Neoclassical Literary Criticism

Neoclassical Literary Criticism
Compled by: Belachew Weldegebriel (Assistant Professor/English Literature)
Jimma University
CSSH
Department of English Language and Literature
Jimma, Ethiopia

1. Neoclassical Literary Criticism

2. Lesson Objectives At the end of the lesson, you will be able to: Point out the origin of neoclassical lit. criticism; Trace the influence of classical Greek and Roman thinkers on neoclassical Describe neoclassical principles of literary criticism Mention two of the concepts central to neoclassical literary theory and practice; List out the major assumptions and implications of neoclassical literary criticism

3. Neoclassicism refers to a broad tendency in literature and art enduring from the early 17 th C. until around 1750. The Renaissance in general could be regarded as a neoclassical period, in that ancient works were considered the surest models for modern greatness . The neoclassical period is also called the enlightenment period due to increased reverence of logic and disdain for superstition .

4. Neoclassicism – as a Literary Movement Neoclassicism (c. 1660–1798): A literary movement, inspired by the rediscovery of classical works of ancient Greece and Rome that emphasized balance , restraint , and order . Neoclassicism roughly coincided with the Enlightenment, which espoused reason over passion . Notable neoclassical writers include Edmund Burke, John Dryden, Samuel Johnson, Alexander Pope, and Jonathan Swift.

5. Neoclassical. . . An Essay on Criticism , published anonymously by Alexander Pope in 1711, is perhaps the clearest statement of neoclassical principles in any language.

6. Neoclassical . . . Its origins were much earlier (the Elizabethan Ben Jonson, for example, was as indebted to the Roman poet Horace as Alexander Pope would later be. Neoclassicism dominated English literature from the Restoration in 1660 until the end of the 18th century , when the publication of Lyrical Ballads (1798) by Wordsworth and Coleridge marked the full emergence of Romanticism .

7. Neoclassical. . . Boileau's L'Art Poetique (1674) and Pope's " Essay on Criticism " (1711) as critical statements of Neoclassical principles These neoclassical principles embodied a group of attitudes toward art and human existence — ideals of order, logic, restraint, accuracy, "correctness," "restraint," decorum, and so on. the practitioners of various arts were made to imitate or reproduce the structures and themes of Greek or Roman originals .

8. Neoclassicism comprised a return to the classical models, literary styles, and values of ancient Greek and Roman authors.

9. The Classical values: the neoclassicists emphasis upon the classical values of objectivity, impersonality, rationality, decorum, balance, harmony, proportion, and moderation. Nature of Literature and Lit Composition the neoclassical writers reaffirmed literary composition as a rational and rule-bound process , requiring a great deal of craft , labor , and study .

10. Neoclasssical The neoclassicists tended to insist on the separation of poetry and prose , the purity of each genre, and the hierarchy of genres (though, unlike Aristotle, they generally placed the epic above tragedy ). Two of the concepts central to neoclassical literary theory and practice were imitation and nature , which were intimately related. Imitation The imitation of classical models, especially Homer and Vergil. Nature the harmonious and hierarchical order of the universe, including the various social and political hierarchies within the world.

11. Neoclassical The neoclassical writers generally saw the ancients such as Homer and Vergil as having already discovered and expressed the fundamental laws of nature . Hence, the external world, including the world of human action, could best be expressed by modern writers if they followed the path of imitation already paved by the ancients. Invention was of course allowed, but only as a modification of past models, not in the form of a rupture.

12. Alexander Pope (1688–1744) Pope specifies two further guidelines for the critic. The first is to recognize the overall unity of a work , and thereby to avoid falling into partial assessments based on the author’s use of poetic conceits, ornamented language, and meters, as well as those which are biased toward either archaic or modern styles or based on the reputations of given writers. Finally, a critic needs to possess a moral sensibility, as well as a sense of balance and proportion .

