5.The Neo Classical Age with Questions

Chapters 6, 7
and 8THE NEO-CLASSICAL AGE

NEOCLASSICAL
“neo” (new) + classical
“period of Enlightenment”
“age of reason”
“era of logic”
-

• Literature of the age is concerned with
“nature “ human nature, Supremacy of
reason.
• Unity in the works of all writers.
• The age is known as classical age or the Age
of Reason.
• Neoclassical literature is characterized by
order, accuracy, and structure.

• Some popular types of literature
included: parody, essays, satire, letters,
fables, melodrama, and rhyming with
couplets.
• Parody is an imitative work created to
make fun of, or comment on an original
work by means of satiric or ironic
imitation.

Three Stages
The Neoclassical period of literature can be
divided into three distinct stages: the
Restoration Period, the Augustan Period,
and the Age of Johnson.

5.The Neo Classical Age with Questions

The Restoration of King Charles II to the English throne in
1660 after a long period of Puritan domination in England
brought a new change in English literature. Previously closed
theatres were opened again. New groups of writers began to
write plays.
Restoration literature continued to appeal to heroic ideals of
love and honor, particularly on stage, in heroic tragedy.
RESTORATION DRAMA AND PROSE

We generally notice two kinds of developments in this period,
namely the Heroic plays and the Comedy of Manners. These
plays were quite different from Elizabethan plays in some ways.
Restoration
Drama
Comedy of
Manners
Heroic Plays

Heroic plays showed the heroic
qualities in noble men, and the
women were described as very
beautiful. The tragic drama of this
period was made up of heroic plays
which were mainly written in heroic
couplet. The main character in
these plays was torn between the
duty to their country and their duty
as a lover. In these dramas we find
brave heroes, beautiful women.
HEROIC PLAYS

Heroic couplets are rhyming pairs of verse in iambic
pentameter. An example, from Pope’s “Eloisa to Abelard,” is
“Then share thy pain, allow that sad relief;
Ah, more than share it, give me all thy grief.”
The heroic couplet became the main meter (poetic technique)
used in drama about the mid-17th century, and the form was
perfected by John Dryden and Alexander Pope in the late 17th
and early 18th centuries.
WHAT IS A HEROIC COUPLET?

John Dryden was a famous
dramatist of restoration period.
He was a genius. His plays were
greatly successful on the stage.
His best heroic plays were The
Conquest of Granada and
Aurengzebe which he had used
the rhymed form. The second one
is about the struggle for empire in
India. His famous play All for Love
deals with the tragic love of
Antony and Cleopatra and was
written in blank verse.
JOHN DRYDEN

A new type of comedy called the Comedy of Manners
appeared the end of the 17th century. It was
introduced by Sir George Etherege. This comedy was
unique in itself. It was written in prose. These plays
were witty, difficult, bright and heartless. They showed
the life and manners of the upper-class society of the
day. They laughed at the fashionable society. It was
mainly confined to the rich, courtly and fashionable
circle of London. Generally, people from the country
are ridiculed for their humbleness and lack of
sophistication.
COMEDY OF MANNERS

George Etherege wrote The Man of Mode
(1696) which shows the immoral
manners of the society.
 William Wycherley, was a satirical
dramatist. His best works were The
Country Wife and The Plain Dealer.

One of the famous dramatists who wrote
Comedy of Manners was William Congreve. His
plays are not as coarse as the earlier plays. His
Old Bachelor was a perfect comic picture of the
hypocritical society. It is about an old man who
pretends to hate women, but marries a bad
one. The Double Dealer is about angry lovers.
Love for Love is funnier and contains clever
speeches and interesting, but foolish,
characters. His best play is The Way of the
World. It truly represents the comedy of manner
of restoration period.
WILLIAM CONGREVE

During the restoration period, we also notice
some development in prose work John Dryden
wrote his critical work named Essay on
Dramatic Poesy. In this work, Dryden compares
English drama with French drama. He points
out the limitations of French drama and
considers English drama to be better than
French drama. He has written it in a clear,
reasonable and balanced way. His popularity as
a critic is also very great.
RESTORATION PROSE

John Bunyan wrote two allegorical prose works,
namely The Pilgrims Progress and The Holy War. The
first allegorical story presents Christian’s difficult
journey to the heaven. The English language has
borrowed some phrases and words from this work and
they are commonly used in day-to-day conversation,
such as Vanity Fair, Slough of Despond, Mr. Great
Heart. In the second work he has presented his own
experience of the civil war. Bunyan sets an example of
writing prose in clear and simple style.
JOHN BUNYAN

