English literature

Selected English-language writers: Geoffrey Chaucer, WilliamShakespeare, Jane Austen, Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, T. S.Eliot, Vladimir Nabokov, Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie.

The focus of this article is on literature in the English lan-guage from anywhere, not just the literature of England,so that it includes writers from Scotland, the whole ofIreland, Wales, as well as literature in English from for-mer British colonies, including the US. However, up untilthe early 19th century, it deals with the literature writtenin English of Britain and Ireland.English literature is generally seen as beginning with theepic poem Beowulf, that dates from between the 8th tothe 11th centuries, the most famous work in Old English,which has achieved national epic status in England, de-spite being set in Scandinavia. The next important land-mark is the works of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 13431400), especially The Canterbury Tales. Then during TheRenaissance, especially the late 16th and early 17th cen-turies, major drama and poetry was written by WilliamShakespeare, Ben Jonson, John Donne and many others.

Another great poet, from later in the 17th century, wasJohn Milton (160874) author of the epic poem ParadiseLost (1667). The late 17th and the early 18th century areparticularly associated with satire, especially in the po-etry of John Dryden and Alexander Pope, and the proseworks of Jonathan Swift. The 18th century also saw thefirst British novels in the works of Daniel Defoe, SamuelRichardson, and Henry Fielding, while the late 18th andearly 19th century was the period of the Romantic poetsWordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley and Keats.It was in the Victorian era (18371901) that the novelbecame the leading literary genre in English,[1] domi-nated especially by Charles Dickens, but there were manyother significant writers, including the Bront sisters, andthen Thomas Hardy, in the final decades of the 19th cen-tury. Americans began to produce major writers in the19th century, including novelist Herman Melville, authorof Moby Dick (1851) and the poets Walt Whitman andEmily Dickinson. Another American, Henry James, wasa major novelist of the late 19th and early twentieth cen-tury, while Polish-born Joseph Conrad was perhaps themost important British novelist of the first two decadesof the 20th century.Irish writers were especially important in the 20th cen-tury, including James Joyce, and later Samuel Beckett,both central figures in the Modernist movement. Amer-icans, like poets T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound and novelistWilliam Faulkner, were other important modernists. Inthe mid 20th century major writers started to appear inthe various countries of the British Commonwealth, sev-eral who have been Nobel-laureates. Many major writ-ers in English in the 20th and 21st centuries have comefrom outside the United Kingdom. The term Postmodernliterature is used to describe certain tendencies in post-World War II literature. It is both a continuation ofthe experimentation championed by writers of the mod-ernist period, relying heavily, for example, on fragmenta-tion, paradox, questionable narrators, etc., and a reactionagainst Enlightenment ideas implicit in Modernist litera-ture.

A fuller discussion of literature in English fromcountries other than the UK and Ireland can befound in see also below.

For a discussion of literature from England in otherlanguages than English, see British literature.

1

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2 1 OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE: C. 6581100

1 Old English literature: c. 6581100

Main article: Old English literatureOld English literature, or Anglo-Saxon literature, encom-

The first page of Beowulf

passes the surviving literature written in Old English inAnglo-Saxon England, in the period after the settlementof the Saxons and other Germanic tribes in England, asthe Jutes and the Angles, c. 450, after the withdrawalof the Romans, and ending soon after the Norman Con-quest in 1066; that is, c. 110050.[2] These works in-clude genres such as epic poetry, hagiography, sermons,Bible translations, legal works, chronicles, riddles, andothers.[3] In all there are about 400 surviving manuscriptsfrom the period.[3] The earliest surviving work of litera-ture in Old English is Cdmons Hymn, which was prob-ably composed between 65880.Oral tradition was very strong in early English culture andmost literary works were written to be performed.[4][5]Epic poems were thus very popular, and some, includingBeowulf, have survived to the present day. Much Old En-glish verse in the extant manuscripts is probably adaptedfrom the earlier Germanic war poems from the continent.When such poetry was brought to England it was still be-ing handed down orally from one generation to another.

Old English poetry falls broadly into two styles or fieldsof reference, the heroic Germanic and the Christian. TheAnglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity after theirarrival in England.[6] The most popular and well-knownof Old English poetry is alliterative verse, which usesaccent, alliteration, the quantity of vowels, and patternsof syllabic accentuation. It consists of five permutationson a base verse scheme; any one of the five types can beused in any verse. The system was inherited from and ex-ists in one form or another in all of the older Germaniclanguages.[7]

The epic poem Beowulf, of 3182 alliterative lines, isthe most famous work in Old English and has achievednational epic status in England, despite being set in Scan-dinavia. The only surviving manuscript is the NowellCodex, the precise date of which is debated, but mostestimates place it close to the year 1000. Beowulf isthe conventional title,[8] and its composition by an anony-mous Anglo-Saxon poet, who is commonly referred to asthe "Beowulf poet,[8] is dated between the 8th[9][10] andthe early 11th century.[11] In the poem, Beowulf, a hero ofthe Geats in Scandinavia, comes to the help of Hrogar,the king of the Danes, whose mead hall (in Heorot) hasbeen under attack by a monster known as Grendel. AfterBeowulf slays him, Grendels mother attacks the hall andis then also defeated. Victorious, Beowulf goes home toGeatland in Sweden and later becomes king of the Geats.After fifty years, Beowulf defeats a dragon, but is fatallywounded in the battle. After his death, his attendantsbury him in a tumulus, a burial mound, in Geatland.[12]

Found in the same manuscript as the heroic poem Be-owulf, the Nowell Codex, is the poem Judith, a retellingof the story found in the Latin Vulgate Bibles Bookof Judith about the beheader of the Assyrian gen-eral Holofernes.[13] The Old English Martyrology is aMercian collection of hagiographies. lfric of Eynshamwas a prolific 10th-century writer of hagiographies andhomilies.[14]

Nearly all Anglo-Saxon authors are anonymous: twelveare known by name from Medieval sources, but onlyfour of those are known by their vernacular works withany certainty: Cdmon, Bede, Alfred the Great, andCynewulf. Cdmon is the earliest English poet whosename is known.[15] Cdmons only known surviving workis Cdmons Hymn, which probably dates from the late7th century. The Hymn itself was composed between658 and 680, recorded in the earlier part of the 8th cen-tury, and survives today in at least 14 verified manuscriptcopies.[16] The poem is one of the earliest attested exam-ples of Old English and is, with the runic Ruthwell Crossand Franks Casket inscriptions, one of three candidatesfor the earliest attested example of Old English poetry. Itis also one of the earliest recorded examples of sustainedpoetry in a Germanic language. The poem, The Dreamof the Rood, was inscribed upon the Ruthwell Cross.[15]

