The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century

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The Restoration andthe Eighteenth Century
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Poets William Wordsworth S.T. Coleridge
I. Time Period 1660-1800 in England A.
Expansion from England to North America 1.
America prospers and rebels by 1775 2.
England exhausted by civil and colonial
war, a plague and a fire, yet by 1800
had transformed itself a. despite
losses, the military and upper
classes thrive the middle class
grew b. an old nation produced
brilliant literature
Jonathan Swift Gullivers Travels
Daniel Defoe Robinson Crusoe
Samuel Johnson Dictionary of the English Language
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II. An Age With Several Names A. The Augustan
Age 1. England compared reign of Roman
Emperor Augustus (63 B.C.-A.D. 14) who
restored peace order to Rome after Julius
Caesars assassination
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2. The Stuart monarchs restored peace order
to England after civil wars led to the
execu- tion of King Charles I in 1649.
a. As Augustus was hailed the second
founder of Rome, Charles II was hailed
as their savior.
Interesting Oliver Cromwells body the one of
first commoner to rule England, was dug up and
beheaded by Charles IIs supporters as a warning
to revolutionaries!
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B. The Neoclassical Age 1. During this time,
English writers modeled their works on the old
Latin classics
a. neo means new b. The
classics were valuable because they
represented what was permanent and
universal in human experience
C. The Age of Reason - The Enlightenment 1. A
shift in peoples thinking a. from
superstition/religion to reason i.
example events natl phenomena
have some meaning behind them afterwards
they are seen without those lenses
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III. The Birth of Modern English Prose Paring
Down A. The Royal Society for the Promotion of
Natural Knowledge gathers to change the way
scientists and all knowledge is written 1.
avoiding elaborate metaphors and long
sentences. Cfr When in the Course of human
events, it becomes necessary for one people to
dissolve the political bands which have connected
them with another, and to assume among the
powers of the earth, the separate and equal
station to which the Laws of Nature and Natures
God entitle them, a decent respect to the
opinions of mankind requires that they should
declare the causes which impel them to the
separation. Thomas Jefferson, Dec. of
Independence, 1776
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IV. Changes in Religion More Questions A. Deism
- A religion based on reason and the
observation of nature. 1. miracles, divinity
of Christ, Virgin Birth thrown out
a. Philosophers Jean Jacques Rousseau
(noble savage original sin out) b.
Statesmen Jefferson, Franklin, Paine
i. Jeffersons Bible
c. Writers Alexander Pope Nature
and Natures laws lay hid in night God
said,
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Let Newton be! and all was light. Alexander Pope,
epitaph intended for Sir Isaac Newton
B. Rationalism 1. emphasized the authority of
reason a. reason is more powerful than
sensory experience b. through reason,
human beings can un- derstand the nature
of reality
C. Religion Politics 2. Religion
determined peoples politics a. Charles II
reestablishes the Anglican Church as
the official church - and out- lawed
the Puritans and Independents i.
persecution
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V. The Bloodless Revolution
A. Charles II has no heir. Dies in 1685. His
brother James II succeeds. 1. Problem
- hes a Catholic a. widely believed
Catholics set fire to Lon- don and
plotted to hand country to pope
2. Plot thickens - James has a son, a
Catholic heir!
3. Oh oh! Better get outta here! a. In
1688, the royal family fled to France
i. the Glorious (bloodless) Revolution
James II succeeded by his Protestant
daughter Mary husband William of
Orange. Ever since, English rulers
been Protestants
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VI. Addicted to the Theater A. Theaters were
closed for more than 20 years when the
Puritans held power. Charles II, in exile in
France, became addicted to theatergoing - so
he repeals the ban on play performances.
1. for the 1st time, female actors acted
VII. The Age of Satire Attacks on Immorality
Bad Taste A. Writers such as Swift were
appalled by the squalor and shoddiness in
art, manners, and morals - the underside of
18th Century life. B. Swift was not satisfied
with the world, de- ploring corrupt politics
and the commercialism and materialism of the
middle class.
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VIII. Journalism - A New Profession A. Daniel
Defoe - saw himself as a reformer
IX. Public Poetry A. Is real poetry conceived
in the soul or only in the mind? Augustan
poets
1. had no desire to expose their soul 2.
were usually composed for an occasion 3.
Example - an Augustan elegy didnt tell the
truth about a dead person - but the best
things the poet could think of saying
B. At the opposite extreme, a poet might
think a person should be exposed to
public ridicule the poet would write a
satire - a type of writing that doesnt make
a just and balanced judgment but says the
worst thing he can think.
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X. The First English Novels A. Writers began
writing fictional narratives called novels
(novel means something new 1. They were
funny 2. They show us what life was like at
the time 3. They help us understand the humor
and dis- appointments of human experience
in all ages.