The Restoration and 18th Century Unit 5

Lit. elements & techniques Objectives Authors we will study Lit. elements & techniques John Dryden Jonathan Swift Daniel Defoe Joseph Addison Richard Steele Alexander Pope Samuel Johnson Robert Burns William Blake Literary Criticism Informal Essay Allusion Aphorism Satire Mock Epic Tone Canto Wit Heroic Couplet Novel Narrator Diction Irony Epigram Style Dialect Essay Symbolism Formal Essay

Three Divisons Restoration Age of Pope Age ofJohnson Neoclassical Colored by wit John Dryden Satirical Social and moral analysis Alexander Pope Johnathan Swift More public Novel Samual Johnson Robert Burns William Blake

The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century Choose a link on the time line to go to a milestone. 1688–1689 The Bloodless Revolution 1660 The Restoration of Charles II 1650 1700 1750 1800 1653–1658 Cromwell and the Commonwealth 1700s The Growth of a New Reading Public 1600s–1700s The Neoclassical Period The Age of Reason

Cromwell and the Commonwealth 1642–1649 England is embroiled in civil war—parliamentary party (Puritans) against the king’s party (Royalists) King Charles I beheaded 1653–1658 Oliver Cromwell rules England as lord protector QUESTIONS • Cromwell began his rule by taking democratic measures; however, he experienced problems with Parliament and eventually imposed military rule and a strict Puritan morality. Why do you think Parliament and common people of Britain later welcomed the son of Charles I to the throne? [Possible response: Under military rule, Parliament probably didn’t have much real power and may have wanted a change. Cromwell’s rule hadn’t been successful, and the people may have looked more favorably on the previous system of government. Also, people in general may have been tired of living by strict Puritan rules and wanted a more relaxed way of life.] Strict Puritan laws—eventually military rule by Cromwell as dictator Theaters were closed, arts suppressed

The Restoration of Charles II 1658–1660 Puritan dictator Oliver Cromwell dies Charles II Parliament invites Charles I’s son back from exile Charles II crowned; monarchy restored BACKGROUND • Charles II was the son of Charles I. In 1649, a group of powerful subjects had had Charles I beheaded. That year Cromwell and Parliament took over the government of England. • The people hailed King Charles II as their savior. As a warning to revolutionaries, they dug up the corpse of Oliver Cromwell and cut off its head. QUESTIONS • What might the restoration of the monarchy have symbolized for the people of England? [Possible response: The restoration of a monarch as ruler of England may have symbolized a return a distinctly English way of life.]

The Restoration of Charles II Charles II (ruled 1660–1685) Anglican Church (Church of England) reestablished Other sects (including Puritan sects) outlawed and persecuted Theaters reopened QUESTIONS • Parliament supported the king’s decision to ban Puritan and Independent sects. Why do you think these groups were outlawed? [Possible response: People may have blamed the Puritans for the civil wars and thought of them as troublemakers. People may have wanted to outlaw these groups to punish them for their involvement in the civil wars and to prevent future conflicts. • During Oliver Cromwell’s rule, theaters were closed. How do you think people felt about the reopening of theaters under Charles II? [Possible response: Most people were probably very happy to be able to attend plays for entertainment. Theater had been an important part of Renaissance life, and many people probably missed it. However, not everyone may have been happy to see the theaters reopen. Puritans probably still objected to people going to the theater.] BACKGROUND • The restoration of the Anglican Church and the ongoing struggle between Catholics and Protestants spurred many English to flee to the New World. By 1783, there were more than three million colonists in the United States. • After the theaters reopened, boys and men no longer played the females roles. The new theater had real actresses, like the famous Nell Gwyn. • The great, witty comedies produced during this period (such as William Wycherley’s The Country Wife and William Congreve’s The Way of the World) reflected the life of the rich and leisured people of the time and their servants and hangers-on. Charles set the tone for courtly life: extravagance and refinement