Chronicles contained a range of historical and literary ac-

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3

counts, and a notable example is the Anglo-Saxon Chron-icle. This is a collection of annals in Old English chroni-cling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. Nine manuscriptssurvive in whole or in part, though not all are of equalhistorical value and none of them is the original version.The oldest seems to have been started towards the end ofKing Alfred's reign in the 9th century, and the most re-cent was written at Peterborough Abbey in 1116. Almostall of the material in the Chronicle is in the form of annalsby year, the earliest being dated at 60 BC (the annals datefor Caesars invasions of Britain), and historical materialfollows up to the year in which the chronicle was written,at which point contemporary records begin.[17]

The poem Battle of Maldon also deals with history. Thisis the name given to a work, of uncertain date, celebratingthe real Battle of Maldon of 991, at which the Anglo-Saxons failed to prevent a Viking invasion. Only 325 linesof the poem are extant; both the beginning and the endingare lost.[18]

The Wanderer is an Old English poem preserved only inan anthology known as the Exeter Book, a manuscriptdating from the late 10th century. It counts 115 linesof alliterative verse. As often the case in Anglo-Saxonverse, the composer and compiler are anonymous, andwithin the manuscript the poem is untitled. The Wan-derer conveys the meditations of a solitary exile on hispast glories as a warrior in his lords band of retainers,his present hardships and the values of forbearance andfaith in the heavenly Lord.[19] Another poem with a reli-gious theme, The Seafarer is also recorded in the ExeterBook, one of the four surviving manuscripts, and consistsof 124 lines, followed by the single word Amen. In thepast it has been frequently referred to as an elegy, a poemthat mourns a loss, or has the more general meaning of asimply sorrowful piece of writing. Some scholars, how-ever, have argued that the content of the poem also linksit with Sapiential Books, or Wisdom Literature. In theCambridge Old English Reader (2004), Richard Marsdenwrites, It is an exhortatory and didactic poem, in whichthe miseries of winter seafaring are used as a metaphorfor the challenge faced by the committed Christian [](p. 221).Classical antiquity was not forgotten in Anglo-SaxonEngland and several Old English poems are adaptationsof late classical philosophical texts. The longest is KingAlfred's (84999) 9th-century translation of Boethius'Consolation of Philosophy.[20] TheMetres of Boethius area series of Old English alliterative poems adapted fromthe Latinmetra of the Consolation of Philosophy soon af-ter Alfreds prose translation.

2 Middle English literature: 11001500

Main article: Middle English literature

After the Norman conquest of England in 1066, the writ-ten form of the Anglo-Saxon language became less com-mon, and under the influence of the new aristocracy Law,French became the standard language of courts, parlia-ment, and polite society. As the invaders integrated, theirlanguage and literature mingled with that of the nativesand the Norman dialects of the ruling classes becameAnglo-Norman. At the same time Anglo-Saxon under-went a gradual transition into Middle English. Politicalpower was no longer in English hands, so that the WestSaxon literary language had no more influence than anyother dialect and Middle English literature was written inthe many dialects that correspond to the region, history,culture, and background of individual writers.[21]

In this period religious literature continued to enjoypopularity and Hagiographies were written, adaptedand translated, for example, The Life of Saint Audrey,Eadmer's (c. 1060 c. 1126[22]) contemporary biogra-phy of Anselm of Canterbury, and the South English Leg-endary. At the end of the 12th century, Layamon's Brutadapted Wace to make the first English-language workto discuss the legends of Arthur and the Knights of theRound Table.[23] It was also the first historiography writ-ten in English since the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. In thiscentury a new form of English now known as Middle En-glish evolved. This is the earliest form of English whichis comprehensible to modern readers and listeners, albeitnot easily.Middle English Bible translations, notably WycliffesBible, helped to establish English as a literary lan-guage. Wycliffes Bible is the name now given to agroup of Bible translations into Middle English, thatwere made under the direction of, or at the instiga-tion of, John Wycliffe. They appeared between ap-proximately 1382 and 1395.[24] These Bible transla-tions were the chief inspiration and cause of the Lollardmovement, a pre-Reformation movement that rejectedmany of the distinctive teachings of the Roman CatholicChurch. The term Lollard refers to the followers ofJohn Wycliffe, a prominent theologian who was dis-missed from the University of Oxford in 1381 for criti-cism of the Church.[25] In the Middle Ages most WesternChristian people encountered the Bible only in the formof oral versions of scriptures, verses and homilies in Latin(other sources were mystery plays, usually conducted inthe vernacular, and popular iconography). Though rela-tively few people could read at this time, Wycliffes ideawas to translate the Bible into the vernacular, saying ithelpeth Christian men to study the Gospel in that tonguein which they know best Christs sentence.[26] Althoughunauthorized, the work was popular: Wycliffite Bible

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4 2 MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE: 11001500

texts are the most common manuscript literature in Mid-dle English and almost 200 manuscripts of the WycliffiteBible survive.[27]

Another literary genre, that of Romances, appear in En-glish from the 13th century, withKing Horn andHavelockthe Dane, based on Anglo-Norman originals such asthe Romance of Horn (ca. 1170),[28] but it was in the14th century that major writers in English first appeared.These are William Langland, Geoffrey Chaucer and theso-called 'Pearl Poet', whose most famous work is SirGawain and the Green Knight.[29]

Langlands Piers Plowman (written ca. 136087) or Vi-sio Willelmi de Petro Plowman (Williams Vision of PiersPlowman) is a Middle English allegorical narrative poem,written in unrhymed alliterative verse.[30]

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late-14th-centuryMiddle English alliterative romance. It is one of thebetter-known Arthurian stories of an established typeknown as the beheading game. Developing fromWelsh, Irish and English tradition, Sir Gawain highlightsthe importance of honour and chivalry. It is an im-portant poem in the romance genre, which typically in-volves a hero who goes on a quest that tests his prowess.Preserved in the same manuscript with Sir Gawaynewere three other poems, now generally accepted as thework of its author. These are two alliterative poems ofmoral teaching, Patience and Purity, and an intricateelegiac poem, Pearl. The author of Sir Gawayne andthe other poems is frequently referred to as 'the PearlPoet'.[31] The English dialect of these poems from theMidlands is markedly different from that of the London-based Chaucer and, though influenced by French in thescenes at court in Sir Gawain, there are in the poems alsomany dialect words, often of Scandinavian origin, thatbelonged to northwest England.[31]

Middle English lasts up until the 1470s, when theChancery Standard, a form of London-based English, be-came widespread and the printing press regularized thelanguage. The prolific Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 1400), whose works were written in Chancery Standard,was the first poet to have been buried in Poets Corner ofWestminster Abbey.[32] Among his many works, whichinclude The Book of the Duchess, the House of Fame,the Legend of Good Women and Troilus and Criseyde,Chaucer is best known today for The Canterbury Tales.This is a collection of stories written in Middle English(mostly written in verse although some are in prose),that are presented as part of a story-telling contest by agroup of pilgrims as they travel together on a journeyfrom Southwark to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becketat Canterbury Cathedral. The prize for this contest isa free meal at the Tabard Inn at Southwark on their re-turn. Chaucer is a significant figure in developing thelegitimacy of the vernacular, Middle English, at a timewhen the dominant literary languages in England werestill French and Latin. The first recorded association