13. The Three Parts of Neoclassical Period The Neoclassical Period can be divided into three relatively coherent parts: the Restoration Age (1660-1700), in which Milton, Bunyan, and Dryden were the dominant influences; the Augustan Age (1700-1750), in which Pope was the central poetic figure, while Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, and Smollett were presiding over the sophistication of the novel; and the Age of Johnson (1750-1798), which, was dominated and characterized by the mind and personality of the inimitable Dr. Samuel Johnson

14. Among these three coherent phases, the literature of the Augustan period conformed to Pope's aesthetic principles (and could thus qualify as being 'Augustan') is distinguished by its striving for harmony and precision , its urbanity/elegance, and its imitation of classical models such as Homer, Cicero, Virgil, and Horace, for example in the work of the minor poet Matthew Prior.

15. Neoclassical vs. Renaissance View of Man To a certain extent Neoclassicism represented a reaction against the optimistic, exuberant, and enthusiastic Renaissance view of man as a being fundamentally good and possessed of an infinite potential for spiritual and intellectual growth. Neoclassical theorists , by contrast, saw man as an imperfect being, inherently sinful, whose potential was limited.

16. They replaced the Renaissance emphasis on the imagination, on invention and experimentation, and on mysticism with an emphasis on order and reason, on restraint, on common sense, and on religious, political, economic and philosophical conservatism. They maintained that man himself was the most appropriate subject of art , and saw art itself as essentially pragmatic — as valuable because it was somehow useful — and as something which was properly intellectual rather than emotional .

17. Many of the primary aesthetic tenets of Neoclassicism, in fact have reappeared in the 20 th century The poetry and criticism of T. S. Eliot — as manifestations of a reaction against Romanticism itself: Eliot saw Neo-classicism as emphasizing poetic form and conscious craftsmanship, and Romanticism as a poetics of personal emotion and " inspiration ," and pointedly preferred the former.

18. Neoclassical Assumptions and Their Implications Neoclassical thinkers could use the past as a guide for the present because they assumed that human nature was constant- -essentially the same regardless of time and place. Art, they believed, should express this essential nature: "Nothing can please many, and please long, but just representations of general nature" ( Samuel Johnson ). An individual character was valuable for what he or she revealed of universal human nature.

19. Assumptions and . . . Of course, all great art has this sort of significance--Johnson made his statement about Shakespeare. But neoclassical artists more consciously emphasized common human characteristics over individual differences, as we see in the type-named characters of Moliere .

20. Assumptions. . . If human nature has remained constant over the centuries, it is unlikely that any startling new discoveries will be made. Hence neoclassical artists did not strive to be original so much as to express old truths in a newly effective way.

21. Assumptions As Alexander Pope , one of their greatest poets, wrote: "True wit is nature to advantage dressed, / What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed." Neoclassical writers aimed to articulate general truth rather than unique vision, to communicate to others more than to express themselves.

22. Q & A What was the extent of invention permitted by neoclassical literary critics? What are the two qualities a critic need to possess according to Alexander Pope? Can you describe neoclassical view of man? Can you name the three parts into which neoclassical literary criticism can be divided? The most appropriate subject of art according renaissance and neoclassical literary criticism was ___ Name literary critics and the essays of people who presented critical statements of Neoclassical period.

23. Q with A. Key What was the extent of invention permitted by neoclassical literary critics? modification of past models 2. What are the two qualities a critic need to possess according to Alexander Pope? Imitation and nature 3. Can you describe neoclassical view of man? Man is an imperfect being, inherently sinful, whose potential was limited .

24. Q with A. Key Can you name the three parts into which neoclassical literary criticism can be divided? The restoration, the Augustan and the age of Johnson 5. The most appropriate subject of art according renaissance and neoclassical literary criticism was man himself. 6. Name literary critics and the essays of people who presented critical statements of Neoclassical period. Boileau's L'Art Poetique (1674) and Pope's "Essay on Criticism" (1711)