The Neo-Classical Age - Major Writers

Major Writers of the Age

1. The Neo-classical Age: Major
Writers of the Age
Vaidehi Hariyani
Department of English, MKBU

2. Johnathan Swift’s Poetry
•Larger extent recreations; old verses to his
friends; squibs and lampoon on his political
and private enemies; on Partridge the quack
astrologer.
•Cadenus and Vanessa (1712-13) which deals
with his affection for Esther Vanhomrigh.
•His favourite meter is octosyllabic Couplet.
•He lapses of taste, when he becomes coarse
and vindictive;

3. Jonathan Swift Prose:
•TheBattleoftheBooks:1704
•Thefirstnoteworthybook
•Thethemeofthebookisthedisputebetween
ancientandmodernauthor
•Halfallegoricalandmock-heroicsetting
•Thebattleisinthelibrary.
•ATaleofaTub:
•Writtenin1696andpublishedin1704
•Religiousallegory

4. •Thestoryofthreebrothers,Peter,whostandsforthe
RomanCatholicChurch,Jackrepresentsthe
Dissenters,andMartin,thepersonificationofthe
AnglicanandLutheranChurches.
•AModestProposal:
•Publishedin1729
•Gulliver’sTravels:
•Publishedin1726
•Dividedintofourparts
•Anallegory
•Swiftasasatirist

5. Daniel Defoe’s Prose
•His prose can be divided into two groups:-
•A.)Political Writings –Wrote Political tracts
and Pamphlets.
•The best known of his ‘The True-born
Englishman’ (1701)
•Defoe is vigorous, acute, and has a fair
command of irony and invective.

6. Daniel Defoe:
•RobinsonCrusoe:1719
•MollFlanders:1722
•ThefulltitleofMollFlandersgivesanaptsummaryof
theplot:"TheFortunesandMisfortunesoftheFamous
MollFlanders,Etc.WhowasborninNewgate,andduring
alifeofcontinu'dVarietyforThreescoreYears,besides
herChildhood,wasTwelveYearaWhore,fivetimesa
Wife(whereofoncetoherownbrother),TwelveYeara
Thief,EightYearaTransportedFeloninVirginia,atlast
grewRich,liv'dHonestanddiedaPenitent.Writtenfrom
herownMemorandums."
•Botharepicaresquenovelsdealingwithdifferentissues
ofsociety

7. •The Duncan Campbell(1720)
•Memoirs of a Cavalier(1720)
•Captain Singleton (1720)
•Roxana(1724)
•A New Voyage round the world (1725)
•Due to the speed of production, the novel is
loose and unequal. The style is a bit
unpolished.

8. Addison and Steele:
•OnApril12,1709,Steelpublishedthefirstnumber
ofTheTatler,aperiodical.ItfinishedonJanuary
1711.
•Addisoncontributedinthework.
•SteelbeganTheSpectator,whichwasissueddaily.
•Totalnumberofessays555
•Addisonwrote274andSteelwrote236.
•TheGuardian,175intotalandAddisoncontributed
51.
•AveryfamouscharacterofSirRogerdeCoverleyin
Coverleypaper.

9. Other Prose-Writers
•John Arbuthnot (1667-1735)
•Lord Bolingbroke (1678-1751)
•George Berkeley (1685-1753)
•Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762)
•Early of Shaftesbury (1671-1713)

10. Poetry

11. Alexander Pope
•Medium of the Poem –The Heroic Couplet
•Great Metical Skill
•Variation of speed and tone
•Delicacy of touch

12. •AlexanderPope:
•AnEssayonCriticism(1711)
•Didacticpoem
•WindsorForest(1713)
•TheRapeoftheLock(1712)broughthimfameasa
poet.

13. •Popealsopublishedphilosophicalpoemsandthe
mostfamousofallisAnEssayonMan.Thispoem
discussesaboutman’splaceofuniverse.
•AnEpistletoDrArbuthnot(1735)
•Mostdirectautobiographicalwork
•AddressedtohisfriendJohnArbuthnot
•TheDunciad
•FierceattackonJohnDenniswhoattackedonPope’s
AnEssayonCriticism.

14. Other Poets
•Mathew Prior (1664-1721)
•John Gay (1685-1732)
•Edward Young (1683-1765)
•Sir Samuel Garth (1661-1719)
•Lady Winchilsea (1661 –1720)
•Ambrose Philip (1675-1749)

15. The Age of Transition:

16. •SamuelJohnson:
•London(1738)poem
•ThepoemdescribesthevariousproblemsofLondon,
includinganemphasisoncrime,corruption,andthe
squalorofthepoor.
•Thepoembegins:
Though grief and fondness in my breast rebel,
When injured Thales bids the town farewell,
Yet still my calmer thoughts his choice commend,
I praise the hermit, but regret the friend,
Resolved at length, from vice and London far,
To breathe in distant fields a purer air,
And, fixed on Cambria'ssolitary shore,
Give to St Davidone true Briton more.