Geoffrey Chaucer

of Valentines Day with romantic love is in ChaucersParlement of Foules of 1382.[33]

At this time literature was being written in various lan-guages in England, including Latin, Norman-French, En-glish, and the multilingual nature of the audience for liter-ature in the 14th century can be illustrated by the exam-ple of John Gower (c. 1330 October 1408). A con-temporary of William Langland and a personal friendof Geoffrey Chaucer, Gower is remembered primarilyfor three major works, the Mirroir de l'Omme, Vox Cla-mantis, and Confessio Amantis, three long poems writ-ten in Anglo-Norman, Latin and, Middle English respec-tively, which are united by common moral and politicalthemes.[34]

Significant religious works were also created in the 14thcentury, including works by an anonymous author in themanuscript called the Katherine Group, and by Julian ofNorwich (ca.1342 ca. 1416), and Richard Rolle. Ju-lians Revelations of Divine Love (circa 1393) is believedto be the first published book written by a woman in theEnglish language; it chronicles, to some extent, her ex-tensive pilgrimages to various holy sites in Europe andAsia.[35]

Amajor work from the 15th century is Le Morte d'Arthurby Sir Thomas Malory, which was printed by Caxton in1485.[36] This is compilation of some French and EnglishArthurian romances, and was among the earliest booksprinted in England. it was popular and influential in thelater revival of interest in the Arthurian legends.[37]

Medieval theatre

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5

Main article: Medieval theatre

In the Middle Ages, drama in the vernacular languagesof Europe may have emerged from religious enactmentsof the liturgy. Mystery plays were presented on theporch of the cathedrals or by strolling players on feastdays. Miracle and mystery plays, along with moralitiesand interludes, later evolved into more elaborate forms ofdrama, such as was seen on the Elizabethan stages. An-other form of medieval theatre was the mummers plays,a form of early street theatre associated with the Morrisdance, concentrating on themes such as Saint George andthe Dragon and Robin Hood. These were folk tales re-telling old stories, and the actors travelled from town totown performing these for their audiences in return formoney and hospitality.[38]

Mystery plays and miracle plays (sometimes distin-guished as two different forms,[39] although the termsare often used interchangeably) are among the earli-est formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Me-dieval mystery plays focused on the representation ofBible stories in churches as tableaux with accompany-ing antiphonal song. They developed from the 10th tothe 16th century, reaching the height of their popular-ity in the 15th century before being rendered obsolete bythe rise of professional theatre. The name derives frommystery used in its sense of miracle,[40] but an occasion-ally quoted derivation is from misterium, meaning craft, aplay performed by the craft guilds.[41]

Nineteenth-century engraving of a performance from the Chestermystery play cycle.

There are four complete or nearly complete extant En-glish biblical collections of plays from the late medievalperiod; although these collections are sometimes referredto as cycles, it is now believed that this term may at-

tribute to these collections more coherence than they infact possess. Themost complete is theYork cycle of forty-eight pageants. They were performed in the city of York,from the middle of the fourteenth century until 1569.There are also the Towneley plays of thirty-two pageants,once thought to have been a true 'cycle' of plays and mostlikely performed around the Feast of Corpus Christi prob-ably in the town of Wakefield, England during the lateMiddle Ages until 1576.[42] Besides the Middle Englishdrama, there are three surviving plays in Cornish knownas the Ordinalia.[43]

These biblical plays differ widely in content. Most con-tain episodes such as the Fall of Lucifer, the Creation andFall of Man, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood, Abra-ham and Isaac, the Nativity, the Raising of Lazarus, thePassion, and the Resurrection. Other pageants includedthe story ofMoses, the Procession of the Prophets, ChristsBaptism, the Temptation in the Wilderness, and the As-sumption and Coronation of the Virgin. In given cycles,the plays came to be sponsored by the newly emergingMedieval craft guilds.[44][45]

Having grown out of the religiously based mystery playsof the Middle Ages, the morality play is a genre ofMedieval and early Tudor theatrical entertainment, whichrepresented a shift towards a more secular base for Eu-ropean theatre. In their own time, these plays wereknown as interludes, a broader term given to dramaswith or without a moral theme.[46] Morality plays area type of allegory in which the protagonist is met bypersonifications of various moral attributes who try toprompt him to choose a Godly life over one of evil. Theplays were most popular in Europe during the 15th and16th centuries.[47]

The Somonyng of Everyman (The Summoning of Every-man) (c. 1509 1519), usually referred to simply asEveryman, is a late 15th-century English morality play.Like John Bunyan's allegory Pilgrims Progress (1678),Everyman examines the question of Christian salvationthrough the use of allegorical characters. The play is theallegorical accounting of the life of Everyman, who rep-resents all mankind. All the characters are also allegor-ical, each personifying an abstract idea such as Fellow-ship, (material) Goods, and Knowledge and the conflictbetween good and evil is dramatized by the interactionsbetween characters.[48]

3 English Renaissance: 15001660

Main articles: Early Modern English, Early ModernBritain, English Renaissance, Elizabethan literature andEnglish Renaissance theatre

Following the introduction of a printing press into Eng-land by William Caxton in 1476, vernacular literatureflourished.[36] The Reformation inspired the production

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6 3 ENGLISH RENAISSANCE: 15001660

of vernacular liturgy which led to the Book of Com-mon Prayer, a lasting influence on literary language. TheEnglish Renaissance was a cultural and artistic move-ment in England dating from the late 15th and early 16thcenturies to the 17th century. It is associated with thepan-European Renaissance that is usually regarded as be-ginning in Italy in the late 14th century. Like most ofnorthern Europe, England saw little of these develop-ments until more than a century later. Renaissance styleand ideas, however, were slow in penetrating England,and the Elizabethan era in the second half of the 16thcentury is usually regarded as the height of the EnglishRenaissance.[49]

3.1 Elizabethan and Jacobean period(15581625)

During the reign of Elizabeth I (15581603) and thenJames I (160325), in the late 16th and early 17th cen-tury, a London-centred culture, that was both courtly andpopular, produced great poetry and drama. English play-wrights combined the influence of the Medieval theatrewith the Renaissance's rediscovery of the Roman drama-tists, Seneca, for tragedy, and Plautus and Terence, forcomedy. Italy was an important source for Renaissanceideas in England and the linguist and lexicographer JohnFlorio (15531625), whose father was Italian, was a royallanguage tutor at the Court of James I, had furthermorebrought much of the Italian language and culture to Eng-land. He was also the translator of FrenchmanMontaigneinto English.[50] This Italian influence can also be foundin the poetry of Thomas Wyatt (150342), one of theearliest English Renaissance poets. He was responsiblefor many innovations in English poetry and, alongsideHenry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1516/151747), intro-duced the sonnet from Italy into England in the early 16thcentury.[51][52][53] Wyatts professed object was to exper-iment with the English tongue, to civilise it, to raise itspowers to those of its neighbours.[51] While a significantamount of his literary output consists of translations andimitations of sonnets by the Italian poet Petrarch, he alsowrote sonnets of his own. Wyatt took subject matter fromPetrarchs sonnets, but his rhyme schemes make a signifi-cant departure. Petrarchs sonnets consist of an "octave",rhyming abba abba, followed, after a turn (volta) in thesense, by a sestet with various rhyme schemes, howeverhis poems never ended in a rhyming couplet. Wyatt em-ploys the Petrarchan octave, but his most common sestetscheme is cddc ee. This marks the beginnings of Englishsonnet with 3 quatrains and a closing couplet.[54]

