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Chapter Ⅶ
The Eighteenth Century
1688-1798
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1,Historical background,
? The Constitutional monarchy set up by parliament in
1688 was a compromise between the bourgeoisie
and the aristocrats,
? The cultural life had undergone remarkable changes,
? Newton’s scientific discovery and the philosophy of
John Locke affected people’s thinking of the world,
? Reason rather than superstition dominated,
? English literature was influenced by French
enlighteners and ancient Roman writers,
? Neo-classicism was the leading literary trend in early
18th century,
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Enlightenment
? Originated in France,to use critical reason to
free minds from prejudice,authority,
oppression,
? In religion,secular; Deism,the universe is set
in motion by a God as a self-regulating
mechanism; everything was operated
according to natural laws,which could be
understood by the human mind,
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? In art and literature,neo-classicism
great respect for the classical artists,
Harmony,proportion,balance and
restraint
? In economic thought,state inference
did violate to the law of nature;
favored laissez-faire policies,
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2,Three Stages of the 18th
Century English Literature,
? (1) 1688---the end of the 1730s,neo-classicism in
poetry of Alexander Pope,a new prose literature in
the essays of Addison and Steele and in the first
realistic fiction of Defoe and Swift,
? (2) 1740s-1750s,the realistic novels of Richardson,
Fielding and Smollett,of whom the last two made
rather fierce attacks on the existing social conditions
but still maintained sufficient faith in the eventual
triumph of virtue over vice and in the final attainment
somehow of social justice,
? (3) The last decades,decline of the Enlightenment,
the appearance of new literary tendencies of
sentimentalism and pre-romanticism,
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3,English Literature in Early 18th century,
? Alexander Pope
? Joseph Addison and Richard Steele
? Daniel Defoe
? Johathan Swift
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3.1 Alexander Pope (1688-1744),
Essay on Criticism
Pope asserts that the chief requirement of
a good poet is natural genius coupled with a
knowledge of the classics and an
understanding of the rules of poetry
(literature),
? Couplet,consists of two lines of verse
forming a discrete unit of meaning,
? Heroic couplet,consists of two lines of
rhymed iambic pentameter,
? An appropriate form for the classical rhetoric
and logical development of the ideas,
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3.2 Periodical Literature in Early 18th-Centruy
England,Addison and Steele
? The Tatler,edited chiefly by Steele; out of
the total of 271 numbers published of the
periodical,Steele wrote 188,and Addison
only 42,while together they did 36 others,
? The Spectator,a daily from Mar,1,1711 to
Dec,6,1712,not including the revival of it by
Addison alone in 1714,It is a collaborative
projects,The style is more mature than that
of The Tatler,
?
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3.3 Daniel Defoe (1661-1731)
? A pioneer novelist of England,a prolific writer of
books and pamphlets,
? Defoe’s versatility,a merchant,economist,
politician,journalist,pamphleteer,and a novelist,
? Robinson Crusoe,The hero is typical of the rising
English bourgeois class,practical and diligent,Defoe
beautifies colonialism and Negro slavery,
? Moll Flanders,It is written in an autobiographical
form called memoir,Defoe introduces,for the first
time,a lowly woman as the subject of literature,
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3.4 Jonathan Swift (1667-1745),
? Forerunner of the modern sociologist,social
worker,economic planner,correct a social
evil by means of a theoretically conceived
plan,
? Sift viewed human society with contempt and
has been called a cynic and even a
misanthrope,
?, A Modest Proposal”,His pity for the
oppressed,ignorant,populous,and hungry
Catholic peasants of Ireland; his anger at the
rapacious English absentee landlords,
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4,English Prose Fiction in the Middle
and Last Decades of the 18th Century,
? Henry Fielding
? Henry Fielding vs,Samuel Richardson
? Samuel Johnson
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4.1 Henry Fielding (1707-1754)
? Writing career,
? As a playwright,1730-1737,wrote 25 plays----mostly
comedies; filled with political and social satire;
exposed the corruption of state officials,the vices,
hypocrisy,greed and cruelty of English Bourgeois
class,
? As a novelist,4 major novels,
Joseph Andrew (1742);
Jonathan Wild Great; (1743)
Tom Jones; (1749)
Amelia (1751)
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4.2 Fielding vs,Richardson
? Samuel Richardson (1689-1761),
Pamela,or Virtue Rewarded,In a series
of Familiar Letters from a Beautiful
Yong Damsel to Her Parents” (1740)
? Fielding was disgusted with the
excessive sentimentality and ethics of
Pamela,So he wrote a novel to criticize
it,Shamela (i.e,Shameful Pamela)
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4.3 Samuel Johnson
?,Letter to the Right Honourable The
Earl of Chesterfield”,The letter
symbolizes the independence from the
patron for the first time in literary
history,
? In 1747,a bookseller Robert Dodsley
suggested the idea,The Plan was
addressed to Earl of Chesterfield,
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5,Pre-Romanticism in English Poetry
in late 18th Century
?
? Robert Burns;
? William Blake
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5.1 Robert Burns (1759-1796)
? Burns was born in Scotland in a poor
peasant family,Burns wrote poems
and songs in the Scottish dialect and in
the tradition of Scottish folk songs,
Besides love lyrics,most of his poems
and songs are about patriotic and
political themes,His Poems and songs
are premeated with the Scottish
national spirit,
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Robert Burns,,A Red,Red Rose”
? A term,simile
? rich traditional associations of the rose,
Questions for,A Red,Red Rose”,
? 1,What explains the,sands of life”
metaphor? Sand (on beaches) does not
usually,run.”
? 2,What traditional device used sand to
measure time?
? 3,What instances of hyperbole can you
find in this poem?
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5.2 William Blake (1757-1827)
? poet; engraver; a precursor of the
Romantic movement,Mystic and highly
symbolic,
? Main Works,
? Songs of Innocence; (1789)
? Songs of Experience (1794)
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William Blake:,The Tyger”
? the symbolic meaning of the tiger and the
maker of the tiger
? Rhythm,anvil music （打铁似的乐调）
? Questions,
? 1,How does Blake make us see the tiger as
beautiful and terrifying at the same time?
? 2,How does Blake make us imagine the
process of creation?