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SECOND SEMESTER

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Text

ResearchPaper

Graduation!

Oral Presentation(AKA Speech)

The Wonderful World of

Satire

The Restoration andthe Eighteenth

CenturyI. Time Period: 1660-1800 in EnglandA. Expansion from England to North

America 1. America prospers and rebels by

1775 2. England exhausted by civil and

colonial war, a plague and a fire, yet by 1800 had transformed itself

a. despite losses, the military and upper classes thrive; the middle

class grew b. an old nation produced brilliant literature

1

JonathanSwift

Gulliver’sTravels

Daniel DefoeRobinsonCrusoe

Samuel JohnsonDictionary of the

EnglishLanguage

PoetsWilliam

Wordsworth &S.T. Coleridge

II. An Age With Several NamesA. The Augustan Age 1. England compared reign of Roman

Emperor Augustus (63 B.C.-A.D. 14) who restored peace & order to Rome after Julius

Caesar’s assassination

2

2. The Stuart monarchs restored peace & order to England after civil wars led to the execu-

tion of King Charles I in 1649. a. As Augustus was hailed the second founder of Rome, Charles II was hailed

as their savior.Interesting fact: The body of Oliver Cromwell, the first

“commoner” to rule England, was dug up and beheaded by Charles II’s supporters as a warning

to revolutionaries!

3B. The Neoclassical Age

1. During this time, English writers modeled their works on the old Latin classics a. “neo” means “new” b. The classics were valuable because

they represented what was permanent and universal in human experienceC. The Age of Reason - The Enlightenment1. A shift in people’s thinking a. from superstition/religion to reason i. example: events & nat’l phenomena

have some meaning behind them; after, they are seen without those lenses

4III. The Birth of Modern English Prose: Paring Down

A. The Royal Society for the Promotion of Natural Knowledge gathers to change the way scientists and all knowledge is written 1. avoiding elaborate metaphors and long sentences. a. cf. “When in the Course of

human events, it becomes

necessary for one people to dissolve the

political bands which have connected

them with an- other, and to assume

among the pow- ers of the earth, the

separate and equal station to which

the Laws of Nature and Nature’s

God entitle

5 them, a decent respect to the opinions of

mankind requires that they should declare

the causes which impel them to the separation.

Thomas Jefferson, “Dec. of Independence”, 1776IV. Changes in Religion: More Questions

A. Deism - A religion based on reason and the observation of nature. 1. miracles, divinity of Christ, Virgin Birth thrown out a. Philosophers: Jean Jacques Rousseau (”noble savage”; original sin out) b. Statesmen: Jefferson, Franklin, Paine

i. Jefferson’s Bible c. Writers: Alexander Pope: “Nature and

Nature’s laws lay hid in night: God said,

6Let Newton be! and all was light.Alexander Pope, epitaph intended for Sir Isaac

NewtonB. Rationalism1. emphasized the authority of reason a. reason is more powerful than sensory experience b. through reason, human beings can

un- derstand the nature of reality C. Religion & Politics

2. Religion determined people’s politics a. Charles II reestablishes the Anglican Church as the official church - and out- lawed the Puritans and Independents i. persecution

7V. The Bloodless RevolutionA. Charles II has no heir. Dies in 1685. His

brother James II succeeds. 1. Problem - he’s a Catholic a. widely believed Catholics set fire to Lon- don and plotted to hand country to pope 2. Plot thickens - James has a son, a

Catholic heir! 3. Oh oh! Better get outta here! a. In 1688, the royal family fled to France i. the Glorious (bloodless) Revolution; James II succeeded by his Protestant daughter Mary & husband William of Orange. Ever since, English rulers been Protestants

8VI. Addicted to the TheaterA. Theaters were closed for more than 20

years when the Puritans held power. Charles II, in exile in France, became addicted to theatergoing - so he repeals the ban on play performances. 1. for the 1st time, female actors acted

VII. The Age of Satire: Attacks on Immorality & Bad TasteA. Writers such as Swift were appalled by the squalor and shoddiness in art, manners, and morals - the underside of 18th Century life.B. Swift was not satisfied with the world, de- ploring corrupt politics and the

commercialism and materialism of the middle class.

VIII. Journalism - A New ProfessionA. Daniel Defoe - saw himself as a reformer

IX. Public PoetryA. Is real poetry “conceived in the soul” or

only in the mind? Augustan poets: 1. had no desire to expose their soul 2. were usually composed for an occasion 3. Example - an Augustan elegy didn’t tell

the truth about a dead person - but the best things the poet could think of saying

B. At the opposite extreme, a poet might think a person should be exposed to public ridicule;

the poet would write a satire - a type of writing that doesn’t make a just and

balanced judgment but say the worst thing he can

think.

X. The First English NovelsA. Writers began writing fictional narratives called “novels” (”novel” means “something

new” 1. They were funny 2. They show us what life was like at the

time 3. They help us understand the humor and

dis- appointments of human experience in all ages.