Edmund Spenser (c. 155299) was one of the most im-portant poets of this period, author of The Faerie Queene(1590 and 1596), an epic poem and fantastical allegorycelebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. Anothermajor figure, Sir Philip Sidney (155486), was an Englishpoet, courtier and soldier, and is remembered as one ofthe most prominent figures of the Elizabethan Age. His

works include Astrophel and Stella, The Defence of Po-etry, and The Countess of Pembrokes Arcadia. Poemsintended to be set to music as songs, such as by ThomasCampion (15671620), became popular as printed liter-ature was disseminated more widely in households. SeeEnglish Madrigal School.Among the earliest Elizabethan plays are Gorboduc(1561) by Sackville and Norton and Thomas Kyd's(155894) The Spanish Tragedy (1592). Gorboduc isnotable especially as the first verse drama in Englishto employ blank verse, and for the way it developedelements, from the earlier morality plays and Senecantragedy, in the direction which would be followed bylater playwrights.[55] The Spanish Tragedy, or Hieron-imo is Mad Again[56] is an Elizabethan tragedy writtenby Thomas Kyd between 1582 and 1592. Highly popu-lar and influential in its time, The Spanish Tragedy es-tablished a new genre in English literature theatre, therevenge play or revenge tragedy. Its plot contains sev-eral violent murders and includes as one of its charactersa personification of Revenge. The Spanish Tragedy wasoften referred to, or parodied, in works written by otherElizabethan playwrights, includingWilliam Shakespeare,Ben Jonson, and Christopher Marlowe. Many elementsof The Spanish Tragedy, such as the play-within-a-playused to trap a murderer and a ghost intent on vengeance,appear in Shakespeares Hamlet. Thomas Kyd is fre-quently proposed as the author of the hypothetical Ur-Hamlet that may have been one of Shakespeares primarysources for Hamlet.[57]

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (15641616) stands out in this pe-riod as a poet and playwright as yet unsurpassed. Shake-

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3.1 Elizabethan and Jacobean period (15581625) 7

speare was not a man of letters by profession, and proba-bly had only some grammar school education. He wasneither a lawyer, nor an aristocrat, like the universitywits who monopolised the English stage when he startedwriting. But he was very gifted and versatile, and hesurpassed the professionals, like Robert Greene, whomocked this Shake-scene of low origins.[58] Shake-speare wrote plays in a variety of genres, includinghistories, tragedies, comedies and the late romances, ortragicomedies. His early classical and Italianate come-dies, like A Comedy of Errors, containing tight dou-ble plots and precise comic sequences, give way in themid-1590s to the romantic atmosphere of his greatestcomedies.[59] AMidsummer Nights Dream is a witty mix-ture of romance, fairy magic, and rustic comic scenes.[60]The wit and wordplay ofMuch Ado About Nothing,[61] thecharming rural setting of As You Like It, and the livelymerrymaking of Twelfth Night complete Shakespearessequence of great comedies.[62] After the lyrical RichardII, written almost entirely in verse, Shakespeare intro-duced prose comedy into the histories of the late 1590s,Henry IV, parts 1 and 2, and Henry V. His characters be-come more complex and tender as he switches deftly be-tween comic and serious scenes, prose and poetry, andachieves the narrative variety of his mature work.[63] Thisperiod begins and ends with two tragedies: Romeo andJuliet, the famous romantic tragedy of sexually chargedadolescence, love, and death;[64] and Julius Caesar, basedon Sir Thomas Norths 1579 translation of PlutarchsParallel Lives, which introduced a new kind of drama.[65]In the early 17th century, Shakespeare wrote the so-called"problem plays",Measure for Measure, Troilus and Cres-sida, and Alls Well That Ends Well, as well as a numberof his best known tragedies, including Hamlet, Othello,Macbeth, King Lear and Anthony and Cleopatra.[66] Theplots of Shakespeares tragedies often hinge on such fa-tal errors or flaws, which overturn order and destroy thehero and those he loves.[67] In his final period, Shake-speare turned to romance or tragicomedy and completedthree more major plays: Cymbeline, The Winters Taleand The Tempest, as well as the collaboration, Pericles,Prince of Tyre. Less bleak than the tragedies, these fourplays are graver in tone than the comedies of the 1590s,but they end with reconciliation and the forgiveness of po-tentially tragic errors.[68] Some commentators have seenthis change in mood as evidence of a more serene viewof life on Shakespeares part, but it may merely reflectthe theatrical fashion of the day.[69] Shakespeare collabo-rated on two further surviving plays, Henry VIII and TheTwo Noble Kinsmen, probably with John Fletcher.[70]

Shakespeare also popularized the English sonnet, whichmade significant changes to Petrarch's model. A collec-tion of 154 by sonnets, dealing with themes such as thepassage of time, love, beauty and mortality, were firstpublished in a 1609 quarto entitled SHAKE-SPEARESSONNETS: Never before imprinted. (although sonnets138 and 144 had previously been published in the 1599miscellany The Passionate Pilgrim). The first 17 poems,

traditionally called the procreation sonnets, are addressedto a young man urging him to marry and have childrenin order to immortalize his beauty by passing it to thenext generation.[71] Other sonnets express the speakerslove for a young man; brood upon loneliness, death, andthe transience of life; seem to criticise the young man forpreferring a rival poet; express ambiguous feelings for thespeakers mistress; and pun on the poets name. The finaltwo sonnets are allegorical treatments of Greek epigramsreferring to the little love-god Cupid.[72]

Other important figures in Elizabethan theatre includeChristopher Marlowe, and Ben Jonson, Thomas Dekker,John Fletcher and Francis Beaumont.Marlowes (15641593) subject matter is different fromShakespeares as it focuses more on the moral drama ofthe Renaissance man than any other thing. Drawing onGerman lore, Marlowe introduced the story of Faust toEngland in his play Doctor Faustus (c. 1592), about a sci-entist and magician who, obsessed by the thirst of knowl-edge and the desire to push mans technological power toits limits, sells his soul to the Devil. Faustusmakes use ofthe dramatic framework of the morality plays in its pre-sentation of a story of temptation, fall, and damnation,and its free use of morality figures such as the good angeland the bad angel and the seven deadly sins, along withthe devils Lucifer and Mephistopheles.[73]

Thomas Dekker (c. 15701632) was, between 1598 and1602, involved in about forty plays, usually in collabora-tion. He is particularly remembered for The ShoemakersHoliday (1599), a work where he appears to be the soleauthor. Dekker is noted for his realistic portrayal ofdaily London life and for his sympathy for the poor andoppressed.[74]

