JACOBEAN LITERATURE, THE BIRTH OF CLASSICISM AND ENGLISH ENLIGHTENMENT

(1603-1784)
Historical Context
Elizabeth I died in 1603, leaving King Charles I
no heir. The throne passed to her
nephew, James VI of Scotland, crowned
James I, member of the House of
Stuarts, which ruled England till 1714.
He was an arrogant and superstitious
man, who ruled Scotland and England
as two separate kingdoms and often
quarreled with Parliament. After he died
in 1625, his son Charles I ascended to the throne.
The Catholic King Charles I underestimated the new Protestant bourgeoisie and this led to
the Civil War. It erupted in 1642 between the king's followers, who were called the Cavaliers, and
Parliament's chief supporters, a religious and political group called the Puritans.
In 1648, the Puritans, led by Oliver Oliver Cromwell King Charles II
Cromwell, a landlord, won the war,
sentenced and beheaded King Charles I in
1649 for “tyranny, treason, murder and
being a public enemy”. Until 1660, England
was ruled by the House of Commons and
Cromwell as Lord Protector as a semi-
democratic parliamentary republic. After
Cromwell’s death in 1658, the Parliament
saw no difference between hereditary
protectorate (Cromwell’s son was
suggested as the next Lord Protector) and
monarchy. So, Charles II was returned from the exile and crowned. Thus Puritan rule ended with
the restoration of monarchy, which gave the name to the entire period – Restoration.
Hence, historically, the 17th century falls into three distinct periods:
1) the early century pre-revolutionary Jacobean Age
2) the Bourgeois Revolution and Civil War of the middle of the century
3) the Restoration of monarchy at its end.
During their rule, Puritans had attempted to enforce a strict moral code. Their measures to
improve morality, in particular, included closing all British theatres. The Restoration brought a
strong reaction against this code with King Charles II getting the nickname “Merry Monarch”. The
nobility in particular became known for carefree and often morally loose living. Restoration writers,
especially comic playwrights delighting in the reopened theatres, reflected this relaxed morality in
their works.
Literary Context
Jacobean Age and the Civil War
From the point of view of literature, the 17 th century periodization essentially reflects the
political cataclysms. There is clearly no sudden change in literary production when a new king or
queen comes to the throne. Poetry and the emerging prose of the 1600-1630s continued the
Renaissance tradition; Jacobean drama emulated Elizabethan drama, especially in such
characteristics as violent action and the revenge theme (John Webster’s drama “The Duchess of
Malfi” (about 1613) is a masterpiece of revenge tragedy).
 However, under the early Stuart monarchs, James I and Charles I, there was a definite shift
in moral view. Elizabethan confidence began to waver and a rather more cynical (and realistic)
view of human nature and corruption became established. The dramatists of the day started to
produce plays with a sharper satirical edge, not sparing either the King or religion. Classical
settings, like Venice or Rome gave way to portraits of the corruption and hypocrisy of
contemporary London society, like in plays by Thomas Middleton (1580-1627) and tragedies by
John Webster, unequalled in their gloomy vision of human nature. Gradually, the audience was
also changing: the theatre started to lose its appeal to the masses. Despite popular successes by
Thomas Dekker (1572-1632), Thomas Heywood (1570-1641), John Ford (1586-1640), Francis
Beaumont (1584-1616) and John Fletcher (1579-1625), who wrote some very popular comedies
together in 1608-1613, including, for example, the comedy “The Knight of the Burning Pestle”
(1607), which ridiculed earlier dramas and romances about elegant heroes and also satirized the
newly rich merchant class, drama was in serious decline.
Court entertainment and dancing gradually evolved during the period into a new dramatic
form: the court masque, which included dancing, singing, scenery and costume in an elaborate
context of mythological reference and allegory. The courtiers themselves (and even the monarch)
would take part in the performance. The most famous author of such masques was Benjamin
(Ben) Jonson (1572-1637), a popular playwright, who composed nearly 30 masques.
Benjamin Jonson was born in London and educated at
Westminster school. After short careers as a bricklayer and a
soldier in the Netherlands, he was employed by Philip Henslowe as
an actor-writer. The very next year disaster struck: he killed a fellow
actor, Gabriel Spenser, in a duel, barely avoided execution and was
imprisoned. After his release, Jonson started writing plays for
various companies, including Shakespeare’s. Jonson had a
reputation for fearless speaking, quickness to take offense and
belief in his own superior talent, which made him a leading
participant in the war of the theatres of the time. Yet, unlike
Shakespeare, instead of focusing on the versatile human nature he
defined each character with one leading feature, which made his
tragedies, including “Sejanus, His Fall” (1603) and “Catiline, His Conspiracy” (1611) too
ponderous to withstand comparison with Shakespeare.
Jonson’s reputation rests upon his satirical comedies, where he displays his superior
stagecraft. The incidents and episodes are artfully controlled and yet preserve an air of
improvisation. The characters, though strictly defined by their speaking names, seem willing to
command the freedom of the stage. Jonson proves to be a shrewd observer of his
contemporaries. In plays such "Volpone" (1606), "The Alchemist" (1610), and “Bartholomew
Fair” (1614) he applies classical Roman comedy to satirize universal human failings such as
greed, ignorance, or superstition. His most famous play, “Volpone” (staged 1605), is set in Venice
and uses a story of a miser, Volpone (Italian for “fox”), who tried to increase his wealth by a variety
of schemes, aided by his cunning servant, Mosca (fly), to mock the rising merchant class of
Jacobean London.
 Volpone, a wealthy Venetian without heirs,
pretends to be nearing his death believing that
greedy legacy-hunters will appear at once only
to be duped by his quick-witted servant. Three
respectable citizens are tempted by the legacy
and bring rich gifts to Volpone so that he left
his fortune to them. The lawyer, Voltore
(vulture) is ready to break the law; the old
Corbaccio (crow) is ready to disinherit his own
son; the hypocritical Corvino (raven) will send his wife, Celia, to Volpone’s bed. But Volpone
outwits himself when, having willed all his property to Mosca, he pretends to be dead. The
infuriated Voltore takes the matter to court and Volpone is punished for his plotting, together with
everyone else but Corvino’s wife, Celia, and Corbaccio’s son, who are rewarded.
