The Eighteenth Century English Literature

18^th Century Literature (1700-1800)

Name: Ranjan Velari

Class: M.A. Sem.-1

Roll No.: 25

Paper No.: 2

Email Id: ranjanvelari@gmail.com

Year: 2014-16

Topic: 18^th Century Literature

Submitted to: Smt.S.B. Gardi Department of English

M.K. Bhavnagar University

Question: 18^th Century Literature (1700-1800)

1.    History of the period

2.    Literary characteristic

3.    The classic age

4.    Major writers of the age

Answer:

1.  History of the Period:

·       The Revolution of 1688, which banished the last of the Stuart kings and called William of Orange to the throne, makes the end of the long struggle for political freedom in England. Thereafter the Englishman spent his tremendous energy, which his forbears had largely spent in fighting for freedom, in endless political discussions and efforts to improve his government.

·       In order to bring about reforms, votes were now necessary; and to get votes the people of England must be approached with ideas, facts, arguments, information. So the newspaper was born, and literature in its widest sense, including the book, the newspaper and magazine, became the chief instrument of a nation’s progress.

  Social Development:

·       The first half of the 18^th century is remarkable for the rapid social development in England. Hitherto men had been more or less governed by narrow, isolated standards of the middle Ages, and when they differed they fell to the task of learning the art of living together, while still holding different opinions. In a single generation nearly two thousand public coffee-houses, each a center of sociability, sprang up in London alone, and the number of private clubs is quite as astonishing.

·       This new social life had a marked effect in polishing men’s words and manners. The typical Londoner of Queen Anne’s day was still rude, and a little vulgar in his tastes; the city was still very filthy, the streets unlighted and infested at night by bands of rowdies and ‘Mohawks”; but outwardly men sought to refine their manners according to prevailing standards; and to be elegant, to have “good form”, was a man’s first duty, whether he entered society or wrote literature. One can hardly read a book or poem of the age without feeling this superficial elegance.

·       Government still had its opposing Tory and Whig Parties; and the church was divided into Catholics, Anglicans, and Dissenters; but the growing social life offset many antagonisms, producing at least the outward impression of peace and unity. Nearly every writer of the age busied himself with religion as well as party politics, the scientist Newton as sincerely as the Churchman Barrow, the philosophical; Locke no less earnestly than the evangelical Wesley; but nearly all tempered their zeal with moderation, and argued from reason and scripture, or used delicate tendency of the age was toward toleration. Man had found himself in the long struggle for personal liberty; now hr turned to the task of discovering his neighbor, of finding in Whig and Tory, in Catholic and Protestant, in Anglican and Dissenter, the same general human characteristics that he found in himself. This good work was helped, moreover, by the growth of the national spirit, following the victories of Marlborough on the continent.

·       In the latter half of the century the political and social progress is almost bewildering. The modern form of cabinet government responsible to Parliament and the people had been established under George I; and in 1757 the cynical and corrupt practices of Walpole, premier of the first Tory cabinet, were replaced by the more enlightened policies of Pitt. Schools were established; clubs and coffee-houses increased; books and magazines multiplied until the press was the greatest visible power in England; the modern great dailies, the ‘Chronicle’, ‘Post’ and ‘Times’, began their career of public education.

·       Religiously, all the churches of England felt the quickening power of that tremendous spiritual revival known as Methodism, under the preaching of Wesley and Whitefield. Outside her own borders three great men- Clive in India, Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham, Cook in Australia and the islands of the Pacific were unfurling the banner of St. George over the untold wealth of new lands; and spreading the world-wide empire of the Anglo-Saxon.  

2.  Literary Characteristics of the age:

  An Age of Prose:

·       In every preceding age we have noted specially the poetical works, which constitute, according to Matthew Arnold, the glory of English literature. Now for the first time we must chronicle the triumph of English prose. A multitude of practical conditions demanded expression, not simply in books, but more especially in pamphlets, magazines, and newspapers.

·       Poetry was inadequate for such a task; hence the development of prose, of the “unfetters word”, as Dante calls it, - a development which astonishes us by it’s rapidly and excellence. The graceful elegance of Addison’s essays, the terse vigor of Swift satires, the artistic finish of Fielding’s novels, the sonorous eloquence of Gibbon’s history and of Burke’s orations,- these have no parallel in the poetry of the age. Indeed, poetry itself became prosaic in this respect, that it was used not for creative works of imagination, but for essays, for criticism,- for exactly the same practical ends as was prose.

·        The poetry of the first half of the century, as typified in the work of Pope, is polished and witty enough, but artificial; its lacks fire, fine feeling, enthusiasm, the glow of the Elizabethan age and the moral earnestness of Puritanism.

·       In a word, interests us as a study of life, rather than delights or inspires us by its appeal to the imagination. The variety and excellence of prose works, and the development of a serviceable prose style, which had been begun by Dryden, until it served to express clearly every human interest and emotion,- these are the chief literary glories of the 18^th century.

