Paper Name : THE
NEO-CLASSICAL LIRERATURE
Assignment Topic
:“Characteristic of Neo-classical age”
Sem : 1
Name: Solanki Pintu v
Roll No : 35
Enrollment No:
PG15101037
Submitted to :
M.K. BHAVNAGAR UNIVERSITY
Department Of English
The
Meaning
The
word neoclassicism has derived from Greek “neos” means “new” and Latin
“classicus” means “relating to ancient Greek or Latin principles of the forms
of art.” The neoclassicism was a movement against the too much use of individualism
and imagination in literature as well as the violation of classical rules and
regulations in literature. The followers of the classical literature tried to
put the classical norms back in literary forms and other arts also.
v General
Characteristics of the Age:
⇨
The Historical background:
The
period of English history from 1700 to 1798, commonly referred to as the
Pseudo-classical or Neo-classical age, may conveniently be divided into two;
The early half from 1700-1740, may be called the Age of Pope, for Pope was the
leading poet and man of letters of the period, the later half of the century
from 1740-1798 may be called the Age of Dr. Johnson, for Dr. Johnson was its
leading literary figure. During this time first Queen Anne and then the three Georges
ruled over England. Matthew Arnold refers to the period as, "Our admirable
and indispensable 18th century", for the age saw the rise of the social
Essay and the Novel, and the development of the modern prose style. As during
the Restoration Era, in this age also, the French influence pre-dominated and
neoclassicism became more rigid and stringent.
⇨
Political and Religious Strife:
The rise
of the two political parties, the Whig and the Tory, goes back to the reign of
Charles I. But in the early 18th century, the party spirit was more rampant
than ever before. Everyone was either a Whig or a Tory. Both parties tried to
secure the help of men of literary ability, and the authors now acquired an
importance and an influence which they had never enjoyed before. Gradually,
they became independent of the patronage of the rich and powerful. "It was
the golden age of political pamphleteering and the writers made the most of
it". The Puritans looked down upon the upper classes as immoral, and the
courtiers called the puritans hypocrites.
⇨
Religion and the Rise of Feeling:
This renaissance of
feeling is best illustrated in the case of religion. In the age of Pope
Religion had been formal, utilitarian and un-spiritual. The preachers no longer
tried to convince by appealing to the reason, rather they tried to move by
appealing to the emotions. They no longer cared for propriety and correctness;
rather they preached with impassioned tones and gestures. The sentimentalism of
the age takes various forms.
⇨
The Age of Complacency:
If there is one word
besides ‘façade’ that describes the neoclassical period, it is ‘complacency.’
This was an age where comfort was celebrated. The British felt relatively
invincible politically, which led to an assumption of their moral and
intellectual supremacy. It is the age of the rise of the Middle Class. It is an
age of conspicuous consumption; Martha Stewart would have felt right at home.
For the first time periodicals are filled with advertisements for home
decorations, fashions, and furniture. Architecture enters the Baroque period.
It becomes very important to wear clothing by the best designers, to have your
hair done by the best hairdressers, and so on, and so forth. People whose
parents were servants now had servants themselves.
⇨
The Emergence of the Middle Class:
Another important feature
of the age is the emergence of the middle class which gradually gained in
importance in politics, in life, and in society. There is an immense growth in
the wealth and prosperity of the nation.
⇨ The Spirit of the
Age:
After the succession of the House of
Hanover the first half of the eighteenth century was a period of stabilization
and steadily growing wealth and prosperity. The evils of the approaching
Industrial Revolution had not yet been realized, and the country, still free
from any suggestion of acrimonious class consciousness, underwent a period of
comfortable aristocratic rule, in which local government rested on the squires,
typified by Sir Roger DE Coverley. It was an age of tolerance, moderation, and
common sense, which, in cultured circles at least, sought to refine manners and
introduce into life the rule of sweet reasonableness. The balance of political
power in spite of the fifty years superiority of the Whig oligarchy, was so
even as to preclude fanatical party policies, while the established church
pursued a placid middle way and all religion was free from strife over dogma
and the fanaticism which it called ‘enthusiasm’ until Wesley and Whitefield
began the Evangelical Revival. This middle way of control and reason, and the
distrust of ‘enthusiasm’, are faithfully reflected in the literature of the
period.
