at the fashions of the time, his banter of well The sentimental comedy of the eighteenth centu- known people, especially in high places and members ry was a reaction against the comedy of manners of the of the government, disturbed the authorities to such an Restoration period. The comedy of manners was char- extent that they re-established the censorship. acterised by light-hearted fun, obscenity and trenchant Oliver Goldsmith (1728-74) dialogues. Their aim was to make fun of pious and holy characters. Goldsmith revived the Comedy of Humours of the Elizabethan Age and gave a hard blow to the sentimen- In sentimental comedy laughter and humour were tal comedy. He said that sentimental comedy was more completely driven out and in place of comedy, which like a tragedy. He tried to revive sincere laughter on the was rich in humour, pathos and pathetic situations were stage. This first attempt was The Good-natured Man introduced. The life force of comedy is humour, which which was a failure. The second play She Stoops to was casted out in sentimental comedy. The writers of Conquer was a great success. The plot was well-knit, this school introduced characters from middle class life mawkish sentimentality was driven out, the sense of characterised by virtue without any grain of vice in pathos supplanted by mirth and delight. In this he in- them. They sought to eulogise virtue and condemn vice. troduced the qualities of a true comedy. Comedy writers were in fact moralists and their purpose was to teach moral lessons through the medium of their Goldsmith was a versatile genius. He was born in plays. They wanted to propagate something moral and Ireland as the second son of a poor Irish clergyman. His pathetic and something edifying and genteel. childhood was not memorable with his illness, disfigu- ration due to it and was often the laughing stock of his Sentimental comedy remained popular for near- mates and teachers. He struggled a lot to attain his live- ly half a century. It drove out genuine comedy from the lihood by trying different professions but succeeded in English stage. It provided moral lectures and sentimen- none of them. Finally he obtained a medical degree. But tal platitudes in place of real entertainment. It was seri- later he found literature as a means for livelihood. He ous from the beginning to end and was entirely removed got acquainted with Dr Johnson which provided a foun- from the realities of life. It was replete with improbable dation for the life-long friendship between them. and unnatural situations; its characters were not real Johnson's friendship proved valuable for Goldsmith. men and women, but abstractions conceived in the Johnson made him the member of the literary club. He minds of the playwrights. had high hopes from Goldsmith, which he later justified Dramatists of the 18th century by writing. The Traveller, The Deserted Village, The Vicar of Wakefield,, She Stoops to Conquer, The Retal- Richard Steele (1672-1729) iation, The History of Greece and Animate Nature In Steele, who popularized the Periodical Essay was 1774 he caught feven, of which he died. He was a great dramatist, novelist and an even a were associated with the comedy of humours. greater essayist. He had a prominent place in the 18th - Sheridan and Goldsmith century literature. He was a great poet, his prose of r A legislation of the 18th century that restrained astonishing range and volume. He wrote many essays dramatists from writing plays with reflections on on personal and impersonal objects in the manner of the political figures of the day. Addison. The essays of Goldsmith are characterised by whimsicality, satire, mild humour and graceful charm. - The Licencing Act of 1737 They are satirical reflections upon society of his times. r The sentimental comedy was basically a reaction He criticises manners and ideas in England. against His prose style was graceful, charming and amia- - the comedy of humours ble; pure and easy, and on proper occasion pointed and r The School for Scandal is a play by energetic. It may be said that he is uniformly pleasing - Richard Brinsley Sheridan The Citizen of the World is a series of imaginary letters from a philosophical Chinaman, writing letters home from r Name two plays of Oliver Goldsmith. London, giving Goldsmith the opportunity of express- - She Stoops to Conquer and ing his own mind upon the society and literature of the The Good-natured Man day. His essays in The Bee are admirable. He wrote short memoirs and lives such as Life of Beau Nash, Memoir Prose of the 18th century (Age of Transition) of Voltaire and Life of Bolingbroke. Types of prose of the period : In the period of transition, His contribution to literature, whether in prose, prose was immensely enriched by the verse or drama, was