BBL 3102

THE NEOCLASSIC
PERIOD (THE
RESTORATION,
AUGUSTAN AND AGE OF
SENSIBILITY)
WEEK 7
 1660-1700: The Restoration
1700-1745: The Augustan Age
(or Age of Pope)
1745-1785: The Age of Sensibility
(or Age of Johnson)
 Restoration Period
After his father's death, Charles was proclaimed king of
England by the Scots and by supporters in parts of
Ireland and England, and he traveled to Scotland to raise
an army.
In 1651, Charles invaded England but was defeated by
Cromwell at the Battle of Worcester. Charles escaped to
France and later lived in exile in Germany and then in
the Spanish Netherlands.
After Cromwell's death in 1658, the English republican
experiment faltered. Cromwell's son Richard proved an
ineffectual leader, and the public resented the strict
Puritanism of England's military rulers.
 In 1660, in what is known as the English Restoration,
General George Monck met with Charles and
arranged to restore him in exchange for a promise of
amnesty and religious toleration for his former
enemies.
On May 25, 1660, Charles landed at Dover and four
days later entered London in triumph. It was his 30th
birthday, and London rejoiced at his arrival.
In the first year of the Restoration, Oliver Cromwell
was posthumously convicted of treason and his body
disinterred from its tomb in Westminster Abbey and
hanged from the gallows at Tyburn.
 Characteristics
1 Rise of Neo-classicism
The Restoration marks a complete break with the past. The
people believed in the present, the real and the material.
Men had learned to fear individual enthusiasm, and therefore
they tried to discourage it by setting up ideals of conduct in
accordance with reason and common sense, to which all men
should adapt themselves.
All these tendencies were reflected in the literature of this
period. The writers, both in prose and poetry, tacitly agreed
upon the rules and principles in accordance with which they
should write.
Rules and literary conventions became more important than
the depth and seriousness of the subject matter to the writers
of this period. They express superficial manners and customs
of the aristocratic and urban society and did not pry into the
mysteries of human mind and heart.
2 Imitation of the Ancient Masters

The authors of the period were not endowed with

exceptional literary talents. So they turned to the
ancient writers, in particular, to the Latin writers, for
guidance and inspiration.
Thus grew the neo-classical school of poetry. The
neo-classicists or pseudo-classicists could not soar to
great imaginative heights or could not penetrate
deeply into human emotions.
They directed their attention to the slavish imitation
of rules and ignored the importance of the subject
matter. This habit was noticeable in the age of
Dryden. It strengthened in the succeeding age of
Pope.
3.. Realism and formalism
Restoration literature is realistic. It was very much concerned
with life in London, and with details of dress, fashions and
manners, it sought to paint realistic pictures of corrupt court
and society, and emphasized vices rather than virtues and
gave us coarse, low plays without interest or moral
significance.
Like Hobbes, they saw only the externals of man, his body
and appetites, not his soul and his ideals.
The Restoration writers eschewed all extravagances of
thought and language and aimed at achieving directness and
simplicity of expression.
Dryden accepted the excellent rule for his prose, and adopted
the heroic couplet, as the next best thing for the greater part
of this poetry. It is largely due to Dryden that writers
developed formalism of style, that precise, almost
mathematical elegance, which ruled the English literature for
the next century.
POETRY OF RESTORATION AGE

John Dryden (1631-1700).