⇨
The Marketplace of Literacy:
All these changes meant
profound changes for literature. The emphasis on self-reflection meant that
genres like diaries, letters, and essays were more popular—and often read
alone, in a separate reading room or ‘closet’ within the home. At the same time
the new social fluidity meant that genres like the newspaper and periodical,
the novel, the popular ballad, and the theatre would also find widespread
public audiences. It is the age of the penny dreadful and
the lending library.
v Literary
Characteristics of the Age
The political and social changes, which exhibit the supremacy of good
sense, rationality and avoidance of enthusiasm, left an indelible influence on
the literature of the Age of Pope. Summing up the characteristics of the
literature of this period, Hudson remarks: "The same temper marks the
literature of the age, which exhibits a similar coldness and want of feeling,
and a similar tendency towards shallowness in thought and formality in
expression. It is a literature of intelligence , of wit, and of fancy, not a
literature of emotion, passion, or creative energy; and in it spontaneity and
simplicity are sacrificed to the dominant mania of elegance and correctness.
⇨
The
predominance of prose:
The age of Pope intensified the movement that, as we have seen, began
after the Restoration. The drift away from the poetry of passion was more
pronounced than ever, the ideals of ‘Wit’ and ‘common sense’ were more
zealously pursued, and the lyrical note was almost unheard. In its place we
find in poetry the overmastering desire for neatness and perspicuity, for edge
and point in style, and for correctness in technique. These aims received
expression in the devotion to the heroic couplet, the aptest medium for the
purpose. In this type of poetry the supreme master is Pope; apart from him the
age produced no great poet. On the other hand, the other great names of the
period-Swift, Addison, Steele, Defoe- are those of prose- writers primarily,
and prose- writers of a very high quality.
1 1)
Political Writing:
We have already noticed
the rise of the two political parties, accompanied by an increased acerbity of
political passion. This development gave a fresh importance to men of literary
ability, for both parties competed for the assistance of their pens, bribed the
author with places and pensions, and admitted them more or less deeply into
their counsels. In previous ages authors had to depend on their patrons, often
capricious being or upon the length of their subscription lists; they now
acquired an independence and an importance that turned the heads of some of
them. Hardly a writer of the time is free from the political bios. After being
a Whig, Swift became a virulent Tory; Addison was a tepid Whig; Steele was Whig
and Tory in turn. It was indeed the Golden Age of political pamphleteer, and
the writers made the most of it.
(2) The Clubs and Coffee-houses:
Politicians are
necessarily gregarious, and the increased activity in politics led to a great
addition to the number of political clubs and coffee-houses, which became the
foci of fashionable and public life. In the first number of the Tatler Steele
announces as a matter of course that the activities of his new journal will be
based upon the clubs. All accounts of Gallantry, pleasure, and Entertainment
shall be under the article of White’s Chocolate-House; poetry under that of wills
coffee-House; Learning under the title of Grecian; foreign and Domestic News
you will have from Saint James’ coffee-house. These coffee-houses became the
‘clearing-houses’ for literary business, and from them branched purely literary
associations such as the famous scribblers and Kit-Cat Clubs, those haunts of
the fashionable writers which figure so prominently in the writings of the
period.
(3) Periodical Writing:
The development of the periodical will be
noticed elsewhere. It is sufficient here to point out that the struggle for
political mastery led both factions to issue a swarm of Examiners, and similar
publications. These journals were run by a band of vigorous and facile prose-
writers, who in their differing degrees of excellence represent almost a new
type in our literature.
(4) The New Publishing Houses:
The interest in politics, and probably the
decline in the drama, caused a great increase in the size of the reading
public. In its turn this aroused the activities of a number of men who became
the forerunners of the modern publishing houses. Such were Edmund Curll
(1675-1747), Jacob Tonson (1656-1736), and John Dunton (1659-1733). These men
employed numbers of needy writers, who produced the translations, adaptations,
and other popular works of the time. It is unwise to judge a publisher by what
authors say of him, but the universal condemnation leveled against Curll and
his kind compels the belief that they were a breed of scoundrels who preyed
upon author. The miserable race of hack-writers- venomously attacked by Pope in
The Dunciad- who existed on the scanty bounty of such men lived largely in a
thoroughfare near moor fields called Grub Street, the name of which has become
synonymous with literary drudgery.
(5) The New Morality:
immorality of the Restoration, which
had been almost entirely a court phenomenon and was largely the reaction
against extreme Puritanism, soon spent itself. The natural process of time was
hastened by opinion in high quarters. William 3 was a severe moralist, and
Anne, his successor, was of the same character. Thus we soon see a new tone in
the writing of the time and a new attitude to life and morals. Addison, in an
early number of The Spectator, puts the new fashion in his own admirable way;
‘‘I shall Endeavor to enliven morality with
wit, and to temper with morality.’’
Another development of the same spirit is
seen in the revised opinion of women, who are treated with new respect and
dignity. Much coarseness is still to be felt, especially in which Swift, for
instance, can be quite vile; but the general upward tendency is undoubtedly
there.
v Neoclassical
poetry
Neoclassical poetry is characterized
as such because it reflects the ideas of the neoclassical period in history,
which occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries. Some of the major themes during
this period included the importance of reason, morality, and order. In both
content and form, these themes were emphasized in neoclassical poetry.