After Shakespeares death, the poet and dramatist BenJonson (15721637) was the leading literary figure of theJacobean era. Jonsons aesthetics hark back to theMiddleAges and his characters embody the theory of humours.According to this contemporary medical theory, behav-ioral differences result from a prevalence of one of thebodys four humours (blood, phlegm, black bile, andyellow bile) over the other three; these humours corre-spond with the four elements of the universe: air, water,fire, and earth. However, the stock types of Latin liter-ature were an equal influence.[75] Jonson therefore tendsto create types or caricatures. However, in his best work,characters are so vitally rendered as to take on a be-ing that transcends the type.[76] Jonsons famous comedyVolpone (1605 or 1606)) shows how a group of scammersare fooled by a top con-artist, vice being punished by vice.Other major plays by Jonson are Epicoene (1609), TheAlchemist (1610), and Bartholomew Fair (1614).Others who followed Jonsons style include Beaumont andFletcher, who wrote the popular comedy, The Knight ofthe Burning Pestle (probably 160708), a satire of the ris-ing middle class, especially of those nouveaux riches whopretend to dictate literary taste without knowing much

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Greene_(16th_century)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespearean_historyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespearean_tragedyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespearean_comedieshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare%2527s_late_romanceshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Comedy_of_Errorshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Midsummer_Night%2527s_Dreamhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Much_Ado_About_Nothinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_You_Like_Ithttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelfth_Nighthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_II_(play)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_II_(play)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_IV,_Part_1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_IV,_Part_2https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_V_(play)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_and_Juliethttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_and_Juliethttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar_(play)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Northhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutarchhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_Liveshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespearean_problem_playhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Measure_for_Measurehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troilus_and_Cressidahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troilus_and_Cressidahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All%2527s_Well_That_Ends_Wellhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespearean_tragedyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlethttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Othellohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macbethhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Learhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_and_Cleopatrahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare%2527s_late_romanceshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragicomedyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cymbelinehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Winter%2527s_Talehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tempesthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pericles,_Prince_of_Tyrehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pericles,_Prince_of_Tyrehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII_(play)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Two_Noble_Kinsmenhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Two_Noble_Kinsmenhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fletcher_(playwright)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_sonnethttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrarchhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare%2527s_sonnetshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet_138https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnet_144https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miscellanyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Passionate_Pilgrimhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procreation_sonnetshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Ladyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegoryhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigramshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupidhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabethan_theatrehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Marlowehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Jonsonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Dekker_(poet)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fletcher_(playwright)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Beaumonthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymathhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fausthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Faustus_(play)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Dekker_(writer)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shoemaker%2527s_Holidayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shoemaker%2527s_Holidayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Jonsonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Jonsonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobean_erahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humourshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_literaturehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_literaturehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volponehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epicoenehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Alchemist_(play)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Alchemist_(play)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholomew_Fairhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaumont_and_Fletcherhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaumont_and_Fletcherhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Knight_of_the_Burning_Pestlehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Knight_of_the_Burning_Pestle

8 4 NEO-CLASSICAL PERIOD: 16601798

literature at all. In the story, a couple of grocers wran-gle with professional actors to have their illiterate sonplay a leading role in a drama. He becomes a knight-errant wearing, appropriately, a burning pestle on hisshield. Seeking to win a princesses heart, the youngman is ridiculed much in the way Don Quixote was. Oneof Beaumont and Fletchers skills was that of portrayingof how feudalism and chivalry had turned into snobberyand make-believe and that new social classes were on therise.[77]

Another popular style of theatre during Jacobean timeswas the revenge play, which was popularized in the Eliz-abethan era by Thomas Kyd (155894), and then furtherdeveloped later by John Webster (?1578-?1632). Web-sters most famous plays are The White Devil (1612) andThe Duchess of Malfi (1613). Other revenge tragediesinclude The Changeling written by Thomas Middletonand William Rowley, The Atheists Tragedy by CyrilTourneur, first published in 1611, Christopher Marlowe'sThe Jew of Malta, The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois byGeorge Chapman, The Malcontent (ca. 1603) of JohnMarston and John Ford's 'Tis Pity Shes a Whore. Be-sidesHamlet, Shakespeares Titus Andronicus is a revengetragedy.[78]

George Chapman (?1559-?1634) also wrote revengetragedies, but today he is remembered chiefly for his fa-mous translation in 1616 of Homer's Iliad and Odysseyinto English verse.[79] This was the first ever completetranslations of either poem into the English language.The translation had a profound influence on English liter-ature and inspired John Keats's famous sonnet On FirstLooking into Chapmans Homer (1816).The most important prose work of the early 17th centurywas the King James Bible. This, one of the most massivetranslation projects in the history of English up to thistime, was started in 1604 and completed in 1611. Thisrepresents the culmination of a tradition of Bible trans-lation into English that began with the work of WilliamTyndale, and it became the standard Bible of the Churchof England. The project was headed by James I himself,who supervised the work of forty-seven scholars.[80]

Besides Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, the major poetsof the early 17th century included the Metaphysical po-ets: John Donne (15721631), George Herbert (15931633), Henry Vaughan, Andrew Marvell, and RichardCrashaw.[81] Their style was characterized by wit andmetaphysical conceits, that is far-fetched or unusual sim-iles or metaphors, such as in Andrew Marvells compar-ison of the soul with a drop of dew, in an expanded epi-gram format, with the use of simple verse forms, octo-syllabic couplets, quatrains or stanzas in which length ofline and rhyme scheme enforce the sense.[82] The specificdefinition of wit which Johnson applied to the school was:a kind of discordia concors; a combination of dissimilarimages, or discovery of occult resemblances in things ap-parently unlike.[83] Their poetry diverged from the style

of their times, containing neither images of nature norallusions to classical mythology, as were common, andthere are often allusions to scientific or geographical dis-coveries. There is also a frequent concern with religioussubjects in their poetry[84]

3.2 Late Renaissance: 16251660

The Metaphysical poets John Donne (15721631) andGeorge Herbert (15931633) were still alive after 1625,and later in the 17th century a second generation of meta-physical poets were writing, including Richard Crashaw(161349), Andrew Marvell (16211678), Thomas Tra-herne (1636 or 16371674) and Henry Vaughan (16221695). The Cavalier poets were another important groupof 17th-century poets, who came from the classes thatsupported King Charles I during the English Civil War(164251). (King Charles reigned from 1625 and was ex-ecuted 1649). The best known of the Cavalier poets areRobert Herrick, Richard Lovelace, Thomas Carew andSir John Suckling. They were not a formal group, but allwere influenced by Ben Jonson. Most of the Cavalier po-ets were courtiers, with notable exceptions. For example,Robert Herrick was not a courtier, but his style marks himas a Cavalier poet. Cavalier works make use of allegoryand classical allusions, and are influenced by Latin au-thors Horace, Cicero and Ovid. John Milton (160874)was the last great poet of the English Renaissance[85]and published a number of works before 1660, includingA L'Allegro,1631; Il Penseroso, 1634; Comus (a masque),1638; and Lycidas, (1638). However, his major epicworks, including Paradise Lost (1667) were published inthe Restoration period.

