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1、English Literature in the Early 18th CenturyMajor points:l Alexander Popel Joseph Addison and Richard Steelel Daniel Defoel Jonathan SwiftI. A Brief Introduction to the 18th Century English LiteratureThe early 18th century saw the publication of Alexander Popes poems, the prose writings of Joseph Ad
2、dison and Richard Steele, and the fiction writings of Daniel Defoe and Jonathan Swift; the middle and late 18th century witnessed the full flowering of the English novel, which is manifested in the works of Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, and Tobias Smollet in the 40s and 50s, to be followed in t
3、he 60s and 70s by the sentimentalist novelists Laurence Sterne and Oliver Goldsmith, and later, in the final decades of the century, by such writers of gothic romance as Mrs. Anne Radcliffe and novelists of manners as Frances Burney and Maria Edgeworth. The 18th century also saw the publication of s
4、ome plays and the emergence of Neoclassicism and Pre-Romanticism in its middle and last decades.II. Alexander Pope (1688-1744)Pope was born in London of a successful merchants family of Catholic faith. He had a few years of formal schooling. He began to write verse very early, but his “Pastorals,” w
5、hich was written when he was 16, did not get published until 1709. In 1711 he wrote “An Essay on Criticism,” which established his reputation as a poet. His works include:l An Essay on Man (1732-1734)l Moral Essays (1731-1735)l The Dunciad (1728-1743)l An Essay on Criticism (1711) (Consisting of 744
6、 lines and divided into three parts, it expresses Popes view on the aesthetic theory of poetry.)III. Joseph Addison (1672-1719) and Richard Steele (1672-1729)Addison and Steele were known and remembered for their co-edited periodicals “The Tatler” and “The Spectator.”IV. Daniel Defoe (1660-1731)Defo
7、e was a novelist and satirical poet. He is known and remembered for his novels, among which the most important is “Robinson Crusoe,” which he published when he was already 60. Life and Literary CareerDaniel Defoe is an English novelist, pamphleteer, and journalist, author of Robinson Crusoe (1719).
8、Along with Samuel Richardson, Defoe is considered the founder of the English novel. Before his time stories were usually written as long poems or dramas. He produced some 200 works of nonfiction prose in addition to nearly 2000 short essays in periodical publications, several of which he also edited
9、.Defoe was born Foe, probably in the parish of St. Giles Cripplegate, London. He later added the aristocratic sounding “De” to his name. He was educated in a Dissenting Academy at Stoke Newington run by Charles Morton (later vice-president of Harvard University). Although his Nonconformist father in
10、tended him for the ministry, Defoe plunged into politics and trade, travelling extensively in Europe. In 1684 Defoe married Mary Tuffley; they had two sons and five daughters. Defoe was involved in Monmouth rebellion in 1685 against James II. While hiding as a fugitive in a churchyard after the rebe
11、llion was put down, he noticed the name Robinson Crusoe carved on a stone, and later gave it to his famous hero. Defoe became a supporter of William II, joining his army in 1688, and gaining a mercenary reputation because change of allegiance. In 1701, he published The True Born Englishman, which at
12、tacked those who were prejudiced against having a king of foreign birth. In 1702 Defoe wrote his famous pamphlet The Shortest-Way with the Dissenters, which upset a large number of powerful people. In the pamphlet, Defoe, himself a dissenter, ironically demanded the savage suppression of dissent. Th
13、e pamphlet was judged to be critical of the Anglican Church and Defoe was arrested in May 1703. While in prison Defoe wrote a mock ode, Hymn to the Pillory (1703). The poem was sold in the streets, the audience drank to his health while he stood in the pillory and read aloud his verses. Within a wee
14、k of his release from prison, Defoe witnessed the Great Storm of 1703, which became the subject of his first book, The Storm (1704).Defoe used a number of pen names, including Eye Witness, T. Taylor, and Andrew Morton, Merchant. His most unusual pen name was “Heliostrapolis, secretary to the Emperor
15、 of the Moon,” used on his political satire The Consolidator, or Memoirs of Sundry Transactions from the World in the Moon (1705). His political writings were widely read and made him powerful enemies. His most remarkable achievement during Queen Annes reign was the periodical A Review of the Affair
16、s of France, and of All Europe (1704-1713). It was published weekly, later three times a week and resembled a modern newspapers. From 1716 to 1720 Defoe edited Mercurius Politicus, then the Manufacturer (1720), and the Director (1720-21).During the remaining years, Defoe concentrated on books rather than pamphlets. At the age of 62 he published Moll Flanders, a Journal of the Plague Year and Colonel Jack. His last great work of fictio
