1. What is the Enlightenment?
Circa 1650 – 1780
Also called the Neo-classical Period

2. “The Enlightenment” begins with a rejection the values and beliefs of the preceding “Renaissance Period”
Of dogma
Of superstition
Of traditional religion
Of factionalism
Of (in some cases) monarchy
Of disorder

3. The 1600s had a different ideology --one steeped in supernatural politics.
Alchemy, Angelology, Demonology
The Great Chain of Being
Divine Right of Kings

4. Alchemy…
Angelology…
Demonology…
The Great Chain of Being…
Divine Right of Kings…
. . .but that led to dire political schisms when a monarch died without a clear
heir.
The War of the Roses

5. Renaissance Reformation!
The Renaissance saw many countries become Protestant, shattering the fifteen-hundred-year-old spiritual monopoly of Catholicism.
Renaissance Reformation!

6. Jan Hus
In Eastern Europe
Henry VIII in Britain (created Protestant Church of England)

7. Factionalism lead to religious wars -- some continuing (off-and-on) for a century…
England, Germany, and Holland became Protestants allies.
They fought repeatedly against Catholic France, Spain, and
Italy. Later, Protestant groups turned on each other--with Anglican persecutions against Jansenists, Anabaptists, Quakers--and in America, Puritans against Quakers, etc.

8. . . . And to heresy trials

9. And to the auto-da-fé
That is the execution of individuals who dissented from standard scriptural
interpretations--usually by public burning. The practice began in 1215 in medieval Catholicism, but Protestants picked it up in Geneva and London in the mid-1500s. John Calvin oversaw the public burnings of Michael Servetus and other theological dissidents. Martin Luther moved away from toleration of
Jews early in his career to increasing
anti-semiticism later in his preaching.

10. …and to ever increasing numbers of witch burnings
Witch trials were actually
higher in number during
the Renaissance reign of
King James I than in any
decade of the medieval
period in Britain.

11. And the Inquisition’s growth.
The Inquisition received official Church sanction in 1215, but the height of its activity in Spain and France actually peaked in the 1500s and 1600s-- i.e. Renaissance times.

12. Not even Galileo was safe.
The church arrested Galileo
For heretical ideas such as heliocentricism. Threatened with torture, he publicly recanted his science and lived his last days under permanent house arrest.
Western Christian biblical references Psalm 93:1, Psalm 96:10, and Chronicles 16:30 include text stating that "the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved." In the same tradition, Psalm 104:5 says, "[the LORD] set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved." Further, Ecclesiastes 1:5 states that "the sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.” This meant that the Idea the earth spun on its axis or revolved around the sun was incompatible with literalist readings of scripture--and many medieval and Renaissance church authorities forbade such teachings.

13. “The enlightenment “ rejected the values and beliefs:
Of dogma
Of superstition
Of traditional religion
Of factionalism
Of (in some cases) monarchy – eg: French Revolution
Of disorder

14. Before “The Enlightenment”

16. Where does “The Enlightenment” fit?

17. What were the values and attitudes of The Enlightenment?
The Enlightenment! 1650 – 1760 (approx.)
What were the values and attitudes of The Enlightenment?
(1) A desire for rationality, logic, consistency.
(2) A rejection of emotionalism
(3) A preference for evidence, not faith
(4) Increased interest in science, mathematics, geometry
(5) An admiration for Greece and Rome and an abhorrence for everything medieval.
(6) A preference for the artificial over the natural,
technology over wilderness.

18. What is the Enlightenment socially?
A disdain of “messiness” and “chaos” as being unharmonious.
A preference for democracy.
A preference for civilized, polite discussion of ideas. Conclusions reached by intelligent debate--not force.
A desire to create social standards based on reason--not tradition.
An embrace of monotheistic Deism rather than traditional Trinitarian doctrines.

19. What were the social values of “The Enlightenment”? Aesthetically…
1. A desire for geometric shapes, orderly
repetition in mathematical patterns.
2. A disdain of “messiness” and “chaos” in art and clothing and hairstyles as being unharmonious.
3. Greco-Roman architecture
4. Endless Heroic Couplets
5. Satire as a means of social critique

20. See for instance: Enlightenment gardens.

21. Here, the “messiness” of the natural world must bow before pure geometry. In such a garden, the chaos of nature is tamed to match the orderly design of human intellect.

22. Straight lines, 90 degree corners, the stuff to warm the heart of an Enlightenment thinker. Thus, hedge--mazes appear across Europe.

23. Even the untidiness of natural hair disturbs Enlightenment society
Even the untidiness of natural hair disturbs Enlightenment society. Thus, the tradition of the perfectly coiffed wig appears in the age of Washington and Jefferson and Marie Antoinette. Powdered porcelain make-up and other cosmetics become fashionable and artificial “beauty” patches (bits of black cloth with adhesive) are used to create artificial moles or freckles (or to hide natural ones.) It is an age of absolute artifice.

24. The Enlightenment is so devoted to Greco-Roman logic and philosophy it is thus also called the “Neo-classic Period.” A similar taste appears in their architecture, their plays and drama

25. Take a look at the Arch of Emperor
Constantine, built c CE.

26. Then look at the French Arc de Triomph du
Carrousel. Note any similarities?

27. Top Left:
the Parthenon of the
Acropolis, built
c BCE.
Bottom left:
Ragensberg Replica,
Planned in the 1790s
And built 1830 CE.

28. Obsessive and rigorous in standardizing language:
Cultural value:
Obsessive and rigorous in
standardizing language:
The French Academy
Of Language
Samuel Johnson working
on his dictionary of 1755.

29. …and artificial grammar rules based on Latin, or Greek,
or even rules of algebra!
Shall versus Will?
“It is I,” or “It is me”?
Count Nouns versus Non-Count Nouns?
Double negatives?
Reflexive pronouns?
Split infinitives?
Standardizing spelling based on etymology?
“Incomparables” versus positives and superlatives?

30. How do these tendencies affect the Enlightenment’s literature?
In poetry:
heroic couplets
“perfect”metrical patterns
classical Greco-Roman epics: Cf. Pope’s The Rape of the Lock.
In both poetry and prose, a focus on satire --the use of mockery to point out social stupidities.

31. Years:
The Restoration: the reign of Charles II, (after his restoration to the thrown in 1630 following the English Civil War and Cromwell)
The Age of Enlightenment (the Eighteenth Century)
Content:
emphasis on reason and logic
stresses harmony, stability, wisdom
Locke: a social contract exists between the government and the people. The government governs guaranteeing “natural rights” of life, liberty, and property
Style/Genres:
satire
poetry
essays
letters, diaries, biographies
novels
Effect:
emphasis on the individual
belief that humanity is basically evil
approach to life: “the world as it should be”
Historical Context:
50% of males are functionally literate (a dramatic rise)
Fenced enclosures of land cause demise of traditional village life
Factories begin to spring up as industrial revolution begins
Impoverished masses begin to grow as farming life declines and factories build
Coffee houses—where educated men spend evenings with literary and political associates
A Sampling of Key Literature & Authors:
Alexander Pope
Daniel Defoe
Jonathan Swift,
Samuel Johnson
John Bunyan
John Milton

32. What came after “The Enlightenment”?
AFTER THE ENLIGHTENMENT… came
“THE ROMANTICS” … or “ROMANTICISM”
In 1818, German artist Caspar David Friedrich painted Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, in which a man props his foot up on a wind-whipped mountaintop, looking out over a wild, foggy landscape

33. Years: 1798 – 1832
Content:
human knowledge consists of impressions and ideas formed in the individual’s mind
introduction of Gothic elements and terror/horror stories and novels
in nature one can find comfort and peace that the man-made urbanized towns and factory environments cannot offer
Style/Genres:
Poetry
lyrical ballads
Effects:
evil attributed to society not to human nature
human beings are basically good
movement of protest: a desire for personal freedom
children seen as hapless victims of poverty and exploitation
Historical Context:
Napoleon rises to power in France and opposes England militarily and economically
gas lamps developed
Tory philosophy that government should NOT interfere with private enterprise
middle class gains representation in the British parliament
railroads begin to run
Key Literature/Authors:
Novelists
Jane Austen
Mary Shelley
Poets
Robert Burns
William Blake
William Wordsworth
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Lord Byron
Percy Shelley
John Keats