to sweeten and purify it from its contributions of a host of writers. violence, coarseness and bitter wit. He had qualities of Critical prose : The work of Dr Johnson his Lives of his own, a tranquil magic, a tender homeliness, a light Poets and Preface to Shakespeare. iridescent humour that will ever endear him to posterity. Biographical prose : Biography was attempted with As a stylist Goldsmith is definitely superior to Addi- great success by Boswell in Life of Dr Johnson. son. He is great because style in inseparable from thought Essay : Essay was cultivated both in the style of the R.B. Sheridan (1751-1816) periodical essay and the personal essay by Sheridan's dramas are written in the mood of satir- Dr Johnson and Goldsmith. ical observation of life. He was not a psychologist but a Letters and memoir writers : Prose was used in writing shrewd and penetrating observer ; he was more able to letters and memoirs and the prominent figures are perceive the secret movement of vanity or envy than to Lady Mary Montague, Horace Walpole, Earl of construct character. His main plays are The Rivals, The Chesterfield and Dr Johnson. School for Scandal, The Critic, The Duenna, St. Historical prose : A number of authors wrote historical Patrick's Day, The Scheming Lieutenant etc. Sheridan prose of rare charm and excellence. Hume, has been justly called a dramatic star of the first magni- Robertson, and Edward Gibbon were prominent tude. His prose comedies resemble the best of the Res- figures. toration comedies. The plots are ingenious and effec- Political prose : Edmund Burke and Bolingbroke were tive. The dialogue is brilliant in its picturesque, epi- the important political writers. Most of their work grammatic repartee. The plays are remarkable for their is characterised by political insight. vitality and charm. Prose fiction : The 18th century can be regarded as the r Who is credited with the initiation of moral reform age of fiction. For the first time, seasoned novelists in drama ? gave to English novel a form and a shape. The - Collier best works of Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, Sterne r Name two playwrights of the 18th century who ––– the four wheels of the English novel –– were produced in this period. The Gothic romancers of tionary registers and concentrates the intellectualisa- the age, Mrs Ann Radcliffe, Horace Walpole and tion of the language effected by a whole century of Mathew Gregory Lewis produced romanticism in analysis and logical effort. It remains, however, a mon- fiction which was further carried forward in a ument of industry and intellectual conscience. different style by Walter Scott. Dr Johnson as a critic Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) His fame as a critic of literature rests on The Lives Johnson was born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, in of Poets and Preface to Shakespeare. He belonged to 1709 as the son of a small book seller. From his child- the school of judicial or dogmatic critics. His method as hood Johnson had to struggle against physical defor- a critic is to pronounce verdicts and judgements ac- mity and disease. He was a voracious reader and when cording to his understanding and his own personal he entered Oxford he had read more classical authors appreciation of the authors whom he judged. In his crit- than had most of the graduates. He had to leave the icism he was a neo-classicist and traditionalist, and his university on account of his poverty. He had to strug- critical methods were diametrically opposed to that of gle in the beginning to earn a living. But gradually suc- the critics of the romantic revival. cess came to him steadily. He wrote poems and started The Lives of Poets two magazines The Rambler and The Idler. In this work, Johnson presents the lives and poet- His literary labours were rewarded when he re- ic characteristics of English poets from Chaucer to Al- ceived a pension at the age of 53. He founded the exander Pope. This work is his longest and most popu- Literary Club in which all the great literary men and lar one. In three volumes Johnson gives us biographi- politicians of the time were members. His greatness lies cal and critical studies of fifty-two poets. In this book in the Dictionary of the English Language which is a he gives less space to criticism and more to biography. great contribution to scholarship. He was a great critic Preface to Shakespeare too. The Lives of the Poets and Preface to Shakes- Dr Johnson's Preface to Shakespeare was pub- peare are examples. He died in 1784. lished in 1765. Preface is remarkable for its The Rambler ; The Idler forthright honesty in recognizing Shakespeare's faults These magzines follow the tradition of the Specta- and in defending him against the charge of