Stages of neo classical age

1. St Xavier’s College Mahuadanr
SEM – IV Paper - 8
Stages of Neo-classical Age:
Neo classical literature was written between 1660 and 1798. This time period was broken down
into three parts.
1. Restoration Age or Age of Dryden (1660 to 1700)
2. Augustan Age or Age of Pope (1700 to 1750)
3. Age of Sensibility or Age of Johnson (1750 to 1798)
1. Restoration Age or Age of Dryden (1660 to 1700):
• This period marks the Restoration of the British King Charles II to the English
Throne in 1665 after a long period of puritan domination in England.
• They are urbanity (culture), wit, licentiousness (immorality) of the life centring on
the court in difference to the seriousness and moderation of the earlier puritan rule is
reflected in much of the literature of this age.
• The theatres came back to vigorous life after the revocation of the ban imposed on
them by the puritans in 1642.
Famous writers of this period were:
John Dryden
He was the most influential writer of the Restoration period, for he wrote in every form
important to the period - occasional verse, comedy, tragedy, heroic plays, odes, satires,
translations of classical works and he produced influential critical essays concerning how
one ought to write these forms.
Dryden was the major poet and critic as well as one of the major dramatists.

2. Other major poets were:
William Congreve
Samuel Butler
Earl of Rochester
Sir William Temple
John Banyan
John Locke
Aphra Behn, the first English woman writer and one of the most inventive and versatile
authors of the age.
Famous writings of this age
“All for Love”, “Love Triumphant” by John Dryden
“Love for Love”, “The Mourning Bride” by William Congreve
“Memoirs” by Sir William Temple
“Oroonoko” by Aphra Behn.
2. Augustan Age or Age of Pope (1700 to 1750):
The original Augustan Age was the brilliant literary period of Virgil, Horace and Ovid
under the Roman Emperor Augustus (27 BC-14AD).
• In the 18th
century this term was frequently applied to the literary period in England
from 1700 to 1750.
• The Augustans were so called because they compared their period to that of the emperor
Augustus, a period of political stability, splendour and tranquillity.
• They wanted this period of stability to last and attacked everything which threatened to
upset it.

3. • They thought that ancient art was superior to modern one and often imitated the
Ancients.
• The Augustans believed that their duty was not to try to be original but to re- express
Universal truths about mankind.
• This age was characterized by the spirit of the Enlightenment which implied a new way
of thinking characterized by philosophical, scientific and rational spirit
• They mostly used classical subjects and focused on “man in society” and not as “Man
individual” but as “an important piece of a perfect whole”.
• The Artist was seen as the one who had to express his knowledge of the world in a
rational and objective way.
• He should not allow his own emotions and prejudices to influence his writing.
• In order to achieve this objectivity the writer had to write clearly and to use a precise
and correct language, a language that all the readers can understand.
• The language they adopted was the “poetic diction”- an artificial language which used
uncommon and learned words.
• As for as “style” the authors were allowed to use “wit” that is attractiveness, clever
invention and humour.
• The Leading Writers of this age were
Alexander Pope
Jonathan Swift
Joseph Addison
Daniel Defoe and
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.
These writers drew the parallel to the Roman Augustans and deliberately imitated their literary
forms and subjects, their emphasis on social concerns and their ideals of moderation, decorum
and culture.
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was the poet of a great Nation in his generation. In the narrow field of
satiric and didactic verse Pope was the undisputed master.

4. • His influence completely dominated the poetry of his age and many looked to him as
their model.
• Pope is undoubtedly a classic and his works are of great standard. In his poetry Pope
cultivated the qualities that make Prose great.
• Pope tried to follow as best as he could the classical Masters like Virgil and Homer.
• His real aim was to achieve literary Glory by following in the foot-steps of the classical
poets.
• By imitating the older classical poets he himself became the “Classic” of his own age.
Famous writings
➢ Essay on Criticism
➢ Rape of the Lock.
Jonathan Swift
Swift was one of the greatest satirist in English literature. His verse was fluent, easy and
pointed. His works are a monstrous satire on humanity.
Famous Works
➢ Tale of a Tub
➢ Gulliver’s Travels
➢ Journal to Stella.
Joseph Addison
His own generation honoured him as a poet. His verse is correct, frigid and his creative power
nil’ and his style of handling his subject is wearisome.
Famous Works
➢ Tatler and
➢ Spectator.
Daniel Defoe

5. Famous writings
➢ Robinson Crusoe
➢ Duncan Campbell
➢ A New Voyage Round the World.
3. Age of Sensibility or Age of Johnson (1750-1798)
The period between the death of Alexander Pope in 1744 and 1785 is called the age of
Johnson. This name stresses the dominant position of Samuel Johnson and his literary and
intellectual circle which included Oliver Goldsmith, Edmund Burke, James Boswell, Edward
Gibbon and Hester LynchThrale.
• These authors on the whole represented a culmination of the Literary and Critical modes
of Neoclassicism and the world view of the Enlightenment.
• The most recent name Age of Sensibility puts it stress on the emergence of new cultural
attitudes, theories of literature and types of poetry.
• We find in this period a growing sympathy for the Middle Ages, an awakening interest in
ballads and other folk literature, a turn from neoclassic “correctness” and its emphasis on
judgement and restraint to an emphasis on instinct and feeling and the development of
literature of sensibility.
• This was also the period of the great novelist, some realistic and satiric and some
sentimental.
Famous Writers:
Samuel Johnson
Oliver Goldsmith
Thomas Gray
William Collins
Thomas Warton
Christopher Smart

6. William Cowper
Thomas Percy
Samuel Richardson
Henry Fielding Etc.
Famous Writings:
➢ The Vanity of Human Wishes by Samuel Johnson
➢ A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland by Samuel Johnson
➢ The Traveller by Oliver Goldsmith
➢ A Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray.