Prefinals Gb

Enlightenment & Neoclassical Literature

Focused on reason, logic, social critique, and moral order.

Enlightenment & Neoclassical Literature

1660 - 1800 CE

1660–1800 CE

Enlightenment & Neoclassical Literature

Enlightenment

Encouraged people to think carefully, question authority, and explore the world through science and logic.

Neoclassicism

Revived ancient Greek and Roman literary forms, valuing clarity, order, and balance.

Reason, Satire

Main forms of Enlightenment and Neoclassical literature

Reason

In Enlightenment and Neoclassical literature promotes critical thinking and logical understanding.

Voltaire

French Enlightenment writer

Candide

critique blind optimism, organized religion, and societal injustices through sharp reasoning and wit.

Satire ​

In Enlightenment and Neoclassical literature employs humor, irony, and exaggeration to reveal flaws in society or human behavior.

Jonathan Swift

an Irish satirist, wrote A Modest Proposal,

A Modest Proposal

suggesting that the poor sell their children as food to solve famine.

Emotion

In Romanticism emphasizes intense feelings and personal experience to understand human life. ​

William Wordsworth

wrote I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

celebrate how a simple scene of daffodils can inspire joy, peace, and reflection.

Nature

In Romanticism serves as a source of inspiration, beauty, and spiritual insight.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

wrote Ode to the West Wind

Ode to the West Wind

personifying the wind as a force of change and highlighting nature’s power and its influence on human thought.

Imagination ​

In Romanticism explores creativity, fantasy, and alternative realities beyond traditional rules.​

Mary Shelley

wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley, wrote Frankenstein

Frankenstein

explore ambition, ethics, and the consequences of challenging natural laws through imaginative storytelling

The Sublime

In Romanticism conveys overwhelming beauty, awe, or terror, often connected to nature or intense emotion.​

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

wrote The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

evoke fear, guilt, and wonder through the vast sea, supernatural events, and the mariner’s isolation.

Individualism

In Romanticism celebrates personal freedom, self-expression, and moral reflection.​

Lord Byron

wrote Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage

Realism and Naturalism

1850–1910 CE

1850 -1910 CE

Realism and Naturalism

Realism and Naturalism

Aimed to depict life accurately and objectively. These works focus on everyday experiences, human behavior, and social conditions.

Realism

Portrayed ordinary people and everyday life. It focuses on moral choices, social interactions, and ethical dilemmas, emphasizing society’s influence on individuals

Naturalism

Built upon Realism but emphasized determinism, showing how environment, heredity, and social conditions shape human behavior. Naturalist works often depict life as harsh and inevitable, illustrating forces beyond individual control.​

Age of reason

Other term for enlightenment

Romanticism Literature

1780–1850 CE

1780–1850 CE

Romanticism Literature

Romanticism Literature

They explored the beauty and power of nature, the awe-inspiring experiences (the sublime), and the freedom to think and feel as individuals, often breaking away from strict rules and traditional forms.​

Romanticism Literature

Emphasized emotion, nature, imagination, individualism, and sublime. Writers celebrated personal feelings, creativity, and unique experiences.​

Social critique, Characterization

Main forms of realism and naturalism

Social critique

examines society by exposing inequalities, corruption, and social injustices. Writers encourage readers to reflect on ethical dilemmas and the human condition.

Detailed Characterization

presents characters with complex personalities, motivations, and moral struggles. Writers emphasize psychological realism, showing how environment, society, and heredity shape human behavior.​

Émile Zola

wrote Germinal

Germinal

portraying the harsh lives of 19th-century coal miners in France. It vividly reveals poverty, exploitation, and class struggles, criticizing social and economic systems that oppress workers.

Mark Twain

wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

exploring Huck’s moral struggles, choices, and growth in response to society and his environment.​