ignoring the tor. The essays deal with a great variety of subjects and classical unities, and for its analysis of the causes of the treatment was serious. The papers which appeared corruption in the text. The book is a landmark, not only twice a week are full of deep thoughts and observa- in Shakespearean scholarship but also in English criti- tions of Dr Johnson. Their aim is didactic. More of clas- cism as a whole. sicism is to be found in Johnson's essays. The period- All Johnson's gifts are seen at their best in it, the icals re-established the periodical essay, at a time when lucidity, the virile energy, the individuality of his style, it was in danger of being superseded by the newspaper. the unique power of first playing himself on the level of The Dictionary the plain man and then lifting the plain man to his stat- ue, the resolute insistence of life and reason, not learn- In 1749 Dr Johnson began the Dictionary of the ing or ingenuity, as the standard by which books are to English language and completed it in 8 years. It is the be judged. first ambitious attempt at an English lexicon. It has its weakness ; it was a poor guide to pronunciation, the His limitations as a critic are mainly due to his etymology was inaccurate. For the first time, authori- prejudices. He was led away by prejudice and under the ties, for the actual use of words, were quoted. It was stress of bias failed to appreciate the merits of poets, introduced by a very fine preface setting forth his lofty dramatists and novelists of repute. He wrote so well aims to preserve the purity and ascertain the meaning and because he knew so much of real life. The power of of our English idiom and prevent the language from his criticism springs not only from his intellect, but also being overrun with 'cant' and Gallicized words. The dic- from him vitality. His prose style has been the object of much ridicule, epitomized in the popular conception of Contribution of historians in the 18th century 'Johnsonese' as pompous, artificial, verbose Prose. During the 18th century two Scottish historians Antithesis and Latin diction were conspicuous fea- David Hume and Robertson, and one English histori- tures of his prose style. It is the most symmetrical as an, Edward Gibbon, made remarkable contribution to well as one of the most vigorous, of the great prose history. styles in English. David Hume (1711-76) Johnson's influence on English style was a good one. He confirmed the tradition of order, correctness Hume was the great historian and philosopher of and lucidity, which had begun with Dryden. He intro- England during the 18th century. His works are A Trea- duced a greater variety of effect, a more complex sen- tise of Human Nature; Essays, Moral and Political and tence structure and a more copious diction. The History of England, in six volumes. He was not a trustworthy historian because he had no access to many James Boswell (1740-1795) authentic documents. He never bothered about exacti- Life of Johnson is considered one of the best bi- tude and he never carried the scientific scruple for exac- ographies of the 18th century. This biography, which titude two far. His aim was to rise above events, group appeared posthumously, is the them, judge them and extract what they had to teach. He best biography of the great lit- possessed a clear and logical mind and a swift and bril- erary man. Boswell presents liant narrative style. In the history of literature his work the complete picture of Dr is of importance and being the first of the popular and Johnson's bulky, awkward ap- literary histories of the country. pearance, his brusque, over- bearing manner, his porten- William Robertson (1721 - 1793) tious voice, his uncouth ges- Robertson had greater merits than Hume. The read- ture, and attitudes, his habit er is struck by his prudence and taste for precision. He of whistling, all these have created the impression of a very safe mind, fully come down to us, together equipped for the pursuit of truth. His main works are with the record of a great mass The History of Scotland, History of the Reign of Em- of his conversation and a viv- peror Charles V, and History of America. We find in James Boswell id picture of incisive and com- him a judicial and critical spirit as well as a broader and prehensive mind. more philosophic outlook. The work is the first standard biography and the Tobias Smollett (1721 - 1771) merit of the book lies in the fact that for the first time we He wrote The History of England. The work was have a faithful record of Johnson with all his faults and quickly written. His work in clear and lively and it is merits. It brings us in closer contact with Dr Johnson because of his realism and penetrating Psychology who influenced the course of literature and life during that his history makes an interesting reading. his times. It is full of anecdotes and conversation. Edward Gibbon (1737-94) Boswell is too careful a biographer. Modern biographers differ from the technique of Boswell. He was the great historian of England during the 18th century. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Em- They lay importance on selection and dramatic pre- pire (1777) in 6 volumes is his masterpiece. It ranks as sentation rather than on mere recording of irrelevant facts. of one of the greatest of historical works. It is an exam- In that aspect, Boswell's biography is an ill-assorted mass ple of what a history ought to be. Gibbon treats the of work on facts of Dr. Johnson's multifarious personali- history of Rome from the second century to the end of ty. In spite of it being out of fashion, it remains one of the the fifth and then follows the Byzantine empire, until outstanding works in the field of biography. the fall of Constantinople. In time it covers more than a thousand years, in scope it includes all the nations of r Lives of Poets and Preface to Shakespeare are Europe. The subject is the revolution of a world order. works by He was completely master of his subject and treatment - Dr Samuel Johnson of his theme is so discriminating and thorough that he r ––– was an important political writer of the cannot be superseded. eighteenth century. Edmund Burke (1729-97) - Edmund Burke Burke was a famous Irish r The Castle of Ortranto is a Gothic novel by orator, historian, scholar and - Horace Walpole political writer. His philosophic r The magazines, The Rambler and The Idler, were writings are A Vindication of started by Natural Society, and The Ori- - Dr Johnson gin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful. His political writ- r The Rambler and The Idler followed the tradition of ings mainly concerned with the - The Spectator American Revolution, Warren r Goldsmith's work which is in the form of a series of Hastings and the French Revo- Edmund Burke letters from a philosophical Chinaman. lution. He was a practical politi- - The Citizen of the World cian applying to the problems of his day the light of a clear and forcible intelligence. He was a great orator and r Life of Johnson is the biography of the great critic his speeches were remarkable for their political wisdom, by stateliness and rhetorical power. His prose style is char- - James Boswell acterised by proportion, dignity and harmony. He has r Who is the author of The Decline and Fall of the the tendency and capacity of building up an argument of Roman Empire ? a picture by a succession of complementary strokes lead- - Edward Gibbon ing one on the other . Rhetoric, in his hand, assumes a great force; amplification becomes superb and declama- r –––– was a famous Irish orator, historian, political tion reaches its perfection. writer and his prominent work is A Vindication of Natural Society. Memoir writing - Edmund Burke Memoir literature enjoyed a greater vogue in France than in England. The most famous series of letters of Origin and rise of the English novel this period have a common character. They express in Of all the major literary forms, the novel is of recent the field of familiar moralising or of the worldly inter origin. But the germs of the novel lay in medieval ro- course, the spirit of a society eager for truth, greed, for mance, a fantastic tale of love and adventure. In 1350, pleasure, cosmopolitian in taste, secretly distasteful or Boccaccio wrote Decameron, a world famous collection hostile with regard to any enthusiasm or any rigorous of love stories in prose. Such short stories are called in discipline. The prominent writers are Lady Montague, Italian "novelle" which meant a novel or fresh story but Philipstanhope, Robert Walpole, Horace Walpole, gradually it signified a story in prose as distinguished Junius etc. from a story in verse usually called a 'romance'. When Horace Walpole's memoirs give a highly satirical prose became the universal medium, 'romance' came to picture of court life during the reign of George II. He signify a story or series of stories of the legendary past. was a witty, satirical letter writer. Stanhop's Letters to Malory's Morte de Arthur is an example. It is the loosest His Son is the advice tendered to his son of seven, is literary form having full freedom of a full representation not meant for him but is the expression of his own views of real life and character. It is a very effective medium for and disburdening of his own heart. the portrayal of human thought and action. Many Elizabethans wrote prose works of fiction virtues and became a moralistic novelist. He laid empha- similar to that of the novel. They are Lyly's Euphues, sis on sensibility and sentiment, and