The literary principles of Jonson were centered around the scathing criticism of human
vices; his stories are politically-centered, and his plays obey the rules of strict genre division which
makes them different from free compositional principle of Shakespeare. Jonson’s work serves a
link between the early realism of Renaissance and classicism of the 17th century. His satiric
potential influenced many English writers of the 18th and 19th centuries, including H. Fielding, Ch.
Dickens and W. P. Thackeray.
After James I died, the quality of English drama rapidly declined. In 1642, the Puritans
ordered the closing of the theaters, claiming that plays were a wicked and useless pastime. The
order remained in effect for 18 years, with drama again giving way to poetry as the leading genre.
Early 17th-century poetry developed within two distinct tendencies represented by
metaphysical and Cavalier poets.
The Metaphysical Poets The Cavalier Poets

John Donne Richard Lovelace

Abraham Cowley, George Herbert, Andrew Robert Herrick (famous for his poem “To the
Marvell, Henry King, and Henry Vaughan Virgins, to Make Much of Time”); Sir John
conceits Suckling, Thomas Carew
The first is exemplified by the poetry of John Donne (1572-1631), the leader of the
metaphysical poets, and his followers, Abraham Cowley, George Herbert, Andrew Marvell,
Henry King, and Henry Vaughan, who carried the metaphorical style to new heights. The
metaphysical poets (termed so by the later century literary critic John Dryden) combined
ingenious thought with feelings, high intellectual tradition with formalism and scholastic mysticism.
Their interest in mathematics, science and geography, combined with their preoccupation with the
soul resulted in witty and elaborate images, called conceits. In contrast to complex content, they
emphasized the use of relatively simple and direct expression and even colloquial language in
their lyrics and sonnets. Thus their poetry presented a new development in comparison with the
works of Elizabethan poets, who expressed simple or conventional themes in an elaborate and
artificial form. Metaphysical poetry speaks directly across the years to modern times.
A courtier, soldier, member of Parliament, secretary to the Queen’s minister, John Donne
wrote passionate love poetry until he lost his benefactor’s favour as a result of his secret marriage
to his niece. After leaving the court and conversion from Roman Catholicism to Anglican faith,
Donne became an Anglican priest in 1615 and started writing equally passionate poems to God.
After he lost his wife in 1617, his grief was so great that he never fully recovered and until his
death was “crucified to the world”. In 1621, he became the Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral and one
of the most fashionable preachers of his age.
In 1621, Donne became seriously ill and started working of a collection of prosaic
meditations and prayers “Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions” (1624). His Meditation 17,
which begins “Perchance he for whom the bell tolls…” has become one of the best-known
passages of English prose. In 1625, John Donne preached his sermon to King Charles I upon the
death of James I; in 1630 during the plague, he delivered powerful sermons on suffering; and he
preached his last famous sermon “Death’s Duel” before the King in Whitehall in 1630.
John Donne’s direct and vigorous poetry, amorous in early life and religious and mystical
later, is argumentative in method and colloquial in tone, featuring dramatic immediacy. Its
combination of cutting-edge thought and intense feeling is best revealed in his metaphysical
conceits, where feeling and thought fuse in an ingenious image. His poetry was far from the
political turmoil of his day, investigating the much deeper matters of life and death and man’s fate
in the world, like his ambitious though unfinished poem “Metempsychosis” (1601) which gave an
explanation of the nature of good and evil as manifested in the metamorphoses of the soul, from
its origins in Eden to its embodiment in Mankind. Apart from the latter, very few of his verses or
sermons appeared in print during his lifetime: most of his lyrical poetry collected in “Songs and
Sonnets” was published posthumously. His reputation during his period rested mainly upon his
sermons, 160 of which were collected and published posthumously as “Sermons”, brilliantly and
severely displaying the same passionate union of intellect and imagination as the one constituting
his poems.
The second poetic group, the Cavalier poets, was associated with the court of Charles I
and included Thomas Carew, Robert Herrick (1591-1674) (a priest, famous for his poem “To the
Virgins, to Make Much of Time”), Richard Lovelace (1618-1657), the cavalier poet par
excellence, and Sir John Suckling (1609-1642). In contrast to the serious metaphysical poets,
the Cavalier poets wrote dashing love poetry, steeped in Elizabethan tradition. Yet, the distinction
between the cavaliers and the metaphysical poets often seems quite artificial, more so, because
several poets, in particular Marvell and Carew, combined features of both schools.
(check out Fiona Shaw reading the Good Morrow (check out Professor Keating discussing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COHiciYV9ds ‘To the Virgins to Make Much of Time’
The Good- https://wordsmusicandstories.wordpress.
Morrow John com/2016/10/19/u3a-18-oct-carpe-diem/
Donne To the Virgins to Make Much of Time
I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I Robert Herrick
Did, till we loved? Were we not weaned till then? GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may,
But sucked on country pleasures, childishly? Old time is still a-flying :
Or snorted we in the Seven Sleepers’ den? And this same flower that smiles to-day
’Twas so; but this, all pleasures fancies be. To-morrow will be dying.
If ever any beauty I did see,
Which I desired, and got, ’twas but a dream of thee. The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
And now good-morrow to our waking souls, The higher he's a-getting,
Which watch not one another out of fear;
For love, all love of other sights controls, The sooner will his race be run,
And makes one little room an everywhere. And nearer he's to setting.
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown, That age is best which is the first,
Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one. When youth and blood are warmer ;
My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears, But being spent, the worse, and worst
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest; Times still succeed the former.
Where can we find two better hemispheres,
Without sharp north, without declining west? Then be not coy, but use your time,
Whatever dies, was not mixed equally; And while ye may go marry :
If our two loves be one, or, thou and I For having lost but once your prime
Love so alike, that none do slacken, none can die. You may for ever tarry.
The last great poet of the English Renaissance who saw it give way to Classicism, a
journalist and thinker, was John Milton (1608-1674). Born into a well-to-do London family, Milton
enjoyed financial independence, since childhood learnt to love music and books, and, when in
Cambridge, started to write poems in Latin, Italian and English, including his first great lyric – “Ode
Upon the Morning of Christ’s Nativity”. Upon obtaining his MA, until 1635 he followed his private
curriculum in world literature, published a few poems and completed his education by travelling
Europe, as was the custom of the day (in Italy, for instance, he found an appreciating audience for
his Italian verses and met Galileo).
