18世纪英国文学史

1、The 18th century （the Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Reason） Politically Glorious Revolution in 1688 ended the monarchy, replacing it with a constitutional monarchy. The power passed from the king gradually to the parliament.the Tory and the Whig dominated the parliament by turns Socially:the ra

2、pid growth of middle classThe Puritan spirit of wisdom, diligence, honesty, and thriftiness, self-discipline better education was available more schools and social clubs were established Economically Industrial Revolution, the 1st powerful industrial country continued to expand its colonies Ideologi

3、cally: Under the influence of scientific discoveries ( Galileo,Newton) and flourishing of philosophies, French enlightenment started. The Enlightenment Movementan intellectual movement beginning in France from 1680s to 1789 and then spread throughout Europe. a continuation of Renaissancean expressio

4、n of struggle of the bourgeoisie against feudalism.celebrated reason, equality and education (American Independence War in 1776; French Revolution in 1789).The major representatives were Alexander Pope, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele.Neoclassicism Last decades of the 17th to the early of the 18th Mo

5、delled Greek and Latin authors Stress on order, logic, proportion, restrained emotion, accuracy, good taste major exponents of the neoclassical school: John Dryden and Alexander Pope. Literature Neoclassicist poetry . Led by Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson Mock epics, literary criticism, satires P

6、rose Satire : Jonathan Swifts “Proposal”Journalism/Periodicals : Steels and Addisons literary journals The Rise of English Novel : Samuel Richardsons Pamela (epistolary),Defoes Robinson Crusoe, Henry Fieldings Joseph Andrews , Tom Jones (picaresque), Sterne (sentimentality), Goldsmith, etc. Gothic N

7、ovel against the rationalism and commercialism emphasis on the irrational and dark side of human nature;the imaginative, the supernatural, the discarded Medieval castle influenced the later generations: Coleridge, Keats, Dickens, Bronte sisters, etc. Sentimentality in Literature emphasizing the emotionSamuel Richardsons Pamela and Clarissa Laurence Sterne: Sentimental Journey “The Graveyard School”: Thomas