A History of Literature The Enlightenment 1700 - 1789

You sup, and go to Bed without delay, But how presumptuous shall we hope to find
And rest yourselves till the ensuing Day; Divine acceptance within the almighty mind
While we, alas! but little Sleep can have… While yet, o deed ungenerous, they disgrace
And hold in bondage Afric: blameless race

1712 Mary Collier’s poem The Women’s Labour is

important not only because it is written by a
Let virtue reign and then accord our prayers
Be victory ours and generous freedom theirs.

woman, but also because it is written by a

The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope is
a mock heroic poem which tells the story
of two families who fall out after a young
man snips a lock of hair from a young
woman’s head without her permission.
Mock heroic takes a trivial subject but
uses the heroic style of classical authors
such as the Greek writer Homer. The
disparity between the written style and its
content is what helps create the satire. In
the poem, Pope takes the opportunity to
make many satirical comments about
aristocratic Eighteenth Century society.
working class woman. Few women of Mary’s class
would have been literate. Her poem is a response
to Stephen Duck’s The Thresher’s Labour (1730),
in which he criticises female labourers as
Now there is nothing
indolent. Her work has been described by one
Then flash’d the living lightning from her eyes,
commentator as “powerful female georgic” and a
And screams of horror rend th’affrighted skies.
“protofeminist polemic”. She catalogues all the
Not louder shrieks to pitying heav’n are cast,
daily chores of the female labourer both inside
When husbands, or when lapdogs breathe their last;
and outside the home.
...
Here Thou, Great Anna! whom three Realms obey,.
Dost sometimes Counsel take—and sometimes Tea.
1739
in this world I
The Life and Opinions of Tristram
Shandy, by Laurence Sterne, is inspired
by Cervantes’ Don Quixote. Although the
1784
abominate worse, novel form was a relatively new genre of
literature in the Eighteenth Century,
than to be Phillis Wheatley’s poetry is important because it is one of the
Sterne’s novel is self consciously
few published works by an enslaved person. Wheatley was
interrupted in a experimental. The narrative contains
seized in Gambia or Senegal when she was about seven and
story... many digressions, so it takes a long time
taken to Boston where she was enslaved in the house of John
for the main points of the story to
Wheatley. Her poetry was very important in swaying public
unfold. It even contains a blank page on
opinion in favour of the abolitionist movement. During her
which the reader can paint their own
image of beauty.
lifetime, Wheatley achieved national and international acclaim.

Swift claimed that he Gulliver’s Travels by Johnathan Swift is My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat
wrote Gulliver’s Travels another text written in the style of a them like rational creatures, instead of

1719 to”Vex the world, not

divert it.”
travelogue; however there is no temptation
for the reader to be mistaken that this is
autobiographical. The eponymous Gulliver
1777 flattering their fascinating graces, and viewing
them as if they were in a state of perpetual
childhood, unable to stand alone.
visits four different lands: Lilliput,
Brobdingnag, Laputa and The Land of the from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
- Mary Wollstonecraft
Houyhnhnms. Lilliput is perhaps the most
famous of all the places that Gulliver visits but
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe is presented as a travelogue, telling the story of in all the voyages Swift satirises his own The School for Scandal by Richard Sheridan is a comedy of manners, which
Crusoe, who is a castaway spending twenty eight years on a desert island. Initially, contemporary society, including human satirises the scandalous behaviour of London’s aristocracy. The play has been
many readers believed that this was an autobiography. It is epistolary in form and
Crusoe appears to confess many of his innermost thoughts and feelings. The
significance of this novel is that it is often credited with marking the beginnings of
weakness, warfare, the scientific approach of
the Royal Society and the Enlightenment
belief that pure reason held supremacy over
widely performed since it was first staged and it has remained popular with
audiences. It has all the ingredients of a witty farce: quick firing dialogue,
absurd situations, disguise, secrets being revealed while other characters hide
1792
realistic fiction as a literary genre. Some critics even consider it to be the first English
novel. It is one of the most widely published books in history. 1726 emotion. behind screens and pop their heads out making humorous asides. These
ingredients have continued to be employed in English comedy ever since.

#WEL01: To improve our wellbeing by learning how to manage our own St Christopher's 6 Cs:
mental, emotional, social, and physical health. Commitment
In a 2019 article, "Robinson Crusoe at 300: why it’s time to let go of this colonial fairytale", Charles Boyle argues that the influence of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is Mary Wollstonecraft’s most famous work. In it she argues that women are not naturally
Robinson Crusoe has outlived its usefulness, and that the book's implicit acceptance of the slave trade means that it should play a inferior to men but only appear to be because (in the Eighteenth Century) they did not receive the same education. She argues for
less prominent role in the literary canon. Digital research skills can help us to find articles like this, which provide modern men and women to be treated equally.
perspectives on canonical texts.