Age of Sensibility (Age of Johnson) 1744-1785: 

The Age of Johnson, often referred to as The Age of Sensibility, is the period in English
literature that ranged from the middle of the eighteenth century until 1798. Ending the Age of
Johnson, the Romantic Period arrived in 1798 with the publication of Lyrical Ballads by
poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), poet, critic, and author of fiction, is the namesake for this
period in literature. Johnson wielded considerable influence over this era with works that
focused on neoclassical aesthetics (the study of natural and artistic beauty with an eye toward
the great classical writers). Johnson and his fellow writers placed great emphasis on the
values of the Enlightenment which stressed the importance of using knowledge, not faith and
superstition, to enlighten others, and led to the expansion of many social, economic, and
cultural areas including astronomy, politics, and medicine.

Writers of the Age of Johnson focused on the qualities of intellect, reason, balance, and order.
Notable publications of the Age of Johnson include Burke’s A Philosophical Inquiry into the
Origins of Our Ideas on the Sublime and Beautiful (1757), Johnson’s The Rambler (1750-
52), and Goldsmith’s The Vicar of Wakefield (1766).

One of Johnson’s most lasting legacies is his Dictionary of the English Language (1755).
While this huge undertaking of Johnson’s was neither the first dictionary in existence, nor
exceptionally unique, it was the most used and admired until the appearance of the Oxford
English Dictionary in 1928. One of Johnson’s most fervently held beliefs was that the
language of the people should be used in literature, and that a writer should avoid using
grammar and vocabulary that did not appeal to the common reader.

While the Age of Johnson and the Age of Sensibility are terms often used interchangeably,
Johnson’s age is considered to be the last of the neoclassical eras, while writers in the latter
period are famed with an anticipation of the Romantic Period with their focus on the
individual and imagination.

The Age of Sensibility is marked by works that focus more directly on anti-classical features
of old ballads and new bardic poetry. These writers began to embrace new forms of literary
expression formerly avoided by writers of the Age of Johnson such as medieval history and
folk literature. Classic prose fiction examples from the Age of Sensibility include Laurence
Stern’s Tristram Shandy (1759) and Henry Mackenzie’s The Man of Feeling (1771). The
poetry of William Collins, William Cowper, Thomas Gray, and Christopher Smart are also
attributed to the Age of Sensibility.
Augustan Age: (1700-1745)
The original Augustan Age was the brilliant literary period of Virgil, Horace and Ovid under
the Roman emperor Augustus. The eighteenth century in English literature has been called
the Augustan Age, the Neoclassical 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 Augustan Age was the period
after the Restoration era to the death of Alexander Pope (1690 - 1744). The major writers of
the age were Pope and John Dryden in poetry, and Jonathan Swift and Joseph Addison in
prose. Dryden forms the link between Restoration and Augustan literature; although he wrote
ribald comedies in the Restoration vein, his verse satires were highly admired by the
generation of poets who followed him, and his writings on literature were very much in a
neoclassical spirit. But more than any other it is the name of Alexander Pope which is
associated with the epoch known as the Augustan Age, despite the fact that other writers such
as Jonathan Swift and Daniel Defoe had a more lasting influence. This is partly a result of the
politics of naming inherent in literary history: many of the early forms of prose narrative
common at this time did not fit into a literary era which defined itself as neoclassic. The
literature of this period which conformed to Pope's aesthetic principles (and could thus
qualify as being 'Augustan') is distinguished by its striving for harmony and precision, its
urbanity, and its imitation of classical models such as Homer, Cicero, Virgil, and Horace, for
example in the work of the minor poet Matthew Prior. In verse, the tight heroic couplet was
common, and in prose essay and satire were the predominant forms. Any facile definition of
this period would be misleading, however; as important as it was, the neoclassicist impulse
was only one strain in the literature of the first half of the eighteenth century. But its
representatives were the defining voices in literary circles, and as a result it is often some
aspect of 'neoclassicism' which is used to describe the era.
Restoration Age: (1660-1700)
After the Restoration in 1660, when Charles II came to the throne, there was a complete repudiation
of the Puritan ideals and way of living. In English literature the period from 1660 to 1700 is called the
period of Restoration, because monarchy was restored in England, and Charles II, the son of Charles I
who had been defeated and beheaded, came back to England from his exile in France and became the
King.

It is called the Age of Dryden, because Dryden was the dominating and most representative literary
figure of the Age. As the Puritans who were previously controlling the country, and were supervising
her literary and moral and social standards, were finally defeated, a reaction was launched against
whatever they held sacred. All restraints and discipline were thrown to the winds, and a wave of
licentiousness and frivolity swept the country. Charles II and his followers who had enjoyed a gay life
in France during their exile, did their best to introduce that type of foppery and looseness in England
also. They renounced old ideals and demanded that English poetry and drama should follow the style
to which they had become accustomed in the gaiety of Paris. Instead of having Shakespeare and the
Elizabethans as their models, the poets and dramatists of the Restoration period began to imitate
French writers and especially their vices.

