The Age of Prose And Reason

Name : Jitendra V. SumraRoll No. : 16

Semester : 03Year : 2012-13Paper No. : 102

Paper Name : The Neo-Classical LiteratureYear : 2012-13

Department Of English,Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji University

Bhavnagar

Introduction

• Literature of the age is concerned with “nature "human nature, Supremacy of reason.

• Unity in the works of all writes.• The age is known as classical age.

• The Writers of this age were greatly influenced by the classical writers, so they imitated them in their work.

• The age wished to understand, not to imagine.

Definition of Neoclassical age

• The 18th century in English literature has been called the Neo classical age ,Augustan age and the age of reason.

• The term “the Augustan age “ comes from the self- conscious imitation of the original Augustan writers, Virgil, and Horace by many of the writers of the period.

• Specifically, the neo- Classical age was the period after the pest oration era of the death of Alexander Pope.

• The major writers of the age were Pope and John Dryden in poetry and Jonathan Swift and Joseph Addition in prose.

• Dryden forms the link between restoration and Augustan literature.

1].Dryden forms the link between restoration and Augustan literature.

• Dryden wrote ribald comedies in the restoration vein , his verse satire were highly admired by the generation of poets who followed him and his writing on literature were very much in a Neo-classical spirit.

• But more than any other it is the name of Alexander Pope which is associated with the epoch known as the Neo-Classical age.

• The literature of this period which defined confirmed to Popes aesthetic principles and could thus quality as being Augustan is distinguished by its striving for harmony and precision.

• The works of Dryden ,Pope , Swift, Addition and John Gay ,as well as many of their contemporizes exhibit qualities of order, clarity, and stylistic decorum that were formed in the major critical documents of the age.

• A large part of Popes work belongs to this category, which exemplifies the artificiality of Neo classicism more thoroughly than does any other literary form of the period.

• The literary scene of the early 18th century were the two periodical publications by Joseph Addition and Richard Steel, The Tatler and The Spectator . Both writers are ranked among the minor masters of English prose style and credited with raising the general cultural level of the English middle classes.

The essays are discussion of current events, Literature and gossip often written in a highly ironic and refined style.

In the same vein, many of the important genres of this period were adaptations of classical forms, Mock epic, translation and imitation.

• Example Of Mock Epic :• 1]The Dunciad• 2] John Dryden’s Macflecknoe (1682)• 3]Pope’s The Rape of the Lock (1714)• 4] The Battle of the Books - Jonathan (1404).• Often considered one of the highest achievements

of mock epic poetry, the heroic action of epic is maintained but the scale is sharply reduced.

• The political prose satires of may Delarivere manly were racy expose of high- society scandals written in the tradition of the love letter Behan’s erotic ‘’roman a clef. Manley ‘s novels “The secret history queen Zairians and the Zairians ‘ and The new Atlantis were widely popular in their day and helped created an audience for prose narratives that way large enough to suppose the new breed of the profession novelists.

• Major Writers:

• Alexander Pope:

• His works : • The pastorals’• Essay on man,• Essay on criticism reflects his desire to rival Boileau’s art poetic.• The Rape of the Lock.• • • Steel and Addition:• The tattler in 1709 and The spectator in 1711• The spectator includes representative of various section of society.• The work Addition reveals at once the charm of the old England and

the coming of the new

• Jonathan swift:

• Battle of the books • The first noteworthy book published in 1704,• It is about the dispute between ancient and modern

author.• Swift gives the theme a half allegories mock heroic

satire in which the books in a liberty at length.

• Dr. Johnson : • The produced two satire, London[1738] and The

Vanity of Human Wishes.[1749]• “Irene” is a tragedy in this work he observed the rules

of French rhetorical tragedy.• “Rambler” and “Idler” are the results of his own

personal reflection on the life.

• Oliver Goldsmith [1730- 74]• Traveler[1764] records his impressions, as a

Traveler on foot across the continent of France, Switzerland and Italy and reflects agreeably on the character these various countries.

• In 1770 he published his “Deserted Village" an idealization of the Irish Village of lissoy in which his childhood was passed.