AGE OF

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AGE OF REASON
• The period also became known as the Age of
Enlightenment for the radical ideas set forth in
social and political areas of life. After the
renaissance and humanism of the early-
modern period, people began to ask
themselves, “what does it mean to be a
human being?” and “what rights do human
beings have?”
AGE OF REASON
• Most of the writing of this time attempts to
answer these questions in all aspects of
human life. For example, in religious life,
people sought to understand the question of
authority: does the established church control
spiritual thinking or must people determine
spiritual matters themselves?
AGE OF REASON

• birthed a new reverence for reason and

scientific knowledge -- rather than religion --
as a means of understanding the world and
our place in it.

• the era produced mostly nonfiction, including

poetry that dealt with reason
AGE OF REASON

• Rational Poetry
- any poets of the Enlightenment
celebrated reason in their work, such as in
Alexander Pope's "An Essay on Man," which
denies divine intervention and declares the
inherent goodness of nature, rather than some
transcendent deity.
AGE OF REASON
• Bringing Back the Greeks
- Philosophers and writers became
increasingly interested in Greek and Roman
literature on rhetoric, logic and government, and
authors.
- Writers became concerned more with clarity
of speech and standardized language, as opposed
to their predecessors during the Renaissance, who
explored language more creatively.
AGE OF REASON
• Literature as Criticism
- Writers during this era frequently
employed satire to critique excessive power or
other social injustices. The concept of social
justice and helping those less fortunate was
developed strongly during this period when
people lost confidence in divine intervention and
providence.
AGE OF REASON

• The Novel Begins

- In addition to the nonfiction
circulating during the Age of Reason, this
era also gave birth to the modern-day
novel.
FRANCIS
BACON  Sir Francis Bacon was an English
lawyer, statesman, essayist,
historian, intellectual reformer,
philosopher, and champion of
modern science.
 Francis Bacon is hailed as the
Father of Inductive Reasoning and
the Father of the English Essay.
FRANCIS
BACON  The Essays was hid greatest
literary contribution of the 17th
century.

 Of Studies
 Of Marriage and Single Life
 Of Parents and Children
 Of Revenge
 Of Studies
- Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for
ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and
retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in
the judgment, and disposition of business.

- To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to

use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make
judgment wholly by their rules, is the humor of a scholar.
 Some quotable quotes from Bacon

a. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed,

and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some
books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but
not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with
diligence and attention. – Of Studies

b. Wives are young men’s mistresses, companions for

middle age, and old men’s
nurses. - Of Marriage and Single Life
 Some quotable quotes from Bacon

c. If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end

in doubts; but if he will be content to
begin with doubts, he shall end in certainties.
- Advancement of Learning
 JOHN MILTON
 a revolutionary poet, political
both in his life and his art;

 English poet, pamphleteer,

and historian, considered the
most significant English author
after William Shakespeare.
Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained
(John Milton)
• Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse that tells
of the fall of the angels and of the creation of Adam
and Eve and their temptation by Satan in the Garden
of Eden ("Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit/ Of
that forbidden tree . . . ").

• Paradise Regained centers on the temptation of

Christ and the thirst for the word of God.
 Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained
(John Milton)
• Both poems have an epic quality, although Paradise
Regained is only about one-fifth the length of Paradise
Lost. (The latter has over 10,000 lines, whereas
Paradise Regained has just over 2,000.)
• On account of this difference, Paradise Regained has
become known as a brief epic. Epic poems typically
share a number of features: an epic typically begins in
medias res, or in the middle of the action
 The Pilgrim’s Progress
(John Bunyan)
• An allegory that shows Christian tormented by spiritual
anguish. Evangelist, a spiritual guide visits him and urges
him to leave the City of Destruction. Evangelist claims
that salvation can only be found in the Celestial City,
known as Mount Zion. Christian embarks on a journey
and meets a number of other characters before he
reaches the Celestial City.
Metaphysical Poetry

• The word “metaphysical” was used by writers such as

John Dryden and Samuel Johnson in regards to the
poets of the seventeenth century. These poets are noted
for their “unnaturalness”
• Makes use of conceits or farfetched similes and
metaphors intended to startle the reader into an
awareness of the relationships among things ordinarily
not associated.
Metaphysical Poetry

• break away from the convention; simple diction, common

speech words and cadences, actual life imagery

• Poets whose works have been categorized as

“metaphysical” often seek out the answers to questions
such as, does God exist? Or, does humankind really
have free choice? Or, what is the nature of reality?
Metaphysical Poetry

• John Donne - leading figure of the Metaphysical

school of poetry.
“Mark but this flea, and mark in this,

How little that which thou deniest me is;

It sucked me first, and now sucks thee,

And in this flea our two bloods mingled be; […]

Metaphysical Poetry

• Andrew Marvell

Had we but world enough and time,

This coyness, lady, were no crime.

We would sit down, and think which way

To walk, and pass our long love’s day.[…]

Concrete Poems

• type of poetry that uses the visual arrangement of

words to create a picture related to the meaning of
the poem

• Concrete poems that deal withman's thirst for God

and with God's abounding love.
 The Altar
A broken A L T A R, Lord, thy servant reares,
Made of a heart, and cemented with teares:
Whose parts are as thy hand did frame;
No workmans tool hath touch’d the same.
A H E A R T alone
Is such a stone,
As nothing but
Thy pow’r doth cut.
Wherefore each part
Of my hard heart
Meets in this frame,
To praise thy Name;
That, if I chance to hold my peace,
These stones to praise thee may not cease.
O let thy blessed S A C R I F I C E be mine,
And sanctifie this A L T A R to be thine.
Cavalier Poems

• Cavalier poetry is a term used to describe a group of

English gentlemen poets who were loyal to Charles I
during the English Civil Wars.

• Cavalier poetry is often characterized by its

lightness and elegance, and is known for its themes
of love, beauty, and nature
Cavalier Poems

• Some of the most famous Cavalier poets include

Robert Herrick, Thomas Carew, and Richard
Lovelace
 To Lucasta, Going to the Wars

Tell me not, sweet, I am unkind,

That from the nunnery
Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind
To war and arms I fly.

True, a new mistress now I chase,

The first foe in the field;
And with a stronger faith embrace
A sword, a horse, a shield.

Yet this inconstancy is such

As you too shall adore;
I could not love thee, dear, so much,
Loved I not honor more.
 Task
Create
your own
concrete poem.
A topic of your choice.
Write it in a yellow paper.
Pass your work once you’re done.
END