Milton kept a keen eye on the political and religious struggle of his time
and, upon returning to England in 1639, he became the leading
pamphlet writer for the Puritans famous for his militant views and
passionate quill. In the Republican government established by
Cromwell, Milton served as Secretary for Foreign Tongues to the
Council of States. His Latin pamphlets made Europe understand that
the Puritan revolution was not just a great rebellion, as Royalists
insisted, but the only means to give the people rights and freedom.
Milton had poor eyesight since childhood, but he ignored the doctors’
demand to completely abandon writing and reading if he wanted to keep his sight at all. Milton
answered that he had already sacrificed his poetry for the liberty of his people (meaning he
stopped writing poems to write pamphlets) and was willing to sacrifice his eyes, too. He lost his
eyesight in 1652, the same year his wife died and he was left with three daughters, the youngest
continuing to read Latin books to their blind father. In 1660, with the restoration of monarchy,
Milton lost his post, his pamphlets were burnt, his lifelong work destroyed. Yet, Milton’s spirit was
not crushed; he moved to a London suburb and started writing poetry, which made him one of the
greatest English poets.
He wrote prose and verse on many subjects, but his greatest achievement is "Paradise
Lost" (1667) and “Paradise Regained” (1671), epic poems based on the story of Adam and Eve.
The work, consisting of 10 books, whose composition was somewhat delayed by the Great Plague
and the Great Fire of London, became a classic of world literature. It is noted for its rich and
musical blank verse and vivid descriptions of heaven, hell, and the Garden of Eden. “Paradise
Lost” deals with the Fall of Man, traced to Satan’s efforts to have revenge for his own expulsion
from Heaven. Satan and his rebel angels are first shown lying in the burning lake and then roused
to investigate the newly created world, from which Man can aspire to Heaven. God observes
Satan and foretells his success in bringing the Downfall of Man and the Man’s punishment for
yielding to the temptation. Son of God offers himself as a future ransom for Man and God accepts.
He sends Archangel Raphael to inform Adam about Satan’s plans and the Adam’s need to obey
God. Book VI provides the literal and thematic center of the poem, describing the battle of the Son
of God who drives Satan and his legions into the Deep of Hell. Satan returns to Eden as a mist
and enters a sleeping serpent. He finds Eve, flatters her beauty and lies that he gained the gift of
speech by eating a fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. Eve surrenders to the temptation, eats the
fruit and takes a few more for Adam. The serpent slips away from the Garden; Satan returns to
Hell triumphant that he opened the path for Sin and Death to enter the new world. Adam can at
once see that Eve is lost and eats the fruit to be with her in her fall. Their innocence departs and
they want to cover their nakedness. Son of God goes to Eden to deliver judgment upon Adam and
Eve who are expelled from Paradise; He also clothes them for pity for their shame in being naked.
Adam and Eve beg Son of God to mitigate the doom pronounced by God on their children and
Son of God intercedes with His Father. Archangel Michael leads Adam and Eve out of Eden,
shows them the world where they will live and tells them of the Messiah, promised in Son’s
intercession.
Paradise Lost (beginning)
OF Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater Man
Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat, [ 5 ]
Sing Heav'nly Muse, that on the secret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire
That Shepherd, who first taught the chosen
Seed,
In the Beginning how the Heav'ns and Earth (A. Cabanel L’Ange déchu; 18+ alert: check out
the doom metal band “Paradise Lost” fandom
Rose out of Chaos: … album “Lost Paradise” and other works)
“Paradise Lost” is both dramatic and realistic in its character; it is a monumental
achievement, both as a work of literary imagination and as a masterpiece of versification, which
proves to be both unprecedented and inimitable.
Milton’s work was completed with a dramatic poem following the form of a Greek tragedy,
“Samson Agonistes” (1671), a call for action and revenge. Its hero, Samson, is taken prisoner
and blinded by the Philistines, as a result of the betrayal by his wife, Dalila. In his last battle,
Samson dies for the freedom of his people and his undefeated spirit resembles Milton’s, who was
a true fighter against monarchy.
 Though the Elizabethan Age produced some of the
earliest works of fiction prose in English literature, English
prose took its time to develop. During the late 16 th – early
17th century readers especially liked fanciful, elaborately
told stories of love and adventure popularized in a highly
artificial and elegant style of pastorals (stories about the
romantic adventures of shepherds). The style was
mastered during the previous period, in particular, by
John Lyly (1554-1606), another “University Wit,” in his
“Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit” (1578) and Philip
Sidney in his prose “Arkadia” (1580), largely forgotten
today. A more realistic style was practiced by Thomas
Nash in “The Unfortunate Traveller” (1594), in which he
described the adventures of one of King Henry VIII’s
pages.
English prose started to emerge in full
richness in the 17th century, with the
"Authorized Version of the Bible", also
called the "King James Bible" (1611). It
appeared at the order of James I who in
1604 authorized a group of scholars to
prepare a new English version of the
Bible. King James Bible was a landmark
in the development of English prose,
because its vocabulary, imagery, and
rhythms, elegant yet natural style have
influenced English writers ever since.
Yet, there are few outstanding prose
works written in that
period, apart from philosophical essays and tracts written during the early and mid-1600's,
including John Donne’s series of meditations on sickness, sin, and death and Sir Thomas
Browne’s, “Religio Medici” (1642) expressing learned opinions on medicine, miracles, and
witchcraft.
 Restoration Period: the Age of Dryden
Starting with the Restoration period, the stages of the developing Classicism, which
evolved from the strong infatuation of Renaissance with Ancient Greece and Rome, are often
referred to as the ages of J. Dryden, A. Pope, and S. Johnson, after the three great figures who
carried on the classical tradition in literature:
Ages of Classicism
Age of Dryden (1660-1700) Age of Pope (c. 1710-c. 1750) Age of Johnson (c.1750-1784)

After Milton’s death in 1674, John Dryden (1631-1700) became the outstanding literary
figure of the period, the only contemporary English theorist of classicism and the creator of English
literary critique. He wrote poetry, popular dramas, and literary criticism. The poetry of John Dryden
has a grandeur and force that set the tone of the new age. His polished heroic couplet (a unit of 2
10-syllable rhyming lines of iambic pentameter, generally end-stopped) became the dominant form
in the composition of longer poems. He used the new meter to reflect his political and religious
shifts: from a supporter of the Puritans who got his first recognition for the “Heroic Stanzas on the
Death of Cromwell” (1659), to a supporter of the restored monarchy in his political satires, who
quickly became the court poet after the Restoration; from the Anglican faith to Roman Catholicism.