John Locke’s prose was also clear, earnest and without
ornament, though it lacks the balance in its sentences which
gives Bunyan’s style its charm. But Locke’s Essay on the Human
Understanding is one of the most important works of English
philosophy. It gave a new direction of thought, not only in
England but in other countries of Europe.
Samuel Pepys famous diary is also considered as a prose work.
His diary could not be read until 1852, because it was written in
secret signs. It gives the true picture of the social life of that
time and describes some events of the time in detail. His diary,
which presents himself as a hero, is very interesting and
colorful work.
JOHN LOCKE

English poets from 1660 to 1798 are generally
known as neo-classical poets. They are called
so because they had a great respect for
classical writers and imitated much from them.
Order, correctness and established rules were
carefully observed. Set phrases and reasons
were commonly used in their poetry. For neo-
classical writers, poetry was an imitation of
human life.
NEOCLASSICAL POETS

John Dryden is a famous poet of his time. Dryden
wrote a great allegorical satire named Absalom and
Achitophel. In this poem he had used a biblical story in
order to attack the politicians of his time. Another
satire is MacFlecknoe which attacks a rival poet
named Shadwell.
Dryden had a good command of heroic couplets
through which he could write biting satires. The Ode
for Saint Cecilia’s Day and Alexander’s Feast are his
best short poems. During the later years of his life
Dryden translated many classical works of great
writers from Greek and Latin.
JOHN DRYDEN

Alexander Pope
was the most
significant figure in
poetry during the
Augustan period. His
witty (intelligent)
couplets were often
quoted and used
as axioms.

Alexander Pope is famous satirical poet of the
eighteenth century. Though Pope was physically
weak because of his long illness, he wrote Essay
on Criticism while he was still young. The book
contains some remarkable expressions. In his
delightful poem The Rape of the Lock he uses a
light subject matter and treats it significantly. In
his satirical poem The Dunciad Pope laughs at the
poor poets who are writing for their living. His later
poems are the Essay on Man and four Moral
Essays.
ALEXANDER POPE

 “To err is human, to forgive, divine.”
― Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism
 “Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be
disappointed.” ― Alexander Pope
 “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”
 “Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul.”
― Alexander Pope, The Rape of the Lock
 “A little learning is a dangerous thing. -Alexander Pope, An
Essay on Criticism
 “True ease in writing comes from art, not chance,
As those move easiest who have learned to dance.”
FAMOUS LINES FROM POPE

THE CHURCHYARD
SCHOOL OF POETS

The 18th Century was an age of great prose. Until its
close, there was only second rate poetry. In the closing
years, a change took place in the character of its verse
that finally led to the fine Romantic poetry. The
change was first seen in James Thomson’s The
Seasons. It was a collection of four poems in blank
verse: Winter (1726), Summer, Spring and Autumn
(1730). These poems described woods, fields, birds
and deserts. Though he occasionally used the artificial
language of the age, he started a new trend in English
poetry.
THE CHURCHYARD SCHOOL OF POETS

The finest poet of this school was Thomas Gray.
His Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard is one of
the most beautiful and famous English poems. In
this elegy, he expresses his sad thoughts as he
looks at the graves of the poor villagers in the
churchyard of Stoke Pages. He thinks of what they
would have become it, they had received the
opportunity. But he feels sorry for them because
they could not go to the cities to become famous.
His ode The Bard is a sad song by a Welsh bard. He
curses King Edward I and his race for killing all the
bards of Wales.
THOMAS GRAY

“Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.”
― Thomas Gray, An Elegy Written In A Country
Churchyard
FAMOUS LINES

 "Full many" is just an eighteenth-century phrase
that means "lots of." So, lots of beautiful, pure
gems are hidden away in dark caves under the
ocean.
 And lots of flowers come into blushing bloom
without a human to see and appreciate their beauty
or their sweet scent.
 This stanza is about unsung heroes, like the guys
buried in the churchyard without monuments or
"trophies," and both the gems and the flowers are
metaphors for people who do awesome stuff that
doesn't get recognized.
EXPLANATION

The rise of
Novels
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
PROSE

Eighteenth century period is supposed to be
very fertile period in the development of prose
work. The writer slowly turned into reasonable
things. The prose was thought to be a good
medium in order to express more elaborate
ideas and arguments. The earlier development
in journalism also gave rise to prose work to
some extent.
INTRODUCTION

Daniel Defoe is a good prose writer as well as the first English
journalist. He began to publish the early London newspaper The
Review and ran it for nine years. He has finely described the
Great Plague in London in his Journal of the Plague Year (1722).