Dryden was the first of the new, as Milton
was the last of the former school of poetry.
He was a versatile poet. Absalom and
Achitophel is a fine, finished satire on
contemporary political situation. Medal is
an attack on Shaftesbury
 Mac Flecknoe is a biting attack on a former
friend, Thomas Shadwell. Religio Laici and The
Hind and the Panther are two doctrinal poems.
Dryden appears as a great story teller in verse in
The Fables. As a lyric poet his fame rests on
song for St. Cecilias Day and On Alexanders
Feast. Dryden is the representative poet of his
age. He began the neo-classical age in
literature. It was his influence and example
which lifted the classic couplet for many years as
the accepted measure of serious English poetry.
RESTORATION DRAMA
The Restoration comedy is also known as
Comedy of Manners.
These comedies expressed a reaction
against Puritanism and the sexual
repression it had attempted to enforce.
Fashionable intrigues, sex, marriage and
adultery were treated with cynicism, with
worldly wit and a sense of the comedy of
life.
The characters in the plays no doubt owed
much to the courtiers, the wits, and the
men about town as well as to ladies of
fashion, citizens, wives and country girls.
THE AUGUSTAN AGE
LITERARY CHARACTERISTICS OF THE AGE
1 Age of Prose and Reason:
It is an age of prose, reason, good sense and not of
poetry. A large number of practical interests arising from
the new social and political conditions demanded
expression not simply in looks, but in pamphlets,
magazines and newspapers.
Poetry was inadequate for such a task. Hence prose
developed rapidly and excellently. Indeed, poetry itself
became prosaic, as it was not used for creative works of
imagination, but for essays, satires and criticism.
The poetry of the first half of the eighteenth century as
represented by the works of Pope and Dr. Johnson is
polished and witty but lacks fire, fine feeling, enthusiasm
and imaginative appeal. In short, it interests us as a
study of life but fails to delight or inspire us.
 2 Age of Satire:
The predominance of satire is an
important literary characteristic of the age.
Nearly every writer of the first half of the
eighteenth century was used and
rewarded by Whigs or Tories for satirising
their enemies and for advancing their
special political interests. Pope was an
exception but he too was a satirist par
excellence.
 Follow Nature:
Another important characteristic of the age
was the belief that literature must follow
nature.
By nature the Augustans meant to copy
man and manners of society. Pope said,
The proper study of mankind is man.
Town and City Life as a Theme of Literature:
Another feature of the literature of the age is that
it has a limited theme.
It is a literature of the town and the fashionable
upper circles of the city of London. Pope,
Johnson, Addison, Steele etc., though urban in
outlook and temperament, show remarkable
interest in the middle classes and, thus, broaden
the scope of literature.
The theme of literature before them was strictly
confined to fashionable and aristocratic circles.
In the works of middle class writers classicism
shows itself slightly coloured by a moralising and
secretly sentimental intension.
Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
Pope is the representative poet of the
Augustan Age. His famous works include
Pastorals, An Essay in Criticism, Windsor
Forest, The Rape of the Lock, translations
of lliad and Odyssey, Elegy to the memory
of an Unfortunate Lady and An Essay on
Man.
He was a great poet of his age. His
influence dominated the poetry of his age.
Many foreign writers and the majority of
English poets looked to him as their
model. Popes poetry is the real picture of
the spirit of the age.
NOVEL DURING AUGUSTAN
The development of English prose
contributed to the rise of novel during the
eighteenth century. Daniel Defoes
Robinson Crusoe, Captain Singleton, Moll
Flanders, A Journal of the Plague Year
and Roxana are the forerunners of novel.
Jonathan Swift's Gullivers Travels, which
satirises the manners and politics of
contemporary England and Europe, is
written in powerful and convincing prose.
 The Four Wheels of the Novel-
Richardson, Fielding, Smollett and Sterne
are known as the four wheels of the
novel.
They brought this new genre to such
maturity that it became the glory of
England.
Samuel Richardson

Richardsons first novel Pamela tells the story of the

trials, tribulations, and the final happy marriage of the
heroine. It is written in the forms of letters. It is also
known as an epistolary novel because the novel is
developed with the exchange of letters between the
characters. It was instantly successful. In it the moral
and social purposes are successfully blended. Pamelas
character is well drawn. The plot, though simple, is well
developed. It is considered as the first novel in the
modern sense.
His Clarissa or The History of A Lady in eight volumes is
a sentimental novel. It gave Richardson European
reputation and it is still regarded as one of the greatest
of the eighteenth century novels.