4 Neo-Classical Period: 16601798

4.1 Restoration Age: 16601700

Main articles: Restoration literature and RestorationComedy

Restoration literature includes both Paradise Lost andthe Earl of Rochester's Sodom, the high spirited sexualcomedy of The Country Wife and the moral wisdom ofPilgrims Progress. It saw Lockes Two Treatises on Gov-ernment, the founding of the Royal Society, the exper-iments and the holy meditations of Robert Boyle, thehysterical attacks on theatres from Jeremy Collier, thepioneering of literary criticism from Dryden, and thefirst newspapers. The official break in literary culturecaused by censorship and radically moralist standards un-der Cromwells Puritan regime created a gap in literarytradition, allowing a seemingly fresh start for all forms ofliterature after the Restoration. During the Interregnum,the royalist forces attached to the court of Charles I went

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Quixotehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenge_playhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Kydhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Websterhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Devilhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Duchess_of_Malfihttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Changeling_(play)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Middletonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rowleyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Atheist%2527s_Tragedyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_Tourneurhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyril_Tourneurhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1611_in_literaturehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Marlowehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jew_of_Maltahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Revenge_of_Bussy_D%2527Amboishttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Chapmanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Malcontenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Marston_(poet)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Marston_(poet)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ford_(dramatist)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%2527Tis_Pity_She%2527s_a_Whorehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus_Andronicushttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Chapmanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homerhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliadhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odysseyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keatshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_James_Version_of_the_Biblehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_translations_of_the_Biblehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_translations_of_the_Biblehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tyndalehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tyndalehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Englandhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Englandhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphysical_poethttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphysical_poethttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Donnehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Herberthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Vaughanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Marvellhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Crashawhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Crashawhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Marvellhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Donnehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Herberthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Crashawhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Marvellhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalier_poetshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Herrick_(poet)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lovelacehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Carewhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Suckling_(poet)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicerohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovidhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Miltonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%2527Allegrohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_Penserosohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comus_(John_Milton)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycidashttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Losthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restoration_literaturehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restoration_Comedyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restoration_Comedyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Losthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilmot,_2nd_Earl_of_Rochesterhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodom,_or_the_Quintessence_of_Debaucheryhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Country_Wifehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrim%2527s_Progresshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Treatises_on_Governmenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Treatises_on_Governmenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Societyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Boylehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_View_of_the_Immorality_and_Profaneness_of_the_English_Stagehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Collierhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_I_of_England

4.1 Restoration Age: 16601700 9

into exile with the twenty-year-old Charles II. The nobil-ity who travelled with Charles II were therefore lodgedfor over a decade in the midst of the continents literaryscene. Charles spent his time attending plays in France,and he developed a taste for Spanish plays. Those no-bles living in Holland began to learn about mercantile ex-change as well as the tolerant, rationalist prose debatesthat circulated in that officially tolerant nation.John Milton, one of the greatest English poets, wrote atthis time of religious flux and political upheaval. Mil-ton best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost (1671).Among other important poems are: L'Allegro,1631; IlPenseroso 1634; Comus (a masque), 1638; Lycidas;Paradise Regained, 1671; Samson Agonistes, 1671. Mil-tons poetry and prose reflect deep personal convictions,a passion for freedom and self-determination, and theurgent issues and political turbulence of his day. Writ-ing in English, Latin, and Italian, he achieved inter-national renown within his lifetime, and his celebratedAreopagitica, written in condemnation of pre-publicationcensorship, is among historys most influential and im-passioned defenses of free speech and freedom of thepress. William Hayley's 1796 biography called him thegreatest English author,[86] and he remains generally re-garded as one of the preeminent writers in the Englishlanguage.[87]

John Milton, religious epic poem Paradise Lost published in1667.

The largest andmost important poetic form of the era wassatire. In general, publication of satire was done anony-mously. There were great dangers in being associatedwith a satire. On the one hand, defamation lawwas a wide

net, and it was difficult for a satirist to avoid prosecutionif he were proven to have written a piece that seemed tocriticize a noble. On the other hand, wealthy individualswould respond to satire as often as not by having the sus-pected poet physically attacked by ruffians. John Drydenwas set upon for being merely suspected of having writtenthe Satire on Mankind. A consequence of this anonymityis that a great many poems, some of them of merit, areunpublished and largely unknown.John Dryden (16311700) was an influential Englishpoet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dom-inated the literary life of Restoration England to such apoint that the period came to be known in literary cir-cles as the Age of Dryden. He established the heroiccouplet as a standard form of English poetry by writ-ing successful satires, religious pieces, fables, epigrams,compliments, prologues, and plays with it; he also intro-duced the alexandrine and triplet into the form. In hispoems, translations, and criticism, he established a po-etic diction appropriate to the heroic couplet. Drydensgreatest achievements were in satiric verse in works likethe mock-heroic MacFlecknoe (1682). W. H. Auden re-ferred to him as the master of the middle style that wasa model for his contemporaries and for much of the 18thcentury.[88] The considerable loss felt by the English lit-erary community at his death was evident from the ele-gies that it inspired.[89] Alexander Pope (16881744) washeavily influenced by Dryden, and often borrowed fromhim; other writers in the 18th century were equally in-fluenced by both Dryden and Pope. Though Ben Jonsonhad been poet laureate to James I, this was not then a for-mal position and the formal title of Poet Laureate, as aroyal office, was first conferred by letters patent on JohnDryden in 1670. The post then became a regular Britishinstitution.Prose in the Restoration period is dominated by Christianreligious writing, but the Restoration also saw the begin-nings of two genres that would dominate later periods:fiction and journalism. Religious writing often strayedinto political and economic writing, just as political andeconomic writing implied or directly addressed religion.The Restoration was also the time when John Lockewrote many of his philosophical works. Lockes empiri-cism was an attempt at understanding the basis of humanunderstanding itself and thereby devising a proper man-ner for making sound decisions. These same scientificmethods led Locke to his two Treatises on Government,which later inspired the thinkers in the American Revo-lution. As with his work on understanding, Locke movesfrom themost basic units of society toward themore elab-orate, and, like Thomas Hobbes, he emphasizes the plas-tic nature of the social contract. For an age that had seenabsolute monarchy overthrown, democracy attempted,democracy corrupted, and limited monarchy restored,only a flexible basis for government could be satisfying.The Restorationmoderatedmost of themore strident sec-tarian writing, but radicalism persisted after the Restora-

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10 4 NEO-CLASSICAL PERIOD: 16601798

tion. Puritan authors such as John Milton were forced toretire from public life or adapt, and those Digger, FifthMonarchist, Leveller, Quaker, and Anabaptist authorswho had preached against monarchy and who had partic-ipated directly in the regicide of Charles I were partiallysuppressed. Consequently, violent writings were forcedunderground, and many of those who had served in theInterregnum attenuated their positions in the Restoration.John Bunyan stands out beyond other religious authors ofthe period. Bunyans The Pilgrims Progress is an allegoryof personal salvation and a guide to the Christian life. In-stead of any focus on eschatology or divine retribution,Bunyan instead writes about how the individual saint canprevail against the temptations of mind and body thatthreaten damnation. The book is written in a straight-forward narrative and shows influence from both dramaand biography, and yet it also shows an awareness of thegrand allegorical tradition found in Edmund Spenser.

