The eighteenth century.doc

The eighteenth century1、 historical background A：the constitutional monarch set up by parliament in 1688 was a compromise between the bourgeoisie and the aristocrats. The Tory and Whig, though of them representing different interests of different class, both supported commerce and the policy of tolerance and vied with each other for seats in the House of Commons.B: England grew from a second rate country to a powerful naval country in the 18th century by defeating other European powers,especially France.C: some features of this century in England (1)the rise of the political parties and their rivalry called forth writers and literary men willing to work for either parties in order to help either of them to win more votes. Thus appeared the political writing. The writers were called hack writer or “Grub sweet writers” and since then writing has become an independent job.(2) Newspaper and journals: both parties printed newspapers as a means to express their views. Besides, the middle class also demanded a means to express their opinions on policy and other problems, thus, newspapers and journals flourished. (3) Coffeehouse: in the late half of the 17th century and through the 18th century, the coffeehouse has become a inform meeting house for men from all class to exchange their opinions and do business.Literary men Wills in Covent GardenScholars and learned professions the GreciansWhigs St.jamesMost famous coffeehouse in that time: Addisons Spector Club Johnsons Club( 4)new morality: the men of the 18th century, while enjoying the peace and prosperity at home, were against the fanaticism of the Puritan who in the 17th century had taken a hostile attitude towards both entertainment and the immorality of court life. It was an age in which reason, rather than emotion, played an imported role. Hence, it was called an age of reason.(5) science and technology: * Issac Newton(1642-1727) and his law of gravitation:all the objects in the universe are attracted to the earth by a certain force which is in direct proportion to their mass and in inverse proportion to the square of the distance between the objects.* John Locke(1632-1704) was the father of a new theory of knowledge: he held that all of mens knowledge originates from sense perception.(6) French influence: in the 18th century, the Classicism trend first originated in France during the reign of Louis XIV when France was the leading power of the western word. Boileaus LArt Poetique was a declaration of classicism, which propounded that dramatics should follow the rule set down by roman writers.2、 the features of the neo-classicism * people emphasized reason rather than emotion,form rather than content.* as reason was stressed, most of the writings of the age were didactic and satirical.* as elegance, correctness, appropriateness and restraint were preferred,the poet found closed couplet the only possible verse form for serious work* it is almost exclusively a “town” poetry, catering to the interests of the “romantic”. It is especially hostile towards everything that belonged to the Middle Ages with its chivalrous extravagance, visionary idealism, and strong religious faith.3、 writers and works Daniel Defoe(1661-1731) a pioneer novelist of England and a prolific writer of books Did a business by himself changed his surname from Foe to Defoe went bankrupt and got into a debt amounting to 17,000pounds chased writing for a living. Served both the Tory and Whig parties and worked secretly as a government spy he was sentenced to three months in Newgate prison. In jail in 1704, Defoe started a periodical, The Review several years later his writing landed him twice more in prison because of his true religious feelings.The Shortest Way with the Dissenters Hymn to the PilloryCaptain Singleton(1720) Moll Flanders(1722)A journal of the Plagure Year(1722) Colonel Jack(1722) Robinson Crusoe =The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson CrusoeRoxana(1724) Comments on Moll Flanders * Moll Flanders is artistically a more mature piece than Robinson Crusoe * in Moll Flanders,Defoe introduces, for the first time, a lowly woman as the subject of literature Jonathan Swift(1667-1745) * Jonathan Swift and Daniel Defoe both were considerably occupied in the dangerous career of political writers, and both affliated themselves to Robert Harley(later Lord of Oxford)* Jonat