Dryden's reputation rests primarily on satire, the form that became the dominant genre of the age;
for instance, his “Absalom and Achitrophel” (1681), which attacks the enemies of future James
II, or “The Hind and the Panther” (1687), justifying his conversion to Catholicism.
Nonetheless, the bulk of Dryden’s work was in drama, in which followed the best examples
of the French classical tragedy and the English Renaissance drama of Ben Jonson and practiced
the classical theatric principles of the unity of time and place. His best plays include "Marriage a la
Mode" (1672), a comedy, and "All for Love" (1677), a tragedy adapted from W. Shakespeare; as
well as several representative heroic tragedies, including “The Conquest of Granada” (1670,
1671) and “Aureng-Zebe” (1675). Dryden's clear prose style in his fine literary criticism also
defined the tone of his time. One example is "An Essay of Dramatic Poesy" (1668), which
contains a brilliant analysis of W. Shakespeare's work.
During the Restoration, prose became less elaborate than had been fashionable earlier in
the 1600's. Writers tried to express themselves clearly, simply, and directly. Noteworthy prose was
produced in the diaries of Samuel Pepys and allegories of John Bunyan (1628-1688).
Bunyan, a Puritan preacher, was put to prison
during Restoration and spent there 20 years
for his political and religious views. In prison
he created two allegoric narratives, using
simple, vivid language to tell of the human
journey through life, death, and religion, ‒
"The Pilgrim's Progress" (1678, 1684), which
became a popular Christian allegory (story
whose literal meaning is used symbolically).
The author describes his dream, in which he
sees Christian, the protagonist, who sets out
from the City of Destruction, representing the world in its sinful condition to the Celestial City. The
book has become a classic for all ages, enjoyed both by children, focusing on the adventure
component of the story, and adults, reading deeper for a moral lesson. A less famous “The Life
and Death of Mr Badman” (1680) tells a story of a bourgeois (Mr Badman), whose whole life is a
series of crimes. (Read a sample from “Pilgrim’s Progress,” a description of VANITY FAIR)
Then I saw in my dream, that when they were got out of the
wilderness, they presently saw a town before them, and the name of that
town is "Vanity"; and at the town there is a fair kept, called "Vanity Fair"; it
is kept all the year long. It bears the name of Vanity Fair, because the town
where 'tis kept is lighter than vanity; and also because all that is there sold,
or that comes thither is vanity. As is the saying of the wise, "All that comes
is vanity."
This fair is no new erected business; but a thing of ancient standing. I will
show you the original of it. Almost five thousand years agone, there were
pilgrims walking to the Celestial City, as these two honest persons are; and
BEELZEBUB, APOLLYON, and LEGION, with their companions, perceiving by the path that the
pilgrims made, that their way to the City lay through this town of Vanity, they contrived here to set
up a fair; a fair wherein should be sold of all sorts of vanity, and that it should last all the year long.
Therefore at this fair are all such merchandise sold: as houses, lands, trades, places, honours,
preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms; lusts, pleasures, and delights of all sorts – as whores,
bawds, wives, husbands, children, masters, servants, lives, blood, bodies, souls, silver, gold,
pearls, precious stones, and what not.
And moreover, at this fair there is at all times to be deceivers, cheats, games, plays, fools,
apes, knaves, and rogues and that of every kind. Here are to be seen, too – and that for nothing –
thefts, murders, adulteries, false-swearers, and that of a blood red colour.
And as in other fairs of less moment, there are the several rows and streets, under their
proper names, where such and such wares are vended; so here likewise you have the proper
places, rows, streets (viz., countries and kingdoms), where the wares of this fair are soonest to be
found: here is the Britain row; the French row; the Italian row; the Spanish row; the German row –
where several sorts of vanities are to be sold. But as in other fairs, some one commodity is as the
chief of all the fair, so the ware of Rome and her merchandise is greatly promoted in this fair: only
our English nation, with some others, have taken a dislike thereat.
Now, as I said, the way to the Celestial City lies just through this town, where the lusty fair
is kept; and he that will go to the City, and yet not go through this town, must needs go out of the
world.
The Prince of princes himself, when here, went through this town to his own country, and
that upon a fair day too; and as I think, it was BEELZEBUB, the chief lord of this fair, that invited
him to buy of his vanities; yea, would have made him lord of the fair, would he but have done him
reverence as he went through the town. Yea, because he was such a person of honour,
BEELZEBUB had him from street to street, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a little
time, that he might, if possible, allure that Blessed One to cheapen and buy some of his vanities.
But he had no mind to the merchandise; and therefore left the town without laying out so much as
one farthing upon these vanities.
Samuel Pepys, a high official of the Admiralty
Office, kept a secret diary that is valuable as a
portrait of contemporary taste, giving a
fascinating and highly detailed view of English
life during the late 1600's, e.g. the Great Fire
that destroyed much of London in 1666.

After Charles II became king in 1660, the theaters were reopened and thus started an
important period – Restoration drama, which continued to around 1700. Two types of plays rapidly
dominated Restoration stages: (1) the comedy of manners and (2) the heroic tragedy. The
heroic tragedy had a complicated plot that dealt with the conflict between love and honor and was
usually set in faraway lands. It never rose to the Shakespearean height, however: little action took
place on the stage, and the characters spoke in elegant, noble-sounding heroic couplets.
The comedy of manners was much more successful than the tragedy. It was witty,
sometimes cynical, and occasionally indecent and treated love and romantic intrigue in a light,
broadly humorous way. The comedy of manners found its material in the courtly way of conduct
practiced by the Cavaliers before the Puritan republic. Quite naturally, such way of conduct
became conventionalized and its comic aspects were obvious. Such social mode of life, where
gallantry, wit and artificiality were dominant, provided the chief material for the Restoration comedy
of manners. Its chief aim was, according to Dryden to “entertain Gentlemen with the follies of each
other”.