introduced pathos Thomas Lodge's Rosalynde and Sidney's Arcadia. They in his novels. He was all serious. He sought his plots in were all romances. The realistic element became prom- the middle class life. He brushed aside the paraphernalia inent in Thomas Nashe's The Unfortunate Traveller. of romance and brought in realism. His greatest ability Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress has in it many ele- lies in characterisation. His important works are Pamela, ments of novel proper. Robinson Crusoe Defoe pro- Clarissa Harlowe and Sir Charles Glandison. duced the first English novel of genius. It can be de- Henry Fielding (1707-1754) scribed as a 'picaresque' novel like Don Quixote of Cervantes. Swift's Gulliver's Travels is also a work of Fielding introduced solid and plausible realism in fiction. his novels. He sought to present a realistic picture of society as he witnessed around him, with all its follies, The English novel was almost an off shoot of the foibles, and weaknesses. He aimed to be a reformer and periodical essay. Addison and Steele presented imagi- a moralist and made efforts to purge off the evils ram- nary characters like sir Roger de Coverley. In the first pant in the society. His weapons were irony, satire, and half of the 18th century, the novel acquired its modern scathing criticism. The fame of Fielding rests on his form. The first English novel Pamela was written by four novels Joseph Andrews, Jonathan Wild, Tom Jones Richardson in the form of letters Henry Fielding wrote and Amelia. Joseph Andrews as a parody of Pamela. Tom Jones is Fielding's masterpiece. Fielding's contribution Tobias Smollett to English prose fiction is substantial. He is out and out Smollet added satiric caricatures to the novel. He a realist. The next great pillar of the English novel was has a certain waspishness of character which finds an Laurence Sterne. His Tristram Shandy was a forerunner expression in all his novels. He has a knack for present- in using stream of consciousness method which is prac- ing sarcastic and boisterous picture of life and he was tised by 20th century novelists. Smollett's novels deal drawn more towards ugliness and evil than towards with sea life. Gothic novel, born in Germany, was intro- goodness and faithfulness in his novels. He was obvi- duced in England by Horace Walpole and Mrs ously obsessed with dirt. He had a descriptive and nar- Radcliffe. Gothic novels deal with horror and mystery. rative gift and his picture of sea-life was unparalleled in It was transplanted to America by Edgas Allen Poe. English literature. His fame as a novelist rests on Rod- Among the later novelists, Oliver Goldsmith de- erick Random, The Adventures of Sir Lancelot Greaves, serves special mention for his brilliant studies in char- Humphry Clinker. acter, easy, innate style in The Vicar of' Wakefield, which Laurence Sterne (1713-1768) became a model for writers of victorian prose fiction.Dr. He opposed sentiment to reason, sensation to re- Johnson used the novel as a vehicle for moral philoso- flection. He did not care for the regular development of the phy in his Rasselas Fanny Burney established the ad- plot. He introduced the impressionistic method of story vent of women novelists with her Evelina in 1778. telling which was later popularised by James Joyce and Novel in the 18th Century others. He delineated humorous characters. He carried forward the sentimentality of Richardson. His major works Eighteenth century novel begins with Richardson are The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gent and A and ends with the coming of Jane Austen. Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy. Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) Oliver Goldsmith He was the first of the great novelists of the 18th Goldsmith introduced the subject of domes- century. He was a spokesman of his own times and tic life and happy fire side as the subject of fiction. His imparted a new tone and touch to English fiction. He entire contribution to novel rests only on one novel made a close study of the feminine heart and revealed it The Vicar of Wakefield. It is a benign comedy of do- in his novels. He emphasized the cultivation of moral mesticity and human character. He pointed out idea- was Gay's Beggar's Opera, and The Dragon of lised picture of country side in his novel. He followed Wantley by Henry Carey. Operas were the direct method of narration through the principal characterised by humorous scenes, pretty songs, character of the hero. He laid emphasis on the story and rollicking fun, and clever dialogues. characterization. His characters were life-like and had Burlesque : Burlesque is a kind of satirical play in force in them. He contributed much to the pathetic vein which the spirit of true comedy is presented in a in the novel. Satire, morality, reformative zeal was also satirical manner. 