  Satire:

·       In the literature of the preceding age we noted two marked tendencies,- the tendency  to realism in subject-matter, and the tendency to polish and refinement of expression. Both these tendencies were continued in the Augustan age, and are seen clearly in the poetry of Pope, who brought the couplet to perfection, and in the prose of Addison.

·       A third tendency is shown in the prevalence of satire, resulting from the unfortunate union of politics with literature. We have clearly noted the power of the press in this age, and the perpetual strife of political parties. Pope was a marked exception, but he nevertheless followed the prose writers in using satire too largely in his poetry. Now satire that is, a literary work which searches out the faults of men or institutions in order to hold them up to ridicule- is at best a destructive kind of criticism.

·        A satirist is like a laborer who clears away the ruins and rubbish of an old house before the architect and builders begin a new and beautiful structure. The work may sometimes be necessary, but it rarely arouses our enthusiasm. While the satires of Pope, Swift and Addison are doubtless the best in our language, which is always constructive in spirit; and we have the feeling that all these men were capable of better things than they ever wrote.

3.  The Classic Age:

·       The period we are studying is known to us by various names. It is often called the Age of Queen Anne; but, unlike Elizabeth, this “meekly stupid” queen had practically no influence upon our literature.

·       The name classic age is more often heard; but in using it we should remember clearly these three different ways in which the word “classic” is applied literature:

1.    The term “classic” refers, in general, to writers of the highest rank in any nation. As used in our literature, it was first applied to works of the great Greek and Roman writers, like Homer and Virgil; and any English book which followed the simple and noble method of these writers was said to have a classic age. Later the term was enlarged to cover the great literary works of other ancient nations; so that Bible and the Avestas, as well as the Eliad and Eneid, are called classics.

2.     Every national literature has at least one period in which an unusual number of great writers are producing books, and this is called the classic period of a nation’s literature. Thus the reign of Augustus is the classic age of Italian literature; the age of Louis XIV is the French classic age of England.

3.    The word “classic” acquired an entirely different meaning in the period we are studying; and we shall better understand this by reference to the preceding ages.

·       The Elizabethan writers were led by patriotism, by enthusiasm, and in general, by romantic emotions. They wrote in a natural style, without regard to rules; and though they exaggerated and used too many words, their works are delightful because of their vigor and freshness and fine feeling.

·       In the following age patriotism had largely disappeared from politics and enthusiasm from literature. Poets no longer wrote naturally, but artificially, with strange and fantastic verse from give to effect, since fine feeling was wanting. The general tendency of literature was to look at life critically to emphasize intellect rather than imagination, the form rather than the content of a sentence.

·       Writers strove to repress all emotion and enthusiasm, and to use only precise and elegant methods of expression. This is what is often meant by the “classicism” of the ages of Pope and Johnson. It refers to the critical, intellectual spirit of many writers, to the fine polish of their heroic couplets or the elegance of their prose, and to any resemblance which their work bears to true classic literature.

·       In a word, the classic movement had become pseudo-classic, i.e. a false or sham classicism; and the latter term is now often used to designate a considerable part of 18^th century literature.

4.  Major Writers of the Age:

  Major Prose Writers

1.   Jonathan Swift (1667-1745):

·       Swift was born in Dublin, of English parents, in 1667. In each of Marlowe’s tragedies we have the picture of a man dominated by a single passion. The life of Swift is just such a living tragedy.

·       Swift’s first notable work, The Battle of the Books, written at this time but not published, is a keen satire upon both parties in the controversy. The Battle of the Books published in 1704.

·       Swift’s two notable satires are his Tale of a Tub and Gulliver’s Travels. The Tale began as a grim exposure of the alleged weaknesses of three principal forms of religious belief, Catholic, Luthern, and Calvinist, as opposed to the Anglican; but it ended in a satire upon all science and philosophy. And Gulliver’s Travels, the satirical novel, and presents four voyages of Lemuel Gulliver.

2.   Joseph Addison (1672-1719):

·       He was born in Milston, Wiltshire, in 1672. In the pleasant art of living with one’s fellows, Addison is easily a master.

·       The Tatler and The Spectator are the beginning of the modern essay; and their studies of human characters, as exemplified in Sir Roger DE Coverley, are the preparation for the modern novel.

3.   Richard Steele (1672-1729):

·       Steele was in almost every respect the antithesis of his friend and fellow-worker, was the famous Tatler, the first number of which appeared April 12, 1709 and on March 1, 1711 appeared the first number of the Spectator.

4.   Daniel Defoe (1661-1731):

·       Defoe is often given the credit for the discovery of the modern novel. Robinson Crusoe (1719-1720), one of the few books in any literature, which has held its popularity undiminished for nearly two centuries. The charm of the story is its intense reality, in the succession of thoughts, feelings, incidents, which every reader recognizes to be absolutely true to life.

·       The best known of these works are the Journal of the Plague Year, Memoirs of a Cavalier, and several picaresque novels, like Captain Singleton, Colonel Jack, Moll Flanders and Roxana.