The greatest practitioner of the comedy of manners was William
Congreve (1670-1729) with his four comedies, namely, “The Old
Bachelor” (1693), “The Double Dealer” (1693), “Love for Love”
(1695) and, the most famous, "The Way of the World" (1700)
(though his tragedy, “The Mourning Bride” (1697) was also much
admired during his day). “The Way of the World” is based upon the
story of two main characters, Millamant and Mirabell, who deeply
love each other, but are shy about it, because love is out of fashion
in the fashionable society; so the try to conceal their affection behind
brilliant wit. Every other character represents a certain type in the
fashionable society, which is mocked and ridiculed. The brilliance
and the cruelty of the play are overwhelming and rest not upon
rather a trite story, but upon the sparkling dialogue and the
exhibition of true wit in the verbal combats of the character. Read an
excerpt from “The Way of the World”
 From W. Congreve’s “The Way of the World” (Act IV)
MILLAMANT …Ah, I'll never marry, unless I am first made
sure of my will and pleasure.
MIRABELL Would you have 'em both before marriage? Or will
you be contented with the first now, and stay for the other till after
grace?
MILLAMANT Ah, don't be impertinent. My dear liberty, shall I
leave thee? My faithful solitude, my darling contemplation, must I
bid you then adieu? Ay-h, adieu. My morning thoughts, agreeabl
wakings, indolent slumbers, all ye DOUCEURS, ye SOMMEILS DU MATIN, adieu. I can't do't, 'tis
more than impossible--positively, Mirabell, I'll lie a-bed in a morning as long as I please.
MIRABELL Then I'll get up in a morning as early as I please.
MILLAMANT Ah! Idle creature, get up when you will. And d'ye hear, I won't be called names after
I'm married; positively I won't be called names.
MIRABELL Names?
MILLAMANT Ay, as wife, spouse, my dear, joy, jewel, love, sweet-heart, and the rest of that
nauseous cant, in which men and their wives are so fulsomely familiar--I shall never bear that.
Good Mirabell, don't let us be familiar or fond, nor kiss before folks, like my Lady Fadler and Sir
Francis; nor go to Hyde Park together the first Sunday in a new chariot, to provoke eyes and
whispers, and then never be seen there together again, as if we were proud of one another the
first week, and ashamed of one another ever after. Let us never visit together, nor go to a play
together, but let us be very strange and well-bred. Let us be as strange as if we had been married
a great while, and as well-bred as if we were not married at all.
MIRABELL Have you any more conditions to offer? Hitherto your demands are pretty reasonable.
Another bright example of the pure comedy of manners is presented by
a play by William Wycherly (1640-1716), “Country Wife” (1675). It tells
about Mr Horner, a witty courtier, the ideal gentleman of the social mode. He
finds a safe way to court every woman he chooses by announcing his false
impotence. He enjoys the favours of Lady Fidget, unsuspected by her
husband, who is so convinced in Horner’s impotence that he all but laughs his
head off in one room, while in another Horner and Lady Fidget are “examining
the china”.
Restoration was but another period in the evolution of English literature during the 17 th
century. The political and social situation provided a lot of material for dramatists and poets and
made satire the primary genre of the age. The Restoration drama is characterized by naturalism
and fidelity to life, its best characters reminding those of the future prose geniuses H. Fielding and
T. Smollett and the dramatist O. Wilde. The poetry of the period attempts an intense spiritual
search in the works of the metaphysical poets, whose conversational idiom and the topics are very
appealing to a contemporary reader. The formal poetry finds its elevated idiom in the blank verse
of ‘Paradise Lost’ by John Milton and the heroic couplet perfected by John Dryden. The standard
for prose is set by King James’ Bible, allegories and pamphlets, like John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s
Progress”.

ENGLISH ENLIGHTENMENT: THE AGE OF POPE / THE AUGUSTAN AGE (c. 1700-1750)
AND THE AGE OF JOHNSON (c. 1750-1784)
Cultural Context
English Enlightenment of the 18th century, the “Age of Reason”, is characterized by its
ardent support of humanitarian rationalism and opposition to traditional theology. It became the
period of education: its representatives believed in people’s abilities to improve their own lives
through knowledge. They criticized religion with its dogma of the inborn vice of man; the society
and the state and, following the materialistic philosophy of J. Lock and D. Diderot, made reason
the only virtue. Their positive hero shares their belief in the man’s nature and their historic
optimism and trust in the prospects of bourgeoisie progress. Order, reason, balance, good
manners and good taste and clear language ruled the day.
The period in English literature from 1700 to 1750 is called the
Augustan Age after the rule of the Roman Emperor Augustus. During his
reign from 27 BC to 14 AD Latin literature reached its height with such great
authors as Virgil, Horace, and Ovid. English authors tried to imitate or
recapture many of the philosophic and literary ideals of this period of Roman
history. Like the ancient Romans, they believed that life and literature should
be guided by reason and common sense and strove for balance and harmony
in their writings. Unlike Renaissance writers, though, they used the classical
legacy to depict the reality of their days.
Literary Context
In terms of developing genres and trends English Enlightenment can be subdivided into
three phases:
(1) Early Enlightenment (1688-1730s), or the Augustan Age / the Age of Alexander Pope,
with Richard Steele, Joseph Addison, Daniel Defoe and Jonathan Swift as other representative
writers. The period is characterized by the emergence of the realistic Enlightenment literature with
drama, poem and essay being the major practiced forms.
(2) High Enlightenment (1740s-1750s) is characterized by the rise of realism and its
embodiment, the novel, its representatives being Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding and Tobias
Smollett.
(3) Late Enlightenment (1760s – the end of the 18th century) marked by the
development of Sentimentalism and Pre-Romanticism; represented by Lawrence Sterne, William
Blake, and Robert Burns.
Early Enlightenment: the Age of Alexander Pope. After the Restoration poetry was in
decline. The great flowering of poetry, which took part during the Renaissance ended by John
Milton’s Paradise Lost, gave way to trite imitations of older models and official verse, celebrating
public figures. Logically, satire became one of the most common types of literature during the
Early Enlightenment, or the Augustan Age. In spite of the Augustan emphasis on reason, many of
the satires were extremely bitter and personal, and thus hardly "reasonable." The leading satirists
of the period were Alexander Pope in poetry and Jonathan Swift in prose.