 Robinson Crusoe is his famous work. It is a story
based on the real events of a sailor who quarreled
with his captain and was left alone on an island for
four years.
 Two famous writers as well as journalists Richard
Steel and Joseph Addison worked together in
publishing the newspaper like The Tatler and The
Spectator. They wrote many famous and good essays
on various subjects and published in their
newspaper. They also wrote actions of imaginary
characters. Their works written in pure and simple
English helped much to the development of the
novel.

The Spectator & The Tatler
2015/3/16 38

Perhaps Jonathan Swift was the greatest
English satirist. He has written many bitter
satirical works which severely attack the social
evils and human wickedness. He wrote The
Battle of the Books in favor of ancient writers.
His Tale of Tub attacks on religious ideas. Swift
wrote his famous satire, A Modest Proposal in
order to attack the injustice of English rulers to
the poverty of Irish people.
JONATHAN SWIFT

Gulliver’s Travels is the most popular satire of Swift. It is very
popular among the young children as a beautiful story. It is
written in four books. It contains the accounts of an English
captain Gulliver’s adventurous voyage to different imaginary
places like Lilliput and Brobdingnag. There are many strange
and unusual descriptions in it. It powerfully attacks on man’s
wickedness and stupidity.
GULLIVER’S TRAVELS

 Dr. Samuel Johnson was another famous literary personality
of this period, who wrote all sorts of literary works because of
his poverty. He compiled a Dictionary and published it into
five times in his lifetime. It was his famous and major work.
His Lives of the Poets is a critical work which he wrote
carefully and obviously towards the later part of his life.
 Edward Gibbon wrote The Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire in six books. It is the greatest historical work in
English literature which covers the events of thirteen
centuries and relates the ancient to the modern world.
 Edmund Broke was mainly famous for his fine oratorical
prose. His works Speech on American Taxation, Speech on
Conciliation with America and Letter to the Sheriffs of Bristol
contain some of his best speeches.

English Novels in
the Eighteenth
Century

 During the half of the eighteenth century, we notice the
real beginning of the English novel. Although
sometimes Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is called the first
English novel, it lacks some essential qualities.
 More appropriately Samuel Richardson’s Pamela is the
first English novel. Richardson discovered his talent as
a novelist at the age of fifty-one. Pamela is written in
the form of a series of letters. It contains a simple love
story of a virtuous servant girl who eventually married
her master. Richardson’s next novel Clarissa Harlow
appeared in eight volumes. It is his masterpiece, which
is far better than the previous one. The story of this
novel is a remarkable achievement.
DANIEL DEFOE
SAMUEL RICHARDSON

Henry Fielding’s first novel Joseph Andrews is a kind
of parody on Pamela. Its hero is supposed to be a
brother of Pamela. In the later part to the novel
Fielding’s interest shifted on another character named
Parson Adams. Tom Jones is the greatest and longest
novel of Fielding. It is both a comic and an amoral
novel about a boy Tom, who is found and brought up in
Mr. Allworthy’s house. His satirical work The History of
Jonathan Wild the Great deals with the life of real
dangerous criminal.
HENRY FIELDING

Another novelist Tobias Smollett worked in picaresque
tradition. He presented a new sort of social realities of
life in his novels. His novel Roderick Random is a
powerful but less pleasing. It describes bitterly the life
of those who sail the seas. Another novel Peregrine
Pickle is concerned with the adventures and travels of
a wicked hero. Smollett seems less violent in this
novel Humphrey Clinker which appeared in the form of
a letter. It contains the account of the journey of a
family. His books often give us interesting information
about life and society in his time.
TOBIAS SMOLLETT

Laurence Stern revealed a whole new concept of form
in novel by writing his famous novel Tristram Shandy.
There is no organization and order in the story. It gives
a great surprise and confusion to the reader. The hero
actually appears in the middle of the novel. There are
rows of stars, solid black pages and blank pages in the
novel. Thus, Sterne gives the readers a shock of
surprise by writing a strange sort of novel. His other
works are not so confusing and are in better prose.
LAURENCE STERN