The Restoration of Charles II Society During the Restoration and the 1700s greatly influenced by the French in furniture, dress, manners met in coffeehouses and formal gardens liked colorful and extravagant fashions enjoyed theatergoing, dining, drinking, card playing, gambling The Haves overcrowded tenements; rats, lice, bedbugs no access to doctors, police, or education young children forced to work filthy streets disease prevalent death rate higher than birth rate The Have-Nots BACKGROUND • At this time, being in debt was a serious offense. The poor lived under the threat of debtors’ prisons, where torture was common. (Of course, there was no way for them to pay their debts while they were in prison.) In general, crimes against property were punished much more brutally than they are today: A person could be hanged for stealing a rabbit. • Household trash and human waste were thrown out into the streets of London. Butcher shops and slaughterhouses matter-of-factly tossed bloody remnants into open drains that intersected streets and walkways. • The medical profession had not yet made the connection between dirt and disease. The prevailing belief was that London’s poor were sick because they were immoral.

The Enlightenment and the Age of Reason Period between 1660 and 1800 sometimes called Enlightenment or Age of Reason—labels that reveal changes in people’s view of the world thought unusual events such as earthquakes and comets were punishments or warnings from God asked why these things happened Before Enlightenment, people . . . heard more scientific explanations for natural phenomena started asking how questions instead of why questions During Enlightenment, people . . .

The Enlightenment and the Age of Reason Sir Isaac Newton Scientists begin to explain workings of human body, universe Natural phenomena less mysterious and frightening QUESTIONS • Before the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, scientists accepted uncritically what the ancient Greeks and Romans had to say about subjects. In the Renaissance, Sir Francis Bacon advocated the use of the scientific method—the slow, careful process of examining physical evidence, performing experiments, and evaluating hypotheses. How do you think the scientific method led to advances in science during the Enlightenment? [The scientific method requires scientists to conduct experiments and carefully observe and record the results. Theories have to be tested, not by reading what someone wrote centuries ago but by doing experiments. If the experiments don’t support a hypothesis, it must be modified. The scientific method is still used today: Scientists come up with a hypothesis, perform experiments to test it, and then accept, reject, or refine it.] • Deists thought of God as a clockmaker and the universe as a complex clock. Why might this have been a popular belief during the Age of Reason? [Possible response: It’s a scientific way of looking at the universe. It suggests that there is a scientific explanation for all things—that the universe was created to work a certain way.] • Why might the Church of England and others have objected to deism? [Possible response: They would have objected to the idea that God created the universe and then left to let it run on its own. The Church taught that God was interested in people’s lives and could be called on for help or guidance in difficult times.] BACKGROUND • The astronomer Edmond Halley took the terror out of celestial phenomena by calculating when they were going to occur. When he computed the orbit of the comet that still bears his name, he was able to tell when it would appear. This reasonable explanation made no connection between the comet and human affairs. • Robert Hooke (1635–1703) was one of the greatest scientists of the seventeenth century. Like Leonardo da Vinci, however, he often failed to fully develop his ideas. (For example, he anticipated some of the ideas about gravity that Sir Isaac Newton would later formulate.) Known for his study of elasticity as well as his work on watches and clocks, Hooke contributed to many fields of science, including biology. • Most people during this period, including the great philosophers and scientists, remained religious. Christianity in its various forms continued to exercise an undiminished power over almost all Europeans. Rise of deism—belief that Creator set the world in motion and then let it run by itself

The Bloodless Revolution Beginning in 1685 Charles II dies; his brother James II (a Roman Catholic) takes throne Power is transferred to James’s daughter Mary (wife of Dutch William of Orange, a Protestant) 1688 William attacks England; James flees William and Mary 1689 Parliament declares William and Mary king and queen; Protestant rule restored BACKGROUND • Most English people were opposed to James because of the widespread belief that Roman Catholics had set fire to London and were plotting to hand the country over to the pope. One infamous act that helped inspire such rumors was the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in which Guy Fawkes, a Catholic, was convicted of attempting to blow up the Houses of Parliament when James I was scheduled to be there. • In 1690, James II and about 21,000 followers confronted William and a force of about 35,000 at the Battle of the Boyne, in Ireland. At the end of the battle, in which some 2,000 died, the defeated James returned to exile in France. • The hatred between the supporters of William of Orange and those of James II festered for more than three hundred years and still explodes in violence in the streets of Northern Ireland.

