English literature in the 18^th Century

Ⅰ. Introduction

1. Enlightenment

1.1. Definition: A progressive intellectual movement throughout Western Europe in the 18^th century. It was a expression of the struggle of the bourgeoisie against feudalism.

1.2. Two groups of enlighteners:

Moderate group: Alexander Pope, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, Daniel Defoe and Samuel Richardson.

Radical group: Jonathan Swift, Henry Fielding, Tobias George Smollett, Oliver Goldsmith and Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

1.3. Proposal: liberty, equality and fraternity

2. Literary Characteristics

2.1. Main stream: realism

2.2. Main character: common people

2.3. Instrument: newspaper, pamphlet, magazine

2.4. Writing technique: satire (writers of Whigs or Tories satire each other)

2.5. The 18^th century was an age of prose

3. Three Stages

3.1. From Glorious Revolution to the end of 1730s

Neo-classicism in poetry: Alexander Pope

Prose: Addison and Steele

Realistic fiction: Defoe and Swift

3.2. From 1740s to 1750s

Novel: Richardson, Fielding and Smollett

3.3. The last few decades of the 18^th century

Sentimentalism in poetry: Edward Young and Thomas Gray

Sentimentalism in novel: Laurence Sterne and Oliver Goldsmith

Pre-romanticism in poetry: William Blake and Robert Burns

4. Three general heads: the reign of neo-classicism, the appearance of pre-romantic poetry, and the beginning of modern novel.

 

Ⅱ. Neo-Classicism in English Literature

1. Writing Characteristics

Plays: rhyming couplet, the units of time, place and action

Poetry: lyric, epic, didactic, satiric or dramatic

Prose: precise, direct and flexible

2. Major Writers

2.1. Alexander Pope (1688-1744): the representative poet, a master of satire and heroic couplet, a great satirist and literary critic.

2.1.1. Major Works

     An Essay on Criticism  (in heroic couplet)

     The Rape of the Lock  (mock-heroic poem )

     An Essay on Man  (in heroic couplet)

     The Dunciad  (famous satirical poem)

2.1.2. Position in English Literature

He introduced into English culture the spirit of rationalism.

The early 18^th century has often been named as the Age of Pope.

2.2. Richard Steele and Joseph Addison

2.2.1. Major Works

     The Tatler and The Spectator (literary periodical)

2.2.2. Contribution: The English essay established as a literary genre. They ushered in the dawn of the modern novel.

2.3. Samuel Johnson(1709-1784): a voluminous writer, poet, dramatist, prose romancer, biographer, essayist, critic, lexicographer and publicist.

2.3.1. Major Works

     Poems: London and The Vanity of Human Wishes

     Periodical: The Rambler and The Idler

     Tragedy: Irene

     Romance: Rasselas

     Masterpiece: The Dictionary of the English Language

                Lives of the Poets

2.4. James Boswell   ( The Life of Samuel Johnson)

 

Ⅲ. English Novelists Of Realistic Tradition

1. Daniel Defoe (1660-1731): the discoverer of the modern European novel, father of English novels.

1.1. Major Works

   Pamphlet: The True-Born Englishman

            The Shortest Way with the Dissenters

   Poem: Hymn to the Pillory

   Novel: The Life and Strange Surprising Adventure of Robinson Crusoe (masterpiece)

        Captain Singleton, Moll Flanders and Colonel Jacque

1.2. Features of Defoe’s Novels

   Society is the source of various crimes and vices.

   Give reader an impression of reality.

2. Jonathan Swift (1667-1745): a famous realistic writer

2.1. Major Works

Dialogue: The Battle of the Books

Prose: A Tale of a Tub

Pamphlet: The Drapier’s Letters and A Modest Proposal

Novel: Gulliver’s Travels (masterpiece)

2.2. Writing Features

    Swift’s stories come from imagination

Swift expresses democratic ideas

Swift’s language is simple, clear and vigorous

3. Henry Fielding (1707-1754): the greatest novelist of the 18^th century, one of the most artistic, the founder of English realistic novels, a versatile.

3.1. Dramatic Works(25 plays, include comedies, farces, burlesques, dramatic satires )  The Historical Register for the Year 1736

Writing plays paved the way for writing his novels.