During the Restoration period, the most commonmannerof getting news would have been a broadsheet publication.A single, large sheet of paper might have a written, usu-ally partisan, account of an event. However, the periodsaw the beginnings of the first professional and periodi-cal (meaning that the publication was regular) journalismin England. Journalism develops late, generally aroundthe time of William of Orange's claiming the throne in

1689. Coincidentally or by design, England began tohave newspapers just when William came to court fromAmsterdam, where there were already newspapers beingpublished. It is impossible to satisfactorily date the be-ginning of the novel in English. However, long fictionand fictional biographies began to distinguish themselvesfrom other forms in England during the Restoration pe-riod. An existing tradition of Romance fiction in Franceand Spain was popular in England. The Romance wasconsidered a feminine form, and women were taxed withreading novels as a vice. One of the most significantfigures in the rise of the novel in the Restoration periodis Aphra Behn. She was not only the first professional fe-male novelist, but she may be among the first professionalnovelists of either sex in England. Behns most famousnovel was Oroonoko in 1688. This was a biography of anentirely fictional African king who had been enslaved inSuriname. Behns novels show the influence of tragedyand her experiences as a dramatist.As soon as the previous Puritan regimes ban on pub-lic stage representations was lifted, the drama recreateditself quickly and abundantly. The most famous playsof the early Restoration period are the unsentimental orhard comedies of John Dryden, William Wycherley,and George Etherege, which reflect the atmosphere atCourt, and celebrate an aristocratic macho lifestyle ofunremitting sexual intrigue and conquest. After a sharpdrop in both quality and quantity in the 1680s, the mid-1690s saw a brief second flowering of the drama, espe-cially comedy. Comedies like William Congreve's TheWay of the World (1700), and John Vanbrugh's The Re-lapse (1696) and The ProvokedWife (1697) were softerand more middle-class in ethos, very different from thearistocratic extravaganza twenty years earlier, and aimedat a wider audience. The playwrights of the 1690s setout to appeal to more socially mixed audiences with astrong middle-class element, and to female spectators, forinstance by moving the war between the sexes from thearena of intrigue into that of marriage. The focus in com-edy is less on young lovers outwitting the older generation,more on marital relations.

4.2 Augustan literature (17001750)

Main articles: 18th-century literature and Augustanliterature

During the 18th century literature reflected the worldviewof the Age of Enlightenment (or Age of Reason): a ra-tional and scientific approach to religious, social, politi-cal, and economic issues that promoted a secular view ofthe world and a general sense of progress and perfectibil-ity. Led by the philosophers who were inspired by thediscoveries of the previous century by people like IsaacNewton and the writings of Descartes, John Locke andFrancis Bacon. They sought to discover and to act uponuniversally valid principles governing humanity, nature,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Miltonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diggershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Monarchy_Menhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Monarchy_Menhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levellershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quakershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabaptistshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regicidehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_I_of_Englandhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bunyanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pilgrim%2527s_Progresshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegoryhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eschatologyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dramahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biographyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Spenserhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadsheethttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_III_of_Englandhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdamhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spainhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphra_Behnhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oroonokohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surinamehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Drydenhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wycherleyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Etheregehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machismohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Congreve_(playwright)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_of_the_Worldhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_of_the_Worldhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Vanbrughhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Relapsehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Relapsehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Provoked_Wifehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extravaganzahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle-classhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/18th-century_literaturehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustan_literaturehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustan_literaturehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenmenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newtonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newtonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descarteshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lockehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon

4.2 Augustan literature (17001750) 11

and society. They variously attacked spiritual and scien-tific authority, dogmatism, intolerance, censorship, andeconomic and social restraints. They considered the statethe proper and rational instrument of progress. The ex-treme rationalism and skepticism of the age led naturallyto deism; the same qualities played a part in bringing thelater reaction of romanticism. The Encyclopdie of De-nis Diderot epitomized the spirit of the age.The term Augustan literature derives from authors of the1720s and 1730s themselves, who responded to a termthat George I of England preferred for himself. WhileGeorge I meant the title to reflect his might, they in-stead saw in it a reflection of Ancient Rome's transitionfrom rough and ready literature to highly political andhighly polished literature. Because of the aptness of themetaphor, the period from 1689 to 1750 was called theAugustan Age by critics throughout the 18th century (in-cluding Voltaire and Oliver Goldsmith). The literatureof the period is overtly political and thoroughly aware ofcritical dictates for literature. It is an age of exuberanceand scandal, of enormous energy and inventiveness andoutrage, that reflected an era when English, Scottish, andIrish people found themselves in the midst of an expand-ing economy, lowering barriers to education, and the stir-rings of the Industrial Revolution.It was during this time that poet James Thomson (170048) produced his melancholy The Seasons (172830)and Edward Young (16811765) wrote his poem NightThoughts (1742), though the most outstanding poet ofthe age is Alexander Pope (16881744). It is also theera that saw a serious competition over the proper modelfor the pastoral. In criticism, poets struggled with a doc-trine of decorum, of matching proper words with propersense and of achieving a diction that matched the gravityof a subject. At the same time, the mock-heroic was at itszenith. Popes Rape of the Lock (171217) and The Dun-ciad (172843) are still the greatest mock-heroic poemsever written.[90] Pope also translated the Iliad (171520)and the Odyssey (172526). Since his death, Pope hasbeen in a constant state of re-evaluation. His high arti-fice, strict prosody, and, at times, the sheer cruelty of hissatire were an object of derision for the Romantic poets,and it was not until the 1930s that his reputation was re-vived. Pope is now considered the dominant poetic voiceof his century, a model of prosodic elegance, biting wit,and an enduring, demanding moral force.[91]

In prose, the earlier part of the period was overshadowedby the development of the English essay. Joseph AddisonandRichard Steele'sThe Spectator established the form ofthe British periodical essay, inventing the pose of the de-tached observer of human life who can meditate upon theworld without advocating any specific changes in it. Pe-riodical essays bloomed into journalistic writings; suchas Samuel Johnsons Reports of the Debates of the Sen-ate of Lilliput, titled to disguise the actual proceeding ofparliament as it was illegal for any Parliamentary Reportsto be reproduced in print. However, this was also the time

when the English novel, first emerging in the Restoration,developed into a major art form. Daniel Defoe turnedfrom journalism and writing criminal lives for the pressto writing fictional criminal lives with Roxana and MollFlanders. He also wrote a fictional treatment of the trav-els of Alexander Selkirk called Robinson Crusoe (1719).The novel would benefit indirectly from a tragedy of thestage, and in mid-century many more authors would be-gin to write novels.

