The Neo-Classical Age

Literary Characteristics
Prepared by-
Kavisha Alagiya
Visiting Faculty at Department of English
M K Bhavnagar University
 “We are to regard Dryden as the puissant and
glorious founder, Pope as the splendid high
priest, of our age of prose and reason, of our
excellent and indispensable eighteenth century”

- Matthew Arnold (The Study of Poetry)

 Introduction Reason

• As the conflicts and enthusiasms of the mid-seventeenth century Rationality

receded into the past and English society and culture settled down
into a period of relative stability, London became more and more the
center of literary and intellectual life of country. Artificiality
• Aristocracy in the old sense has been transmuted into gentility and
wealth becomes the main motivating power in society. Formality
• In London, the coffeehouse replaces the Court as the meeting place of
men of culture. Accuracy
• The old idealisms by which men had lived and over which they had
fought and died, appeared to be gone forever; men were more civilized, Correctness
more calculating, more complacent, more rational and more respectable
which became the subject of literature of the period.
• Poetry in such a period worked within relatively narrow limits. Gossip
Aristocracy
and tittle-tattle made their way into print.
Kavisha Alagiya
 The Predominance of Prose
• In every preceding age we have noted especially the great forms of
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 interests arising from the new social and
political conditions demanded expression, not simply in books, but
more especially in pamphlets, magazines, and newspapers.
• There was a graceful elegance of Addison's essays, the terse vigour
of Swift's satires, the artistic finish of Fielding's novels, the
sonorous eloquence of Gibbon's history and of Burke's orations.
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 The Predominance of Prose
• Poetry itself became prosaic in nature. The poetry of the first half of
the century, as typified in the work of Pope, is polished and witty
enough and artificial.
• Swift, Addison, Steele, Defoe-- are those of prose-writers primarily of a
very high quality.
• Johnson made a significant contribution to the growth and refinement
of English prose by compiling the first Dictionary of the language and
by leaving in his ‘Lives of the Poets’ – “a monument of strong,
masculine, and dignified prose”
• The variety and excellence of prose works and the development of
prose style served to express clearly every human interest and
emotion. These are the chief literary glories of the 18th century.
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 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 authors with
places and pensions (or promises of them), and admitted them more or less deeply into their
counsels.
• In previous ages authors had had to depend on their patrons, often capricious beings, or
upon the length of their subscription lists; they now acquired an independence and an
importance that turned die heads of some of them.
• Hardly a writer of the time is free from the political bias. After being a Whig, Swift became a
virulent Tory; Addison was a tepid Whig; Steele was Whig and Tory in turn.
• Due to this union of politics with literature, there emerged a prevalent form ‘Satire’
• It was indeed the Golden Age of political pamphleteering, and the writers made the most
of it.
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 Satire
• Neo-classical age was an age of political unrest, sharp wit and personal
contention. For this reason, satire got a new importance.
• A satirist is like a labourer who clears away the ruins and rubbish of an
old house before the architect and builders begin on a new and
beautiful structure. The work may sometimes be necessary, but it rarely
arouses our enthusiasm.
• Nearly every writer of the first half of the century was used and rewarded by
Whigs or Tories for satirizing their enemies and for advancing their special
political interests.
• Dryden’s Mac Flecknoe which was written in heroic couplet is considered
as the best satire respectively.
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 Concept 0f Man
• Man had found himself in the long struggle for personal liberty; now he turned to the task of
discovering his neighbour, of finding in Whig and Tory, in Catholic and Protestant, in Anglican
and Dissenter, the same general human characteristics that he found in himself.
• The general and representative characteristics of mankind were reflected in literary works.
• Neo-classical poets constantly stress the need for man to recognize his limitations, not to
aspire beyond his reach or entertain exaggerated ambitions.
• As Pope puts it:
“Know then thyself, presume not God to scan;
The proper study of Mankind is Man.”
- Alexander Pope (Essay on Man)

Kavisha Alagiya
 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
levelled against Curll and his kind compels the belief that they were a breed of scoundrels
who preyed upon authors and public, and (what is more remarkable) upon one another.
• 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 Moorfields
called Grub Street, the name of which has become synonymous with literary drudgery.

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 The New Morality
• The 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 III 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
endeavour to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality."
Another development of the same spirit is seen in the revised opinion of
women, who are treated with new respect and dignity.
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 The “Novel”
• The novel originated in the early 18th century after the Italian word
"novella," which was used for stories in the medieval period.
• Novels focus on character development more than plot. In any genre, it is
the study of the human psyche.
• The early English novels concerned themselves with complex, middle-class
characters struggling with their morality and circumstances. "Pamela," a
series of fictional letters written in 1741 by Samuel Richardson, is
considered the first real English novel. Other early novelists include Daniel
Defoe, who wrote "Robinson Crusoe" (1719) and "Moll Flanders" (1722),
although his characters were not fully realized enough to be considered full-
fledged novels.