In the age of Alexander Pope (c. 1700 to 1744), the classical spirit
in English literature reached its highest point. Pope developed the poetic
technique of Dryden and perfected his heroic couplet. He required poetry
to be as reasonable, lucid, balanced, and as compressed as reason can
make it. Pope's reputation rests in large part on satires such as "The
Rape of the Lock" (1712), ridiculing the fashionable society, and "The
Dunciad" (1728; final version 1743) a cutting-wit satire about the authors
of his time and their dull books. In his philosophical essay composed in
the heroic couplet, "Essay on Man" (1733-1734), he
advised readers to avoid extremes in all things and to take the middle way, while in his versed in
"Moral Essays" (1731-1735) Pope discussed the nature of men and women and the uses of
wealth.
 The most noteworthy prose came during the XVIII century with
works by Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), who wrote a number of
satirical narratives of social criticism. Born in Dublin, son of Protestant
Anglo-Irish parents, he was especially deeply concerned with the
welfare of the Irish and the behavior of the English toward Ireland. All
his life was a series of severe disappointments and misfortunes.
Jonathan was born 7 months after his father’s death and since early
age depended on the charity of relatives. After graduating from Trinity
College in Ireland, Swift had to flee to England, where he was
ordained priest of the Anglican church and became secretary to a
distinguished diplomat, who never appreciated Swift’s talents.
Following the literary fashion and the issues of the day, Swift started
writing satires. He satirized the conflict between Catholicism and Calvinism in "A Tale of a Tub"
(1704), which represents religion as something reverberating but empty like a tub, diverting
people’s attention from the political matters. In "The Battle of the Books" (1697), he ridiculed a
literary dispute of the day between scholars who preferred ancient authors and those who thought
that modern authors were superior.
Eventually, Swift returned to Ireland as Dean of St. Patrick’s cathedral in Dublin, where,
seeing the great suffering of the Irish, he wrote passionate letters and pamphlets against the
English colonial policy in Ireland.
Swift attacked the hypocrisy he saw in kings, courtiers,
and teachers in "Gulliver's Travels" (1726), the most famous
satire in the English language, written “to vex the world, not to
divert it”. This is a novel in the genre of a life-story of the traveler,
a ship’s surgeon Lemuel Gulliver, and a travelogue describing
his four voyages to fictitious nations: the Lilliputians, 12 times
smaller than an ordinary man; Brobdingnag with its giants 12
times larger than Gulliver; to the flying island of Laputu; to the
island of Balnibarbi, where Gulliver visits Lagado, a city with an
absurd academy; to Clubdubdrib, an island of magicians; and to
Luggnagg, another island where people continue living after the
power of enjoying life is gone. The conduct of the odd people
represents the kinds of foolishness Swift saw in his world.
Gulliver’s last voyage is to the country of the intelligent horses, Houyhnhnms, and savage animal
brutes Yahoos, resembling humans in appearance. Gulliver wants to stay, but Houyhnhnms
mistrust his resemblance to Yahoo and make him leave. Upon his return to England, Gulliver at
first speaks only to horses. Regardless of its interpretation, whether misanthropic or humanistic,
“Gulliver Travels”, being one of the first English novels, has enjoyed popularity ever since.
 Other outstanding prose-writers of
the age were Joseph Addison and Sir
Richard Steele, who evolved the genre
of the essay. They published their essays
in two periodicals, "The Tattler"
(1709−1711) and "The Spectator"
(1711−1712). Both writers described and
criticized the social customs and attitudes
of their day. Their essays helped form
middle-class tastes in manners, morals,
and literature. In addition, Addison's pure
and elegant prose style served as a
model for other English writers in the
1700's.
The development of the novel is one of the great
achievements of English literature of the period. The roots of
the novel can be found in the books of Daniel Defoe
(1660−1731). Son of a butcher named Foe, Daniel Defoe
turned his real last name into his penname in 1703, when he
was 43 and finally took writing professionally. Before that
Defoe changed many occupations. After a 5-year course of
schooling at an academy for future ministers, Defoe refused
to be ordained and became a horse merchant instead; but
after many business projects, bankruptcies, and a marriage
the only business in which he proved successful was
journalism and literature. When Defoe was 23, he started
writing pamphlets on the issues of his day, writing exactly
what he wanted to say, thus often getting into trouble.
Once he wrote a pamphlet “The True-Born Englishman” in which he proved the term to be
a contradiction of terms, since the English nation consisted of Danes, Picts, Scots and other
peoples. For this pamphlet Defoe was thanked by King William III, who was attacked at the time
for being a foreigner of Dutch origin. Yet, another pamphlet, written during the reign of Queen
Anne, got him into prison. But politically Defoe was a mercenary who would often change sides.
So, after his release, Defoe became editor of a journal, which supported his former opponents, the
Tories, eventually plumping for the Whigs, etc.
 In 1719, being almost 60, Defoe tried writing
fiction and published “Robinson Crusoe”, originally titled
“The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of
Crusoe, of York, Mariner. Written by himself,” which
made him rich and famous and enabled to pay his
creditors. It was a realistic story consisting of incidents
that were presented as actual happenings. It was based
on a true account of Alexander Selkirk, a fugitive sailor,
who went to sea in 1704 and put ashore (at his own
request) on an uninhabited island in the Pacific, where
he survived until his rescue in 1709. Such travel
literature was at the height of popular fashion, which was
used by Defoe, who substantively reshaped the initial
story. His Robinson takes to sea against the will of his
parents, suffers at the hands of pirates and is
shipwrecked off South America. A combination of systematic salvaging, resourcefulness and good
fortune enables him to survive on his island for over twenty-eight years, to adapt to the alien
environment, demonstrate self-sufficiency, so much admired by Defoe himself, and come to terms
with his own spiritual irresponsibility. Though today the psychology of isolation depicted in the
novel can seem unconvincing, it must be remembered that “Robinson Crusoe” is one of the first
novels of its kind and it combines the fascination with the exotic travel literature of the time with the
tradition of Puritan spiritual autobiographies, being thus a deliberate combination of the specific
and the general, which has appealed to all kinds of readers ever since. Defoe tried to repeat its
success in “The Further Adventures of Robinson Crusoe” (1719), in which Robinson resists the
island and loses Friday in an attack by savages, and “Serious Reflections… of Robinson
Crusoe” (1720), but neither of the novels is remembered outside scholarly circles.