Jonathan Swift

If Addison and Steele were dominant in one type of prose,then Jonathan Swift was in another. Swifts prose style isunmannered and direct, with a clarity that few contem-poraries matched. He was a profound skeptic about themodern world, but he was similarly profoundly distrustfulof nostalgia. He saw in history a record of lies and van-ity, and he saw in the present a madness of vanity and lies.He believed that Christian values were essential, but thesevalues had to be muscular and assertive and developed byconstant rejection of the games of confidence men andtheir gulls. Swifts A Tale of a Tub announced his skep-tical analysis of the claims of the modern world, and hislater prose works, such as his war with Patridge the as-trologer, and most of all his attacks on pride in GulliversTravels, only left safe the individual who was in constantfear and humility. After his exile to Ireland, Swift re-luctantly began defending the Irish people from the pre-dations of colonialism. His A Modest Proposal and theDrapier Letters provoked riots and arrests, but Swift, whohad no love of Irish RomanCatholics, was outraged by theabuses and barbarity he saw around him.Drama in the early part of the period featured the lastplays of John Vanbrugh and William Congreve, bothof whom carried on the Restoration comedy with somealterations. However, the majority of stagings were

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A9diehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_I_of_Englandhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Romehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltairehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Goldsmithhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolutionhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Thomson_(poet)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seasons_(Thomson_poem)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Younghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Popehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastoral_poetryhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mock-heroichttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_of_the_Lockhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dunciadhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dunciadhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliadhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odysseyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romantic_poetshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Addisonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Steelehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spectator_(1711)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Johnsonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Defoehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roxana:_The_Fortunate_Mistresshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moll_Flandershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moll_Flandershttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Selkirkhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Crusoehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Swifthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Swifthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_a_Tubhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulliver%2527s_Travelshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulliver%2527s_Travelshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irelandhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonialismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposalhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholicismhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Vanbrughhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Congreve_(playwright)

12 4 NEO-CLASSICAL PERIOD: 16601798

of lower farces and much more serious and domestictragedies. George Lillo and Richard Steele both pro-duced highly moral forms of tragedy, where the char-acters and the concerns of the characters were whollymiddle class or working class. This reflected a markedchange in the audience for plays, as royal patronage wasno longer the important part of theatrical success. Ad-ditionally, Colley Cibber and John Rich began to battleeach other for greater and greater spectacles to presenton stage. The figure of Harlequin was introduced, andpantomime theatre began to be staged. This low com-edy was quite popular, and the plays became tertiary tothe staging. Opera also began to be popular in London,and there was significant literary resistance to this Ital-ian incursion. This trend was broken only by a few at-tempts at a new type of comedy. Pope and John Arbuth-not and John Gay attempted a play entitled Three HoursAfter Marriage that failed. In 1728, however, John Gayreturned to the playhouse with The Beggars Opera. Gaysopera was in English and retold the story of Jack Shep-pard and Jonathan Wild. However, it seemed to be an al-legory based on Robert Walpole and the directors of theSouth Sea Company, and so Gays follow up opera wasbanned without a performance. The Licensing Act 1737brought an abrupt halt to much of the periods drama, asthe theatres were once again brought under state control.An effect of the Licensing Act of 1737 was to cause morethan one aspiring playwright to switch over to writing nov-els. Henry Fielding (170754) began to write prose satireand novels after his plays could not pass the censors. Inthe interim, Samuel Richardson (16891761) had pro-duced a novel intended to counter the deleterious effectsof novels in Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded (1740). HenryFielding attacked the absurdity of this novel with two ofhis own works, Joseph Andrews (1742) and Shamela, andthen countered Richardsons Clarissa (1748) with TomJones (1749). Tobias Smollett (172171) elevated thepicaresque novel with works such as Roderick Random(1748) and Peregrine Pickle (1751). Each of these nov-els represents a formal and thematic divergence from theothers. Each novelist was in dialogue and competitionwith the others, and, in a sense, the novel established it-self as a diverse and open-formed genre in this explosionof creativity. The most lasting effects of the experimen-tation would be the psychological realism of Richardson,the bemused narrative voice of Fielding.

4.3 Age of sensibility: 17501798

This period is also sometimes described as the Ageof Johnson.[92] Samuel Johnson (17091784), often re-ferred to as Dr Johnson, was an English author whomade lasting contributions to English literature as apoet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, edi-tor and lexicographer. Johnson has been described asarguably the most distinguished man of letters in En-glish history.[93] He is also the subject of the most

Samuel Johnson

famous single work of biographical art in the wholeof literature": James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson(1791).[94] His early works include the poems "London"and his most impressive poem "The Vanity of Hu-man Wishes" (1749).[95] Both poems are modelled onJuvenals satires.[95] After nine years of work, JohnsonsA Dictionary of the English Language was published in1755; it had a far-reaching effect on Modern English andhas been described as one of the greatest single achieve-ments of scholarship.[96] This work brought Johnsonpopularity and success. Until the completion of theOxford English Dictionary 150 years later, Johnsons wasviewed as the pre-eminent British dictionary.[97] His laterworks included essays, an influential annotated editionof William Shakespeares plays (1765), and the widelyread tale Rasselas (1759). In 1763, he befriended JamesBoswell, with whom he later travelled to Scotland; John-son described their travels in A Journey to the WesternIslands of Scotland (1786). Towards the end of his life,he produced the massive and influential Lives of the MostEminent English Poets (177981), a collection of biogra-phies and evaluations of 17th- and 18th-century poets.Through works such as the Dictionary, his edition ofShakespeare, and his Lives of the Poets in particular, hehelped invent what we now call English Literature.[95]

The second half of the 18th century saw the emergence ofthree major Irish authors Oliver Goldsmith (17281774),Richard Brinsley Sheridan (17511816) and LaurenceSterne (171368). Goldsmith settled in London in 1756,where he published the novel The Vicar of Wakefield(1766), a pastoral poem The Deserted Village (1770) andtwo plays, The Good-Natur'd Man 1768 and She Stoopsto Conquer 1773. This latter was a huge success and is

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farcehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lillohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Steelehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colley_Cibberhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rich_(producer)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlequinhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantomimehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Arbuthnothttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Arbuthnothttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gayhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Hours_After_Marriagehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Hours_After_Marriagehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beggar%2527s_Operahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Sheppardhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Sheppardhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Wildhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Walpolehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licensing_Act_1737https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licensing_Act_1737https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Fieldinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Richardsonhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pamela,_or_Virtue_Rewardedhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Andrewshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamelahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarissahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_Tom_Jones,_a_Foundlinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_Tom_Jones,_a_Foundlinghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobias_Smolletthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pica