literary background - FROM THE PURITAN AGE TO THE AUGUSTAN AGE

LITERARY BACKGROUND

From the Putitan Age to the Augustan Age (1625-1760)

From the Golden Age of Drama

To the Golden Age of novels

1760

1625

Puritan and Restoration Literature (1625-1714)

Puritan phase

• It goes from 1625 to 1660
• Predominance of Puritan values

Restoration literature

• All the literature works produced in Britain between 1660 and 1714

POETRY: three main groups of poets in England

Metaphysical Poets

Puritan Poets

Cavalier Poets

They believed in the values of Puritanism. The most representative poet of this group is John Milton, who expressed his religious values in his works. His main achievement is "Paradise Lost", which revolves around the fall and redemption of man.

Intellectuals who were linked to the Court and continued along the tradition of Elizabethan poetry. These poets, such as Thomas Carew and Richard Lovelace, wrote poems characterised by a meditative mood.

They explored both universal and philosophical concepts, and express their sense of dissatisfaction and confusion. The most famous Metaphysical Poet is John Donne and he mainly wrote about the relationship between man and God.

RESTORATION PROSE

Philosophcal prose-writers of the Restoration age:

• FRANCIS BACON (1561-1626)

His main works are The advancement of Learning(1605) and the Novum Organum (1620)

• THOMAS HOBBES(1558-1679)

His most important work:Leviathan

• JOHN LOCKE(1632-1704)

• ISAAC NEWTON (1642-1727)

THE NEW LIFE OF DRAMA

Restoration Comedies

• The reopening of theatres became the epicentre of this new dramatic genre

• TWO MAIN THEMES: love and marriage

• Common trait among all the characters: wit

• They put the world of English aristocracy under the lens of bitter criticism
• They offer a vivid portrait of the city of London

• George Etherege, William Wycherley, William Congreve

The Age of Classicism (1714-1760)

Phase of transition between Classicism and Pre-Romanticism

Augustan Age

• It goes from 11714 to 1750
• Authors reject imagination and emotions
• Focus on universal characters
• Triumph of prose writing

• It goes from 1750 t0 1760
• Authors start to give importance and voice to their feelings

• Use of classical forms to express romantic themes

Newspapers and Novels

Reasons why novels become popular:

• A Reading public wants to read them;
• Middle-class readers wanted to be entertained with stories that reflect the world;
• They become the most democratic art form;

Elements that affect the 18th century's literary production:

• The reading public;
• Increase in the number of readers;
• Existence of circulating libraries;
• The newspapers and novels;
• The desire of information of the world.

The main novelists of the 18th century are:

Jonathan Swift

AUTHOR TYPE OF NOVEL MAIN WORK

Daniel Defoe realistic utopian Robinson Crusoe (1719)

Gulliver's Travels (1726)

• The novel was originally conceived as a satirical novel
• The story is set in imaginary worlds.

• The novel focuses on the actions of a young English man who is shipwrecked on a desert island.

• The novel is written using the 1st-person narrator

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