From ROBINSON CRUSOE
I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, though not of that country,
my father being a foreigner of Bremen, who settled first at Hull. He got a good estate by
merchandise, and leaving off his trade, lived afterwards at York, from whence he had married my
mother, whose relations were named Robinson, a very good family in that country, and from whom
I was called Robinson Kreutznaer; but, by the usual corruption of words in England, we are now
called—nay we call ourselves and write our name—Crusoe; and so my companions always called
me.
I had two elder brothers, one of whom was lieutenant-colonel to an English regiment of foot
in Flanders, formerly commanded by the famous Colonel Lockhart, and was killed at the battle
near Dunkirk against the Spaniards. What became of my second brother I never knew, any more
than my father or mother knew what became of me.
Being the third son of the family and not bred to any trade, my head began to be filled very
early with rambling thoughts.
My father, who was very ancient, had given me a competent share of learning, as far as
house-education and a country free school generally go, and designed me for the law; but I would
be satisfied with nothing but going to sea; and my inclination to this led me so strongly against the
will, nay, the commands of my father, and against all the entreaties and persuasions of my mother
and other friends, that there seemed to be something fatal in that propensity of nature, tending
directly to the life of misery which was to befall me.
My father, a wise and grave man, gave me serious and excellent counsel against what he
foresaw was my design. He called me one morning into his chamber, where he was confined by
the gout, and expostulated very warmly with me upon this subject. He asked me what reasons,
more than a mere wandering inclination, I had for leaving father’s house and my native country,
where I might be well introduced, and had a prospect of raising my fortune by application and
industry, with a life of ease and pleasure. He told me it was men of desperate fortunes on one
hand, or of aspiring, superior fortunes on the other, who went abroad upon adventures, to rise by
enterprise, and make themselves famous in undertakings of a nature out of the common road; that
these things were all either too far above me or too far below me; that mine was the middle state,
or what might be called the upper station of low life, which he had found, by long experience, was
the best state in the world, the most suited to human happiness, not exposed to the miseries and
hardships, the labour and sufferings of the mechanic part of mankind, and not embarrassed with
the pride, luxury, ambition, and envy of the upper part of mankind. He told me I might judge of the
happiness of this state by this one thing—viz. that this was the state of life which all other people
envied; that kings have frequently lamented the miserable consequence of being born to great
things, and wished they had been placed in the middle of the two extremes, between the mean
and the great; that the wise man gave his testimony to this, as the standard of felicity, when he
prayed to have neither poverty nor riches…
With over 500 verified publications to his name, Defoe is the most prolific author in English
literature, yet his reputation now rests upon his novels, the genre, in which he was a great
innovator (his "Robinson Crusoe" (1719) and "Moll Flanders" (1722) already resemble novels,
though they lack the unified plot typical of that literary form). At the same time he was also an
outstanding journalist in an age when pamphlets could make a difference.
High Enlightenment. Many scholars consider Samuel Richardson's (1689−1761)
"Pamela" (1740) to be the first true novel in English – the psychological novel of everyday life,
which would make description of private life really dramatic. Richardson portrayed everyday life
and manners realistically, yet he never opposed the feelings to the mind: the passions of his
characters are always rational.
Descendant of a poor family, Richardson was very diligent
self-made man (his nicknames were “Serious” and “Gravity”) and
after his apprenticeship to a printer, started his own business,
which prospered to the end of his life. He was moralistic since
early age, entertaining his schoolfellows with tales, each having a
moral, and later publishing “The Apprentice’s Vade Mecum
(manual)” which urged diligence, morality, and sobriety.
Richardson wrote three novels, all of them a success.
“Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded” (1740, 1741) made him famous.
Its heroine, Pamela Andrews is a teenage maid in a household,
where her mistress has just died. The lady’s son, Mr B, has a
lustful passion for Pamela and, helped by the servants, tried to
take advantage of her. Pamela is partly revolted and partly
attracted by
the amorous Mr B, yet, her moral principles make her leave the house. Part of Pamela’s journal
stolen by the servants helps Mr. B to understand her better. He writes asking her to return and, to
her delight, proposes marriage. The second, less inspiring, part depicts Pamela’s acclimatization
to her new situation and the dignified way in which she handles married life. The novel, being a
18th century equivalent of a runaway bestseller, owed its success primarily to the plight of the
heroine and the atmosphere of the house depicted by Richardson.
“Clarissa” (1747−1748), his masterpiece, and, running to over a million words, the longest
novel in English literature, consolidated his reputation as a promoter of the female virtue and a
subtle psychologist. In this tragic novel the honest and just Clarissa Harlowe fails to oppose the
corruption and the evil of Robert Lovelace, and eventually dies. Clarissa’s moral principles are so
strong because they are not only puritan but humane. The forgotten today “History of Sir Charles
Grandison” (1753−1754) portrays the male virtue as understood during the period. All the novels
are epistolary, a form which Richardson did not invent, but brought to a new standard.
The realism of the High Enlightenment is best presented
in the robust novels of Henry Fielding (1707−1754). A novelist,
journalist and a creator of the English political comedy, he also
worked out and applied in his works the theory of the novel as a
genre. An optimistic observer of the human nature and a humanist,
he was the first in English literature to combine the picaresque
narrative and the family chronicle to create the “comic epic”,
developing the legacy of Servantes, whom he considered to be his
teacher.
A descendant of an aristocratic family, Fielding had an excellent
legal education, but financial difficulties prompted to start by
writing plays, ranging from the ballad opera to the conventional 5-
act comedy. As a dramatist Fielding followed Moliere’s traditions,
the technique of the English Restoration drama by Congreve and
the ballad opera by John Gay. The 1737 law on theatric censorship forbidding any criticism of the
government ended Fielding’s career as a playwright. Fielding resumed his legal studies, applied
himself to political journalism, and started writing novels. His theatrical experience helped him to
become a brilliant novelist.