The Novel of Terror is the peculiar product of the later
eighteenth century. It is a new type of romantic fiction inspired
by the general interest in medieval life and art, in ancient
ballads, and in Gothic castles and churches The story is full of
mystery and violent emotion, set in a far-away time and place,
with ghosts, spirits, and satanic forces, and with descriptions of
old unhappy far-off things and battles. The central figure is,
usually, a serous and restless villain. The beautiful, innocent
and sensitive heroine has to be rescued by a brave lover. The
scent is usually a haunted castle or a dark room of an old
church, full of secret passages and private chambers. The
background is wild and desolate nature. The supernatural forces
also help with physical and mental violence. In this mysterious
background there is romantic love.
THE GOTHIC NOVEL OR THE NOVEL OF TERROR
INTRODUCTION

Horace Walpole wrote The Castle
of Otranto (1764), a novel about
the medieval age. It contains
descriptions of impossible
events, such as the destruction
of a building by a ghost inside it.
William Beckford wrote Vathek
(1786), with a background of
ancient Arabia. It is about the
grandson of Harun-al Rashid
becoming a slave of Eblis, the
devil. Vathek commits horrible
crimes with Eblis, and in the end,
he is punished in hell.
HORACE WALPOLE

The most popular novelist of the Novel of
Terror was Mrs. Ann Radcliff. Her novels
are better quality because she provides the
explanations for the mysterious
happenings in her novels. She had a real
feeling for nature. She causes interest by
describing strange scenes and sights, such
as moving walls and secret passages. Her
great novel The Mysteries of Udolpho
(1794) is about Emily, who is held captive
in a castle by her uncle. Her other novels
were Romance of the Forest and The
Italian. She also wrote A Sicilian Romance
(1790) and An Italian Romance (1791)
MRS. ANN RADCLIFF

QUESTIONS:
MULTIPLE AND SHORT
ANSWER TYPE

1. The Neo-classical literature was based mainly on
___________(romance, music, reason, imagination)
2. The neo-classical poets and dramatists always
imitated classical rule of accuracy and order. Is it
true or false?
3. ______________is an imitative work created to
make fun of the original work. (Elegy, Parody, Epic,
Lyric)
4. Heroic tragedies are written in ______( sonnet
form, Spenserian stanza, heroic couplets)
5. Heroic couplets never rhyme. True or false?

6. Comedy of manners was introduced by ______(Sir
George Etherege, William Wycherley, Dryden)
7. The Way of the World is a good example of
__________(Heroic tragedy/Comedy of Manners)
8. ____________sets an example of writing prose in
clear and simple style. (John Bunyan/Dryden/John
Locke)
9. For neo-classical writers, poetry was an imitation
of human life. True or false?
10. Order, correctness and established rules were not
carefully observed by the neo-classical poets. True
or false?

11. _______________witty (intelligent) couplets were often
quoted and used as axioms. (Dryden’s/Alexander
Pope’s)
12. “To err is human, to forgive, divine.” These lines are
written by _______________.(Pope/Dryden)
13. “ Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard “ is one of the
most beautiful and famous English poems. It is written
by ______(William Shakespeare/Thomas
Gray/Alexander Pope)
14. _______is a good prose writer as well as the first
English journalist. (Daniel Defoe/Richard Steele/Joseph
Addison)
15. _______________is the most popular satire on man’s
wickedness and stupidity by Jonathan Swift. (The Battle
of the Books /A Modest Proposal /Gulliver’s Travel)

16. Dictionary was first published by Samuel Johnson. True or False?
17.Robinson Crusoe is called the first English novel by
___________(Defoe/Richardson/Fielding)
18. __________is a simple love story of a virtuous servant girl who
eventually married her master written by Samuel Richardson.
(Pamela/Joseph Andrews/Tom Jones)
19.The novels that deal with supernatural forces like ghosts, violence
and romantic love are also called _________novels.(Gothic/Stream
of Consciousness)
20.Mrs. Ann Radcliff’s novels are better quality because she
provides____________:
A.Beautiful pictures in her novels.
B.Better description and narration in her novels.
C.the explanations for the mysterious happenings in her novels.

Short Answer Questions:
1. Explain these lines:
“Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.”
― Thomas Gray, An Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard

5.The Neo Classical Age with Questions

More Related Content

What's hot (20)

Viewers also liked (9)

Similar to 5.The Neo Classical Age with Questions (20)

More from maliterature (9)

Recently uploaded (20)

5.The Neo Classical Age with Questions