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1、,Part IV The Enlightenment Century,The Age of Reason (16881780),I. Social Background II. The Ideological and Cultural Movement III. The Neoclassicism IV. Literature of the time,I. Social background,After the Glorious Revolution, Whig and Tory were established. The former one represented the interest
2、s of the moneyed class, while the latter one represented the royalists.,the talk between Whig and Tory,1. In politics,I. Social background,George Hanover(George I): coming from the German Hanoverian House, he was absolutely a figure head. The constitutional monarchy was further consolidated to guara
3、ntee the controlling power of the bourgeoisie.,1. In politics,Another thing which needs attention is that in that period England fought many wars with France, Spain, etc.,2. In Military Affair:,In those wars England rose as a victor making it the strongest country in navy and economy and considerabl
4、y stretching its occupied land oversees extending from the west of Canada to the east of India.,An island of the British West Indies,In 1769,James Watt invented the steam engine. Britain became the worlds number one capitalist and imperialist country. Adam Smith published An Inquiry into the Nature
5、and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, a classic piece in political economics.,3. In Economy,The appearance of Unitarianism was a step toward Deism, for it advocated one God instead of the trinity, and that one God gradually became identical to the Nature Christianity became more individualised,4. In
6、Religion,II. The Ideological and Cultural Movement,Enlightenment was an intelligent movement began at the beginning of the 18th century in Europe. This movement was, on the whole, an expression of the bourgeois against feudalism. The Enlightenment fought against class inequality, stagnation, prejudi
7、ces and other survivals of feudalism. They always tempted to place all branches of science at the service of mankind by connecting them with the actual needs and requirements of people. The representatives of the Enlightenment in England literature were Joseph Addison and Richard Steel, the essayist
8、s, and Alexander Pope, the poet,II. The Ideological and Cultural Movement,Most of the English writers were Enlighteners. They fell into two groupsthe moderate group and the radical group. The more moderate Enlighteners supported the principles of the existing social order and considered that partial
9、 reforms would be sufficient. The famous writers are Alexander Pope, Joseph Addison , Richard Steel, Daniel Defoe and Samuel Richardson. The radical Enlighteners struggled for more resolute democratization in the management of the government, and defended the interests of the exploited masses, the p
10、easants and the working people in the cities. The representatives are Jonathan Swift, Henry Fielding, Tobias George Smollett, Oliver Goldsmith and Richard Brinsley Sheridan.,II. The Ideological and Cultural Movement,a. Political writings: the rise of the political parties led to the appearance of pa
11、mphlet wars of political writings attracting many writers to work for either of the parties or both alternatively. b. The rise of newspapers and magazines: the reason for the rise: Both parties had their respective ones to express their opinions. The rise of the middle class demanded entertainment a
12、nd education and they need to express their views too.,c. Coffeehouses: where people gathered to exchange ideas and thus they help to determine the literary trend of the time d. The new morality: The emphasis on reason The development of tolerance of different opinions in politics and religion,e. Th
13、e influence of science and technology: Principia Mathematica in 1687 by Newton (16421727),f. French influenceAugustanismneoclassicism stressing to learn from the classicals,III. Neoclassicism,The Age of Neoclassicism: The representative writers of this period like Pope and Swift admire and follow th
14、e styles of ancient poets under the reign of Roman Emperor Augustus (27BC-14AD), this period in English literary history is also named the Augustan Age in a metaphorical manner. The Age of Reason: Writers emphasized on the centurys spirit of worshipping reason and their efforts to abide by writing r
15、ules guided by reason.,The characteristics of neoclassicism,3. The closed couplet (a couplet in which the two lines form a complete unit of thought) was the only possible verse form for serious work for elegance, correctness, appropriateness and restraint were preferred.,4. It is exclusively a “town
16、” poetry, catering to the interests of the “society” in great cities. The humbler aspect of life are neglected and it showed in most part no love of nature, landscape, or country things and people, though Thomson published the first of his nature poems, Winter as early as after 1726,IV. Literature of the time:,The Major writers: 1. Daniel Defoe 2. Jonathan Swift 3. Joseph Addison 4. Alexander Pope 5. Samuel Johnson 6. Henry Fieldding 7. Th