Four Wheels of Novels:

1.   Samuel Richardson (1689-1761):

·       He belongs the credit of writing the first modern novel. Pamela and Virtue Rewarded, an endless series of letters telling the trials, tribulations, and the final happy marriage of a two sweet young maiden, published in a four volumes extending over the years 1740 and 1741.

·       Richardson began another series of letters which occupied his leisure hours for the next six years. The result was Clarissa, or The History of Young Lady published in eight volumes in 1747-1748.

·       Richardson now turned from his middle-class heroines and in five or six years completed another series of letters, in which he attempted to tell the story of a man and an aristocrat. The result was Sir Charles Grandison (1754), a novel in seven volumes.
  

2.   Henry Fielding (1707-1754):

·       Fielding was the greatest of this new group of novel writers, and one of the most artistic that our literature has produced.

·       Fielding’s first novel, Joseph Andrews (1742), was inspired by the success of Pamela.

·       Fielding’s later novels are Jonathan wild, the story of a rogue, which suggests Defoe’s narrative; The History of Tom Jones, a foundling (1749), his best work; and Amelia (1751), the story of a good wife in contrast with an unworthy husband.

3.   Tobias Smollett (1721-1771):

·       He apparently tried to carry bon Fielding’s work; but he lacked Fielding’s genius, as well as his humor and inherent kindness.

·       He was a physician, of eccentric manners and ferocious instincts. His three known works are Roderick Random (1748), a series of adventures related by the hero; Peregrine Pickle (1751), in which he reflects with brutal directness the worst of his experiences at sea; and Humphery Clinker (1771) his last work.

4.   Lawrence Sterne (1713-1768):

·       He has been compared to a “little bronze satyr of antiquity in whose body exquisite odors were stored.”

·       The two books by which Sterne is remembered are Tristram Shandy and A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. These are termed novels for the simple reason.

Major Poets of the age

1.   Thomas Gray (1716-1771):

·       The author of the famous “Elegy” is the most scholarly and well-balanced of all the early romantic poets. Gray’s “Letters”, published in 1775, are excellent reading, and his Journal is still a model of natural description; but it is to single small volumes of poems that he owes his fame and his place in literature.

·       His minor poems of which the best are his Hymn to adversity and the Odes To Spring and On a Distant Prospect of Eton College.

·       The Elegy written in a Country Churchyard (1750), the most perfect poem of the age. Two other well-known poems of this second period are the Pindaric Odes, The Progress of Poesy, and The Bard.

·        The Norse Poems, The Fatal Sisters and The Descent of Odin (1761).

2.   Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774):

·       The Traveler (1764) which was hailed as one of the finest poems of the century. The Deserted Village is one of the most familiar poems in our language; Goldsmith is generally given a high place among the poets of the romantic dawn.

3.   William Blake (1757-1827):

·    Of all the romantic poets of the 18^th century, Blake is the most independent and the most original.

·        The “Poetical Sketches”, published in 1783, is a collection of Blake’s earliest poetry, much of it written in boyhood. Two later better known volumes are “Songs of Innocence” and “Songs of Experience”, reflecting two widely different views of the human soul.

·       On account of the chaotic character of most of Blake’s works. Swinburne calls Blake the only poet of “supreme and simple poetic genius” of 18^th century, “the one man of that age fit, on all accounts, to rank with the old great masters”.

·       Blake’s amazing mysticism by dipping into any of the work of his middle life, Urizen, Gates of Paradise, Marriage of Heaven and Hell, America, The French Revolution, or The Vision of the Daughters of Albion.

·       His latest works, like Jerusalem and Milton, are too obscure to have any literary value.

4.   William Cowper (1731-1800):

·       In Cowper’s first volume of poems, he is more hampered by literary fashions than was Goldsmith in his Traveler and his Deserted Village.

·       His first volume of poems, containing The Progress of Error, Truth, Table Talk, etc, is interesting chiefly as showing how the poet was bound by the classical rules of his age.

·       The Task, written in blank verse, and published in 1785, in Cowper’s largest poem. Cowper’s most laborious work, the translation of Homer in blank verse, was published in 1791. With Cowper’s charming Letters, published in 1803.

5.   Robert Burns (1759-1796):

·       He was born in a clay cottage at Aloway, Scotland, in the bleak winter of 1759. Burns lived his sad, toilsome, erring life in the open air, with the sun and the rain, and his songs touch the entire world.

·       The publication of Kilmarnock, with the title Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1786), marks an epoch in the history of English literature.

·       Such poems as The Cotter’s Saturday Night, To a Mouse, To a Mountain Daisy, Man was made to Mourn, The Twa Dogs, Address to the Deil and Halloween, suggests that the whole spirit of the romantic revival is embodied in this obscure Plowman.

·       Conclusion:

  In short, the period is included between the English Revolution of 1638 and the beginning of the French Revolution of 1789. The age is remarkable for the rapid social development. The literature of the century is remarkably complex, but we may classify it all under three general heads, the reign of so called classicism, the revival of romantic poetry, and the beginning of the modern novel.