Augustan period

RESTORATION PERIOD

BACKGROUND

-              Period of conflicts

-              Restoration of monarchy

-              Court enjoying the pleasures of life

-              Town controlled by middle class puritans, strict religious belief

LITERATURE DURING THE RESTORATION PERIOD

-              Puritan literature

-              Literature of Court Wits

-              Beginnings of Neoclassicism

PURITAN LITERATURE

• Discussing the right way of Christian life

LITERATURE OF COURT WITS

-              Restoration theatre – comedy

-              Themes of adultery, sexual intrigues, money, lifestyle of aristocrats

NEOCLASSICISM AND AGE OF ENLIGTEMENT

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

-              New parliamentary system, monarchy weakened

-              Puritan religion as basis of society

-              Focus of commerce, education, science and social institutions

NEOCLASSICISM

-              Revival of ancient Greek and roman culture

-              Classical forms and themes, drawing inspiration form Ancient Roman and Greek literature

-              Simple language, simplicity of images

-              Politics, urban society, intellectual topics

-              Dominance of satire

AGE OF ENLIGHTEMENT

-              Emphasis on reason

-              Continuance of renaissance humanism

-              Influenced the development of scientific, philosophical, political and religious discourse

-              Ideals of Simplicity, clarity, regularity, common sense, rationality

-              Daniel Defoe, Alexander Pope, Johnathan Swift

-              Religious tolerance

LITERATURE

-              Dominant themes of politics, society, religion, middle class lifestyle and values

-              Growth of journalism, growth of literary criticism

Dominant genre of personal/political/religious satire as a major form

CULTURAL CENTRE

-              Teahouses, coffeehouses as cultural institutions

NEOCLASSICAL POETRY

-              Urban poetry – intellectual topics of philosophy, society, aesthetic and religious

-              Main subject of nature as in landscape, universe and human nature

-              Dominance of epic poetry, satire – influence of classical tradition

-              Didactic function of poetry

-              Attempts to reform society

ALEXANDER POPE

• -              Personal satires, poetry on intellectual topics

• -              The Rape of The Lock, The Dunciad

• -              Mock epic = elevated style of epic poetry about a trivial event

JOHNATHAN SWIFT

-              Criticism and mockery of authorities

-              Political and religious satire

-              Harsh Juvenalian satire

-              Modest Proposal, Gulliver’s travels

IRONY

-              Discrepancy between the expression of something and the intended meaning

-              It happens when something has a different outcome than expected

-              it is there because things are not as expected 

SATIRE

-              literary form that uses irony and sarcasm to ridicule and imitate human or individuals to expose their flaws

-              it is intentional

SARCASM

-              insincere speech

-              depends on the speaker and listener

-              people make sarcasm happen, it is not just there

HYPERBOLE

-              obvious exaggeration for emphasis or rhetorical effect

ESSAY

-              written piece of prose that presents and explores a specific topic, idea or an argument

ALLUSION

-              brief and indirect reference to a person/place/idea of historical, cultural, literary or political significance

INCOGRUITY

-              something that is said or written does not seem to follow logic, does not fit into its surroundings  or it looks and behaves completely differently from what we would expect

TRANSGRESSION

-              breaking of rules or taboo

-              anything that goes against the law, customs or habits or simply against what is expected and proper

-              can be often viewed as offensive