Kavisha Alagiya
 Four Wheels 0f English Novel
• The early 18th century was a flowering time of the novel.
• Henry Fielding, Samuel Richardson, Lawrence Sterne, and Tobias
Smollett.
• Henry Fielding is considered the father of English novel. He provided a
consistent plot, a well formed characterization, and satirical humour as
well.
• Periodical essays played an important role in bringing the novel to the
fore front. The periodical essayist introduced characters and
systematic prose style which prepared ground for fictional writing. The
essays created a taste for light reading.
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 Four Wheels 0f English Novel
• Henry Fielding (1707-1754)
• Fielding is a painter of life. If one reads his novels, one can realize
that he has introduced the whole English society in his novels. He
is a realist. He presents the different modes and manners of the
society.
• In his novels we get a picture of rich middle-class ladies, servant-
class males and ladies, religious people, and different kinds of
country people.
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 Four Wheels 0f English Novel
• Samuel Richardson (1689-1761)
• His aim in writing “Pamela” was definitely moral as the novel is
also known by the name ‘Virtue Rewarded’. Encouraged by the
success of his first novel, he wrote his masterpiece ‘Clarissa
Harlowe” which placed him on a pinnacle of glory.
• Writing of both these novels has an epistolary style. In these
novels, Richardson laid open the feminine heart and started the
trend of psychological novel.
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 Four Wheels 0f English Novel
• Tobias George Smollett (1721-1771)
• Tobias George Smollett is famous for his three novels “Roderick
Random”, “Peregrine Pickle” and “Humphrey Clinker”.
• His first notable contribution “The adventures of Roderick
Random” is a picaresque novel and autobiographical in nature.
But his most famous and best entertaining novel is “Humphrey
Clinker” which he wrote towards the end of his life.

Kavisha Alagiya
 Four Wheels 0f English Novel
• Laurence Sterne (1713-1768)
• Lawrence Sterne who wrote “Tristram Shandy” and “A Sentimental
Journey”.
• He became overnight famous by writing the novel titled “Tristram
Sandy”. The form of this novel is vague and capacious as a sack which
is full of everything a novelist can look for.
• Another famous novel is “A Sentimental Journey” based on
sentimentality. Moreover, his novels have nice blend of Humour and
pathos. Sterne laughs at sorrow and finds matter for pathos in a
comical mishap. His characters are sentimental in nature.
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 English Novel
• An adequate prose medium to clothe a variety of ideas and an
increasing middle class provided an encouraging reading public a
great impetus to the growth of the novel.
• Four giants-Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, and Sterne did for the
English novel what Shakespeare did for English drama in the
Elizabethan Age.

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 Summing up
• Artificial poetic diction, oratorical pomp and classical correctness
govern poetry in the Neo-classical period.
• Literature of this period differs from Elizabethan romanticism in
three respects: versification, diction, and subject matter.
Literature appeared like a well-bred, elderly gentleman in
ruffles and peruke, of polished but somewhat chilling
manners, who met all warmth of feeling with the frost of
etiquette.
Kavisha Alagiya
 References
• Albert, Edward. History of English Literature. Ed. James Alfred Stone.
Harrap, 1979. 10 July 2022.
• Daiches, David. A Critical History of English Litearture. Vol. 2. Allied
Publishers, 1969. 2 vols. PDF. 10 July 2022.
• Long, William J. English Literature - Its History and Its Significance for
the Life of the English-Speaking World. Delhi: AITBS Publishes India,
2016. Book. 10 July 2022.
• Vallath, Kalyani. A Bird's eye view of British and American Literature.
Trivandrum: Bodhi Tree Books, 2018. Paperback. 10 July 2022.
Kavisha Alagiya
 Web Resources
• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Bluestocking". Encyclopedia Britannica,
20 Oct. 2011, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bluestocking-British-literary-society.
10 July 2022.

• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Kit-Cat Club". Encyclopedia Britannica,

14 Apr. 2018, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kit-Cat-Club. 10 July 2022.

• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Scriblerus Club". Encyclopedia

Britannica, 13 Feb. 2017, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Scriblerus-Club. 10 July
2022.

• Udemy.com. 2022. NET ENGLISH COMPLETE COURSE. [online] Available at:

https://www.udemy.com/course/net-english-complete-course. 10 July 2022.
Kavisha Alagiya