The Growth of a New Reading Public Throughout the Period . . . More people in middle classes able to read Readers with different tastes and interests Writers focusing more on middle- class concerns The Age of Satire Alexander Pope—attacks upper classes for immorality and bad taste QUESTIONS • Satire is a kind of writing that ridicules human weakness, vice, or folly in an effort to bring about change in society. How do you think satirical works change people’s views and lead to social reform? [Possible response: Satire can bring about social reform because it makes people aware of their own shortcomings. Sometimes people get so used to a situation that they can longer evaluate it objectively. By pointing out problems in society, satirists call attention to them and make people rethink their actions or attitudes.] • Satire is still popular, and today you are just as likely to see it on TV and in editorial cartoons as you are to read it. Can you think of a TV show that uses satire? [Possible response: Many sitcoms do. For instance, The Simpsons satirizes American family values. Homer’s weaknesses and Bart’s brattiness are exaggerated for comic effect, but the writers are clearly poking fun at the way some Americans act.] BACKGROUND • Both Pope and Swift hated the corrupt politics of the time and the growing commercialism and materialism of the English people. • Regarded now as the most accomplished literary artists of the early eighteenth century, Pope and Swift were frequently out of harmony with the values of their own age. Jonathan Swift—exposes the mean and sordid in human behavior

The Growth of a New Reading Public Journalism: A New Profession Eighteenth-century journalists published journals; described social and political matters saw themselves as reformers Daniel Defoe—stood for thrift, prudence, industry, respectability BACKGROUND • The Spectator, published between 1711 and 1712 and revived briefly in 1714, was the most famous of the period’s journals. The quality of its essays endures to this day. • Other journals of this period included Daniel Defoe’s Review and Addison and Steele’s Tatler. Joseph Addison and Sir Richard Steele—essayists and journalists

The Growth of a New Reading Public Age of Pope (Augustan) Poets wrote poetry of the mind, not the soul saw poetry as having a public function set out to write a particular kind of poem: Elegy praises a person who has died Satire ridicules a person or type of behavior Ode is generally written for public occasions BACKGROUND • The classical model for the ode comes from the Greek poet Pindar (c. 522–438 B.C.), whose poems celebrated the winners of the Olympic games. Poems were carefully constructed and used exact meter and rhyme.

The Growth of a New Reading Public The First English Novels Corresponded to development of the middle class Often broad and comical Adventures frequently recounted in a series of episodes or letters BACKGROUND • The ancestors of the novel include the epic of ancient times and the romance of the Middle Ages. Neither of these forms, however, had the plot structure (conflict, rising action, climax, and resolution) or the character development associated with the novel today. • Some critics consider Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) the first English novel because it has a plot—the story of the ingenuity and courage of a castaway and his Man Friday. That plot, however, is more a simple sequence of events than an influence on character development. • Samuel Richardson (1689–1781) was perhaps the first novelist to explore the emotional life of his characters in depth. His epistolary novel Pamela (1740) focuses on character development: In a series of letters to her parents, young Pamela describes working for a wealthy woman whose son pursues her with base intentions. Her resistance is rewarded when the young man marries her and is reformed. • Tom Jones (1749), a masterpiece by Henry Fielding (1707–1754), chronicles the life of a foundling, Tom, raised with a squire’s son who is always trying to get him into trouble. When the two become rivals for the attention of the daughter of a neighboring squire, Tom is banished. He finds himself is a series of picaresque—and occasionally bawdy—adventures.