18th century writers excelled in there in his work. writing Burlesque. Carey's The Tragedy of Pamela Chronohotonthologos, Henry Fielding's The Tragedy of Tragedies, or The life and Death of It is the first English novel written by Richardson Tom Thumb the Great were popular. in the form of letters. It consists of a series of familiar letters from a young beautiful girl to her parents. So it is Farce : Farce is a low type of comedy, replete with an epistolery novel. It has a sub-title Virtue Rewarded. ludicrous situations, deficient in plot - The story is very simple. Pamela, a virtuous maid ser- construction, and sober characters. The aim of the vant resists the attempts of seduction by the son of her farce writers is to produce hoarse laughter and late land lady. Finally, a proposal of marriage comes tickle the fancies of the audience so that through from his and it is accepted. Pamela is part of a trilogy the play there may be fun and nothing else. The alongwith Clarissa Harlowe and Sir Charles Grandison. most prolific writers of the farcial comedy were Samuel Foote, Fielding, George Colman etc. Factors that led to the rapid growth of novel in the 18th century. Daniel Defoe : (1661-1731). The real beginning of the English novel took place in the 18th century with the Factors that led to the rapid growth of novel are work of Daniel Defoe. His Robinson Crusoe has held the decline of drama, rise of the periodical essay of its popularity undiminished for nearly two hundred Addison and Steele,and the availability of material need- and fifty years. The hero represents the whole of ed for the development of novel. Horace Walpole was human society, doing with his own hands, all the the first great Gothic romancer and his monumental work things which by the division of labour and demands is The Castle of Otranto. It was professed to be a trans- of modern civilization are now done by many. lation of a medieval Italian Romance. In it he painted the life and manners of the feudal period. Impossibilities for Adam Smith (1723-90) : Smith's famous book The Wealth the sake of horror are introduced in the novel. Original- of Nations,written in 1776, is looked upon as the ly he aimed to find a middle way between medieval ro- foundation of political economy as a science.It laid mance and the matter-of-fact novel. the foundations of modern economic theory. Pantomime : Pantomime became popular in the 18th Thomas Gray (1716-1771) : In Gray's "letters", which century. Rich, a theatre manager, found it very are infinitely various, we can read the whole story profitable and produced several pantomimes which of his life and personality. They are full of attracted popular attraction. It is acting without scholarship, wisdom and wit in the best sense of speech, using only posture, gesture, bodily the word. movement and exaggerated facial expression to William Cowper (1731-1800) : His Letters are perhaps mine (mimic) a character's actions and to express a the best in the language, being absolutely natural, character's feelings. Rich's pantomimes were graceful and frank. He had the gift to making puppet shows. Later on Fielding satirised them in trivailities interesting in easy and attractive style. his novels. A steep decline followed and the vogue r John Lyly's Euphues, Thomas Lodge's Rosalynde of writing pantomimes came to an end. and Sidney's Arcadia could be collectively Opera : Opera in Italian style was also cultivated in categorised as 18th century. By far the best of the ballad - operas - Romances r Name Daniel Defoe's novel which is picaresque in nature - Robinson Crusoe r Who is the author of Pamela, the first English novel ? - Richardson r Henry Fielding wrote a parody of Pamela entitled - Joseph Andrews r Name Laurence Sterne's novel, which is regarded as the forerunner of the stream of consciousness novel practised by writers of the 20th century. - Tristram Shandy r Gothic novel, which had its beginning in Germany, was introduced in England by - Horace Walpole r –––– is the masterpiece of Henry Fielding. - Tom Jones r Gothic novels are characterised by - horror and mystery r Who is credited with the introduction of Gothic fiction in America ? - Edgar Allan Poe r Amelia and Jonathan Wild are novels by - Henry Fielding r A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy is the work of - Laurence Sterne r Which novel of Richardson is sub-titled as Virtue Rewarded ? - Pamela r ––– is acting without speech, using only posture, gesture, bodily movement and exaggerated facial expression to mimic a character's actions. - Pantomime r Who is the author of the Wealth of Nations which is regarded as the foundation of political economy? - Adam Smith