17. •Dictionary(1747-55)broughthimfame
•TheVanityofHumanWishes:(1749),poem
Let Observation with extensive View,
Survey Mankind fromChinatoPeru;
Remark each anxious Toil, each eager Strife,
And watch the busy scenes of crouded Life;
Then say how Hope and Fear, Desire and Hate,
O'erspread with Snares the clouded Maze of Fate,
Where Wav'ring Man, betray'd by vent'rous Pride,
To tread the dreary Paths without a Guide;
As treach'rous Phantoms in the Mist delude,
Shuns fancied Ills, or chases airy Good.

18. •Johnson’sprose:
•TheLivesofthePoetsin1777-81,introductionofthe
livesof52poets
•TheRamblerisaperiodical,1750-52
•Rasselas,PrinceofAbyssinia,1759,inordertopay
forhismother’sfuneral.
•AjourneytotheWesternIslandsofScotland,1775,a
travelbook.

19. •ThomasGray:
•OdeonaDistanceProspectofEtonCollege,1747
•ElegywritteninaCountryChurchyard,1751
•PindaricOdes,1757
•WilliamBlake:
•PoeticalSketches,1783
•SongsofInnocence,1789
•TheBookofThel,1790
•TheFrenchRevolution,1791,andAmerica,1793,
showthecontemporarypoliticalconflict-about
politicalfreedomandalsofreedomfromthe
restrictionsofconventionandestablishedmorality.

20. •SongsofExperience,1794
•TheFirstBookofUrizen,1794
•TheBookofAhania,1795
•TheBookofLos,1795
•TheSongofLos,1795

21. Development of Novel in 18
th
Century
•Expansion of Reading Public
•Growth of a New Middle Class
•Different Position of Women
•Economic Reasons
•Publishing at its widespread

22. Four Wheels of novels:
•SamuelRichardson
•PamelaorVirtueRewarded,1740
•ClarissaHarlowe,1747-48
•SirCharlesGrandison,1753-54
•HenryFielding
•JosephAndrews,1742
•TomJones,1749,thegreatestnovel
•Amelia,1751,lastnovel

23. •TobiasGeorgeSmollet
•TheAdventuresofRoderickRandom,1748
•TheAdventuresofPeregrinePickle,1751
•TheAdventuresofFerdinand,CountFathom,1753
•TheAdventuresofSirLauncelotGreaves,1762
•TheExpeditionofHumphryClinker,1771
•LaurenceSterne
•TheLifeandOpinionsofTristramShandy,Gent,
1760-67
•ASentimentalJourneythroughFranceandItaly,
1768

24. The Development of Literary Forms
•Poetry
•Drama
•Prose

25. Poetry
•1.) The Lyric –disappeared
•2.) The Ode –Pindaric Ode (Very few)
•3.) The Satiric –Common and High Quality
•4.) Narrative Poetry
•5.) The Pastoral

26. Drama
•Restoration Comedy was banned
•Nothing of any merit took its place
•Steele’s comedy plays are a bit for survival
type.

27. Prose
•A.) Rise of the Periodical Press
•B.) Rise of the Essay
•C.) Prose Narrative
•D.) Miscellaneous Prose

28. Activity 1
ryt
Try

29. Cmoedy
Comedy

30. Ronyi
Irony

31. gedytra
Tragedy

32. Restoration Comedy
•Restoration comedies are English plays written
and performed between 1660 and 1710, the
"Restoration" period.
•Also known as "comedy of manners“.
•These works are known for their rude, explicit
depictions of sex and extramarital affairs.
•Some 500 plays survive, though only a handful
of them are performed today, and few
playwrights have achieved lasting fame.

33. Leading Restoration Comedies
William Wycherley (The Country Wife, 1675)
George Etherege (The Man of Mode, 1676)
Aphra Behn (The Rover, 1677)
John Vanbrugh (The Relapse, 1696)
William Congreve (The Way of the World, 1700).

34. Sentimental Comedy
•A dramatic genre of the 18th century,
denoting plays in which middle-class
protagonists triumphantly overcome a series
of moral trials.
•Such comedy aimed at producing tears rather
than laughter.
•It has its roots from Tragedy

35. Leading Writers
•Colley Cibber
•George Farquhar, with their respective plays
Love’s Last Shift (1696) and The Constant
Couple (1699).
•The best-known sentimental comedy is Sir
Richard Steele’s The Conscious Lovers (1722),

36. Anti-Sentimental Comedy
•Reaction against Sentimental Comedy
•The function of comedy is to provide laughter
and wit not the tears but sentimental comedy
make viewers shed in tears.
•Comedy is not for preaching or give moral
lessons it should provide fun.
•Richard Sheridan and Oliver Goldsmith are the
pioneers of this comedy.

37. •RichardSheridan
•TheRivals,1774
•TheSchoolforScandal,1777

38. •OliverGoldsmith:
•TheTraveller,1764,apoem
•TheDesertedVillage,1770,apoem
•TheHermit,aballade
•ElegyontheDeathofaMadDog,witty
•Drama:twoprosecomedies:
•TheGoodNatur’dMan,1768
•SheStoopstoConquer,1773
•Prose:
•TheCitizenoftheWorld,1759
•TheVicarofWakefield,1766,novel