3.2. Major Novel

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (masterpiece)

Joseph Andrews and Jonathan Wild the Great

3.3. Position in English Literature

He sets up the theory of realism in literary creation.

Most of his characters are compounded of both observation and imagination, of both experience and invention.

3.4. Features of His Novels

   Third-person narrative

   Satire abounds everywhere

   Educational function

   Style is easy, unlaboured, familiar, vivid and vigorous

4. Tobias George Smollett (1721-1771)

4.1. Three Main Novels

The Adventure of Roderick Random

The Adventure of Peregrine Pickle

The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (letter form)

4.2. Writing Features

Humour, picaresque novel

 

Ⅳ. English Novelists Of Sentimentalist Tradition

1. Samuel Richardson (1689-1761): the first novelist of sentimentalist tradition, the master of writing epistolary novels.

1.1. Three Novels

   Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (letter form)

   Clarissa Harlowe, or the History of a Young Lady (masterpiece)

   Sir Charles Grandison

1.2. Features of His Novels

Good moral purpose, written in the form of letters

2. Laurence Sterne (1713-1768): the representative of sentimentalism in the 18^th century.

2.1. Novels

   The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy (masterpiece)

   A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy

2.2. Features of His Novels

   Sentiment is more important than reason

   Deep psychological analysis

   Ordinary people as the characters

3. Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774): a versatile and lovable genius of the 18^th century.

3.1. Major Works

Essay: The Citizen of the World

Poem: The Deserted Village (heroic couplet)

Comedy: She Stoops to Conquer, or The Mistakes of a Night

Novel: The Vicar of Wakefield (masterpiece)

 

Ⅴ. Poetry of Pre-Romanticism and Sentimentalism

1. Characteristic of Romanticism

Protest against the bondage of rules and customs

Return to nature and plain humanity

Establish ideals of youth

Intense human sympathy

Individual genius

Influenced by Spenser, Shakespeare and Milton’s inspiration

2. Sentimentalism: emotion and sentiment take the place of reason

3. Romantic and Sentimentalist Poets

3.1. James Thomson (1700-1748): the forerunner of the Romantic Movement

3.1.1. Major Work: The Seasons  (blank verse, the first significant poem written in the tradition of pre-romanticism)

3.2. Edward Young (1683-1765): Night Thoughts (blank verse)

3.3. William Collins (1721-1759): famous for a series of Odes: Ode to Evening

3.4. Thomas Gray (1716-1771): Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (democratic sentiment)

3.5. James Macpherson (1736-1796): Works of Ossian (translation)

3.6. Bishop Thomas Percy(1729-1811): Reliques of Ancient English Poetry

3.7. Thomas Chatterton (1752-1770): Rowley Poems

3.8. William Cowper (1731-1800): The Task  (blank verse)

3.9. George Crabbe (1754-1832): The Village, The Parish Register, The Borough

 

Ⅵ. William Blake and Robert Burns (tow truly great romantic poets)

1. William Blake (1757-1827): a forerunner of the Romantic Movement, famous for his short lyrics, a great poet of contraries. “Without contrast, there is no progression”.

1.1. Main works

Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (prose)

2. Robert Burns (1759-1796): one of the greatest writers of songs in the world, the national poet of Scotland.

2.1. Work: Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect

2.2. Features of His Poetry

   Written in the Scottish dialect, write for the people

 

Ⅶ. English Drama in the 18^th Century

1. Introduction

English drama in the early and middle decades of the century on the whole lost its vitality. In the first two decades, the Italian opera and the English pantomime began to appear.

In 1728, John Gay produced The Beggar’s Opera. His contributions to the English drama in the 18^th century lie in his introduction of political and social satire to dramatic literature.

In 1730s, two highlights: the comedies and especially the political and social satires written by Henry Fielding, the bourgeois tragedy by George Lillo.

The second half of the 18^th century: the greatest playwright, Richard Brinsley Sheridan.

 

2. Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816): the greatest playwright in the 18^th century, inherited the tradition of realism in drama writing.

2.1. Major Works

    The Rivals (comedy, attack the hypocrisy of the sentimentalists)  The School for Scandal (masterpiece, regarded as the best comedy since Shakespeare)