The popularity of Richardson’s “Pamela” suggested Fielding to ridicule it in "Shamela"
(1741) and his funniest novel “Joseph Andrews” (1742), which became Fielding’s first comic epic
depicting a vast panorama of the society. Yet, his masterpiece is "The History of Tom Jones, A
Foundling" (1749) which hits the top of critical realism in the England of the 18 th century. The plot
deals with the hardships of Tom Jones, found one day in the bed of Mr. Allworthy, a rich and
benevolent country gentlemen. He raises Tom together with his nephew, the villainous Blifil, who
turns his uncle against Tom. Tom has to leave and travels to London with Sophia, whom he loves,
but who was to marry Blifil. After unfortunate incidents in London, Tom is recognized as son of Mr.
Allworthy’s sister, Bridget, becomes his lawful heir and marries Sophia. The novel is neatly
structured, its characters are far from being stereotypical, the introductory chapters that preface
each of the 18 books for the first time in English literature establish a narrative voice satisfying the
contemporary reader’s fondness of moral commentary.
From TOM JONES
Chapter i. — The introduction to the work, or bill of fare to the feast.
An author ought to consider himself, not as a gentleman who gives a
private or eleemosynary treat, but rather as one who keeps a public
ordinary, at which all persons are welcome for their money. In the former
case, it is well known that the entertainer provides what fare he pleases;
and though this should be very indifferent, and utterly disagreeable to the
taste of his company, they must not find any fault; nay, on the contrary,
good breeding forces them outwardly to approve and to commend
whatever is set before them. Now the contrary of this happens to the
master of an ordinary. Men who pay for what they at will insist on gratifying
their palates, however nice and whimsical these may prove; and if everything is not agreeable to
their taste, will challenge a right to censure, to abuse, and to d—n their dinner without controul.
 To prevent, therefore, giving offence to their customers by any such disappointment, it hath
been usual with the honest and well-meaning host to provide a bill of fare which all persons may
peruse at their first entrance into the house; and having thence acquainted themselves with the
entertainment which they may expect, may either stay and regale with what is provided for them,
or may depart to some other ordinary better accommodated to their taste.
As we do not disdain to borrow wit or wisdom from any man who is capable of lending us
either, we have condescended to take a hint from these honest victuallers, and shall prefix not
only a general bill of fare to our whole entertainment, but shall likewise give the reader particular
bills to every course which is to be served up in this and the ensuing volumes.
The provision, then, which we have here made is no other than Human Nature. Nor do I
fear that my sensible reader, though most luxurious in his taste, will start, cavil, or be offended,
because I have named but one article. The tortoise—as the alderman of Bristol, well learned in
eating, knows by much experience—besides the delicious calipash and calipee, contains many
different kinds of food; nor can the learned reader be ignorant, that in human nature, though here
collected under one general name, is such prodigious variety, that a cook will have sooner gone
through all the several species of animal and vegetable food in the world, than an author will be
able to exhaust so extensive a subject.
An objection may perhaps be apprehended from the more delicate, that this dish is too
common and vulgar; for what else is the subject of all the romances, novels, plays, and poems,
with which the stalls abound? Many exquisite viands might be rejected by the epicure, if it was a
sufficient cause for his contemning of them as common and vulgar, that something was to be
found in the most paltry alleys under the same name. In reality, true nature is as difficult to be met
with in authors, as the Bayonne ham, or Bologna sausage, is to be found in the shops.
But the whole, to continue the same metaphor, consists in the cookery of the author; for, as
Mr Pope tells us—
"True wit is nature to advantage drest;
What oft was thought, but ne'er so well exprest.” …
The period of Classicism is English literature steeped in the fascination with the classical
Roman authors and the keen participation in native political developments made the satire and the
comedy of manners the dominant genres of the era. Despite the glorious domination of poetry
during the Jacobean age, with works of the metaphysical poets and John Milton’s epic Paradise
Lost, the new topics found their expression in the development of the novel, which dominated High
Enlightenment and explored the human adventured of the body and the spirit.

CLASSICISM AND ENGLISH ENLIGHTENMENT (1603−1784)

Jacobean Age, the Civil War, the Restoration (1603−c.1670):
Poetry Prose Drama
Metaphysical poets King James’ translation of the Revenge tragedy:
John Donne Bible (1611) John Webster
Abraham Cowley, Pastorals “The Duchess of Malfi” (1613)
George Herbert, Philosophical essays, sermons Comedy:
Andrew Marvell, John Donne John Fletcher “The Knight of
Henry King, Thomas Browne the Burning Pestle” (1607)
Henry Vaughan “Religio Medici” (1642) Ben Jonson: court masques,
Cavalier poets “Volpone” (1606)
Robert Herrick “To the Theatres closed 1648−1660
Virgins, to Make Much of Time”
Richard Lovelace
Sir John Suckling
Thomas Carew
John Milton
“Paradise Lost” (1667),
“Paradise Regained” (1671)
“Samson Agonistes” (1671)
Early Enlightenment: the Age of Dryden and Pope (c. 1670−c.1740)
Poetry
Satire
John Dryden
“Absalom and Achitrophel”
(1681)
Alexander Pope
“The Rape of the Lock” (1712)
“The Dunciad” (1743)
“Moral Essays” (1731-1735)
Prose Drama
Criticism Heroic tragedy
John Dryden "An Essay of Comedy of manners
Dramatic Poesy" (1668) William Wycherly
Diaries “Country Wife” (1675)
Samuel Pepys John Dryden
Allegory “Marriage a la Mode" (1672)
John Bunyan “The William Congreve
Pilgrim's Progress" (1678, “The Way of the World” (1700)
1684)
Satire, pamphlets
Daniel Defoe
“A True Englishman”
Jonathan Swift
“A Modest Proposal” (1729)
“Gulliver’s Travels”(1726)
Essays, journalism
Joseph Addison, Richard
Steele
“The Tattler” (1709−1711),
"The Spectator" (1711−1712)
Novel
Daniel Defoe
“Robinson Crusoe” (1719)
“Moll Flanders” (1722)
Samuel Richardson
“Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded”
(1741)
“Clarissa” (1748)
“History of Sir Charles
Grandison” (1754)
Henry Fielding
“Shamela” (1741)
“Joseph Andrews” (1742)
“The History of Tom Jones, A
Founding” (1749)