The result was that the old Elizabethan spirit with its patriotism, its love of adventure and romance, its
creative vigor, and the Puritan spirit with its moral discipline and love of liberty, became things of the
past. For a time in poetry, drama and prose nothing was produced which could compare satisfactorily
with the great achievements of the Elizabethans, of Milton, and even of minor writers of the Puritan
age. But then the writers of the period began to evolve something that was characteristic of the times
and they made two important contributions to English literature in the form of realism and a tendency
to preciseness.

In the beginning realism took an ugly shape, because the writers painted the real pictures of the
corrupt society and court. They were more concerned with vices rather than with virtues. The result
was a coarse and inferior type of literature. Later this tendency to realism became more wholesome,
and the writers tried to portray realistically human life as they found it—its good as well as bad side,
its internal as well as external shape.

The tendency to preciseness which ultimately became the chief characteristic of the Restoration
period, made a lasting contribution to English literature. It emphasized directness and simplicity of
expression, and counteracted the tendency of exaggeration and extravagance which was encouraged
during the Elizabethan and the Puritan ages. Instead of using grandiloquent phrases, involved
sentences full of Latin quotations and classical allusions, the Restoration writers, under the influence
of French writers, gave emphasis to reasoning rather than romantic fancy, and evolved an exact,
precise way of writing, consisting of short, clear-cut sentences without any unnecessary word. The
Royal Society, which was established during this period enjoined on all its members to use ‘a close,
naked, natural way of speaking and writing, as near the mathematical plainness as they can”. Dryden
accepted this rule for his prose, and for his poetry adopted the easiest type of verse-form—the heroic
couplet. Under his guidance, the English writers evolved a style—precise, formal and elegant—which
is called the classical style, and which dominated English literature for more than a century.

Restoration Poetry
John Dryden (1631-1700). The Restoration poetry was mostly satirical, realistic and written
in the heroic couplet, of which Dryden was the supreme master. He was the dominating
figure of the Restoration period, and he made his mark in the fields of poetry, drama and
prose. In the field of poetry he was, in fact, the only poet worth mentioning. In his youth he
came under the influence of Cowley, and his early poetry has the characteristic conceits and
exaggerations of the metaphysical school. But in his later years he emancipated himself from
the false taste and artificial style of the metaphysical writers, and wrote in a clear and forceful
style which laid the foundation of the classical school of poetry in England.

The poetry of Dryden can be conveniently divided under three heads—Political Satires,
Doctrinal Poems and The Fables. Of his political satires, Absolem and Achitophel and The
Medal are well-known. In Absolem and Achitophel, which is one of the greatest political
satires in the English language, Dryden defended the King against the Earl of Shaftesbury
who is represented as Achitophel. It contains powerful character studies of Shaftesbury and
of the Duke of Buckingham who is represented as Zimri. The Medal is another satirical poem
full of invective against Shaftesbury and MacFlecknoe. It also contains a scathing personal
attack on Thomas Shadwell who was once a friend of Dryden.

The two great doctrinal poems of Dryden are Religio Laici and The Hind and the Panther.
These poems are neither religious nor devotional, but theological and controversial. The first
was written when Dryden was a Protestant, and it defends the Anglican Church. The second
written when Dryden had become a Catholic, vehemently defends Catholicism. They,
therefore, show Dryden’s power and skill of defending any position he took up, and his
mastery in presenting an argument in verse.

The Fables, which were written during the last years of Dryden’s life, show no decrease in his
poetic power. Written in the form of a narrative, they entitle Dryden to rank among the best
story-tellers in verse in England. The Palamon and Arcite, which is based on Chaucer’s
Knight’s Tale, gives us an opportunity of comparing the method and art of a fourteenth
century poet with one belonging to the seventeenth century. Of the many miscellaneous
poems of Dryden, Annus Mirabilis is a fine example of his sustained narrative power. His
Alexander’s Feast is one of the best odes in the English language.

The poetry of Dryden possess all the characteristics of the Restoration period and is therefore
thoroughly representative of that age. It does not have the poetic glow, the spiritual fervor,
the moral loftiness and philosophical depth which were sadly lacking in the Restoration
period. But it has the formalism, the intellectual precision, the argumentative skill and realism
which were the main characteristics of that age. Though Dryden does not reach great poetic
heights, yet here and there he gives us passages of wonderful strength and eloquence. His
reputation lies in his being great as a satirist and reasoner in verse. In fact in these two
capacities he is still the greatest master in English literature. Dryden’s greatest contribution to
English poetry was his skilful use of the heroic couplet, which became the accepted measure
of serious English poetry for many years.