"In
poetry, the tradition continued of brilliant topical satire and of didactic
poetry that frequently was more tedious than brilliant. Appeal was normally
sought to what was variously called Reason, Nature, or Common Sense. Polish and
elegance of form were of more importance than subtlety or originality of
thought." So Moody and Lovett comment on the poetry of this period.
⇨
Major poets:
Alexander Pope (1688-1744). Born
in 1688, Pope wrote tolerable verse when he was twelve years old. He was the
son of a London tradesman. His tiny and delicate physical constitution, and his
faith in Roman Cathlicism greatly influenced his career as a poet. Due to his
ill health he was privately educated, and could not cultivate the knowledge of
the world of nature or of the world of human heart. By reason of the sweeping
laws against the entrance of Catholics into public service, he was shut out
from the ordinary career of Englishmen in Parliament, the Church, or the Army.
So, he dedicated his whole life to literature. Other men of letters of his age
had other engagements but he rose only to be a poet. W. J. Long remarks:
"Swift was a clergeyman and politician, Addison was Secretary of State,
other writers depended on patrons or politics or pensions for fame and a
livelihood; but Pope was independent, and had no profession, but
literature." Pope received very little school education, but he privately
studied English books and picked up a smattering of the classics.
He wrote one of the famous
satirical Epic-poem. He was a famous Essayist, critical and also a
poet. His work like ‘The Rape of the lock’, verses to the memory of an
unfortunate Lady (1717) and dunciad are (1728) noteworthy. His essays are also
written in verse form and are as beautiful as his poems. His first book can be
considered as a longer philosophical poem. An essay on criticism is a kind
of rhyming verse known as heroic couplets. It first appeared in 1711, yet
written in 1709.The ‘Rope of the hock’ is a beautiful heroic narrative poem. It
was first published in two cantos and later another three cantos added to the
previous ones. The last canto was available only in 1717 with the addition
of the moral speech of Charisa. This poem satirizes a minor actual incident
pope satirizes the beauty conscious and hypocrite contemporary society of his
country. Belinda the heroine is shown elegant. She is a beauty that is fragile.
She loses a lock a hair which touches her deeply. His another poem Eloisa to
Abelard is inspired by the 12th century’s illicit love and
secret marriage. Pannell, Tickell and Philips can be considered minor poets
with one or two noteworthy verses. Pope’s Essay is regarded,
in poets as true genius is but rare, True Taste as seldom is the critic’s
share.
⇨
Matthew Prior's (1664-1721) first work is a
parody of Dryden's The Hind and the Panther, entitled The Town and Country
Mouse (1687). It was written in collaboration with Charles Montagu. His other
works are Alma, or The Progress of the Mind (1718) and Solomon on the Vanity of
the World (1718). Alma is an imitation of Butler's Hudibras and Solomon is
written in heroic couplet. Prior's longer poems lack in strength, power and
passion. Prior's reputation rests on his shorter pieces which are The
Chameleon, The Thief and the Cordelier, and a number of poems, To Chole.
⇨
John Gay (1685-1732) is best remembered for his
Fables (1727), which is colloquial, easy, octosyllabic, and The Beggar's Opera
(1728), which is a famous play. It contains some pretty songs and much genuine
but boisterous humour. Gay's chief poetic works are The Rural Sports (1713),
written in the heroic couplet, The Shepherd's Week (1714), What d' Ye Call It
(1715), a pastoral farce, and Trivia or The Art of Walking the Streets of
London (1716), a witty parody of the heroic style. Gay mirrors the manners and
outward show of his age.
⇨
Edward Young (1683-1765) wrote varied kind of
poetry. His Last Day (1714) and The Force of Religion (1714) are moralizings
written in the heroic couplet. The Love of Fame (1725-28) shows an advance in
the use of the heroic couplet. He is remembered for The Complaint or Night
Thoughts on Life, Death and Immortality (1742), which is written in the blank
verse. It was occasioned by the death of his wife. It is a lengthy poem of
sententious reflection and shows considerable technical skill in the management
of the blank verse, but it is handicapped by a stilted, theatrical phraseology.
It anticipates the "Churchyard School" of poetry.
⇨
Samuel Garth's (1661-1719) The Dispensary (1699)
is a satire on the Society of Apothecaries. It is written in the couplet.
⇨
William Somerville (1675-1742) wrote The Chase, a
gloomy and sombre poem, imitating the 'Churchyard School' of poetry.
v Conclusion
Thus, We can say that such characteristics were there during 18th century
which were reflect by play, drama, novel, poetry and other literary arts.
Reflection of society and behavior of contemporary time.
