NEOCLASSICAL

PERIOD
THE NEOCLASSICAL PERIOD
SUBDIVISION

 The Restoration (1660-1700)

 The Augustan Age (1700-1745)
 The Age of Sensibility (1745-1785)
 THE RESTORATION (1660-
1700)
 Before 1660, England entered the period known as the English
Commonwealth, with a government led by Oliver Cromwell
 During that period, the arts were dominated by the Puritans – there were
official censors who aimed at protecting standards of morality
 Charles II came back to throne in 1660, the monarchy was restored, thus
giving the name to the whole period – the Restoration
 The Puritan ideals were dismissed, but the Restoration literature is
homogenous and includes extremes expressing varied reaction to the restored
court of Charles II
 THE PILGRIMS’ PROGRESS
 A novel written by John Bunyan (1678), a Puritan
preacher who thought the Church of England should
be “purified” of remnants of the Roman Catholicism
 One of the most influential works of theological
fiction in English literature
 Largely written while its author was imprisoned for
twelve years due to preaching illegaly
 Translated into more than 200 languages, has never
been out of print – second only to the Bible in
popularity
 The work examines the question of Christian
salvation and what to do to attain it.
EVERYMAN CHARACTER
 A stock character that symbolizes the average individual
 The term used as early as 15th century – in a morality play
titled The Summoning of Everyman
 Everyman deals with everyday problems, therefore the readers
can easily identify with him and imagine themselves in his
shoes without contradiction
 This type of chracter appears in Bunyan’s The Pilgrim's
Progress which is a symbolic vision of the man’s pilgrimage
through life – from their world to Heaven or Hell
 The conflict between good and evil is shown by the
interactions between the characters – the protagonists encounters
allegorical characters which either bring him closer to salvation
or lead him astray.
 THE AUGUSTAN AGE (1700-
1745)
 The period derived its name from the brilliant literary period of Vergil and Ovid under the
Roman emperor Augustus. Sometimes it is also called the Age of Pope, as Alexander Pope
was the most famous poet.
 It reflected the worldview of the Enlightenment – the works were rational, sceptical and
often presented bold political views e.g. in satires
 The increasing availability of printed material led to the quick spread of all types of
literature – as a result, new genres appeared
 Joseph Addison and Richard Steele’s established the form of the British periodical essay
in „The Spectator” – currently the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world
 It was the time when the English novel was emerging – Daniel Defoe turned from writing
for the press to writing fictional lives with Roxane, Moll Flanders and Robinson Crusoe.
THE AUGUSTAN AGE, OR…
THE AGE OF POPE?

 The most outstanding poet of the age is

Alexander Pope – his most significant works
are mock-heroic poems.
Mock-heroic poems were works satirising
stereotypes of heroes by putting a fool in the
role of the hero or exaggerating the heroic
qualities until they are ridiculous.
 The Rape of the Lock in which the heroine
has her hair cut without her permission by her
suitor which leads to the argument creating a
breach between the two families.
 A satirical essay written and published
anonymously by Jonathan Swift
 Proposes the country may ameliorate poverty in
Ireland by selling the children of the Irish poor as
food to wealthy Englishmen
 Mocks the attitudes towards the poor in
general as well as British policy toward the Irish
 In English, the phrase "a modest proposal" is
now conventionally used to symbolize any
proposition to solve a problem with an effective
but outrageous cure
 THE AGE OF SENSIBILITY
(1745-1785)
 Sensibility – the ability to experience deep feelings (Collins Dictionary)
 The works produced during this period emphasized instict and feeling, rather than
judgment and restraint
 The novel of sensibility was a reaction to the rationalism and, as a genre, relied on
emotional response, therefore the plot was arranged to advance both emotions and actions
and frequently featured scenes of distress, e.g. Samuel Richardson’s Pamela (1740)
 The Graveyard school, a genre of 18th-century British poetry that focused on gloomy
meditations on mortality foreshadowed the Romantic period, e.g Robert Blair's The Grave
Another name for this period is the Age of Johnson because the dominant authors of this
period were Johnson and his intellectual circle
 One of the most famous sentimental novels as
well as Richardson's version of conduct
literature attempting to educate the readers on
social norms
 The action told through letters and journal
entries from Pamela to her parents (epistolary
novel)
 Pamela Andrews is a virtuous but poor maid
working for the wealthy Mr B who tries to
seduce her but fails. Finally, he offers marriage
– an outcome that Richardson presents as a
reward for her virtuous behaviour.
 JOHNSON’S DICTIONARY
 Written single-handedly by Samuel
Johnson – the process took almost a decade
 Johnson’s Dictionary was not the first one,
but the previous ones tended to be little more
than poorly organised and researched
glossaries of ”hard words”, often with single-
worded definitons
 In contrast, Johnson tried to cover as much
of the actual English vocabulary as he could,
not neglecting the obscure words