Enlightenment Literature “A little learning is a dangerous thing.” -Alexander Pope

Overview Enlightenment Literature Journalistic Essay Birth of the Western Novel Alexander Pope Literary terms

What do you know about the Enlightenment?

So, what is the literature like? Journalistic Essay Social criticism Aimed at Middle Class London’s two major newspapers: Tattler Spectator Joseph Addison From poetic prose to more informal prose Birth of the Western novel Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe American “Age of Reason” Social criticism assumed an important role Designed to address the middle-classes reading public. Essays and editorials written into magazines and daily newspaper First daily began in London 'poetic" prose of the seventeenth century Long sentences and magisterial phrases Gave way to a more informal prose styles. Like conversations in salons and cafes. Joseph Addison - leading British prose stylist of his day - said, 'journalistic essays brought "philosophy out of the closets and libraries, schools and colleges, to dwell I clubs and assemblies." Published two London periodicals, Tattler and the Spectator.

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 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.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) English poet of the Enlightenment and Staunch neoclassicist Created new translations of Iliad and Odyssey Roman Catholic Self taught

Alexander Pope’s Poetry Essay on Man and Rape of Lock his two most famous pieces. Essay on Man assesses Humankind’s place in the universal scheme. Evil is simply part of God’s plan. “Whatever is, is right”

Pope’s poetic style Epigram a short poem with a clever twist at the end or a concise and witty statement. Here lies my wife: here let her lie! Now she's at rest — and so am I. John Dryden I am His Highness' dog at Kew; Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you? Alexander Pope

Pope’s poetic style Couplets Iambic Pentameter Heroic Couplets a pair of lines of verse. It consists of two lines that usually rhyme and have the same meter Iambic Pentameter a meter in poetry. It has an unrhymed line with 5 iambs or feet. Iambic means the stress is on the second syllable, an example is the word good-bye. Pentameter shows us that a line has 5 feet or clusters of two syllables adding up to 10 syllables a line. These feet are marked like this Hello/hello/hello/hello/hello. “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” Heroic Couplets A pair of rhymed iambic pentameter lines that reach completion in structure and in sense at the end of the second line.

Satire Grab handout

English Satire Swift has sailed into his rest. Savage indignation* there cannot lacerate his breast. Imitate him if you dare, world-besotted traveler. He served human liberty. *indignation: anger around by something unjust in•dig•na•tion \'in-dig-"nÀ-sh€n\ noun (14c) : anger aroused by something unjust, unworthy, or mean syn see anger (c)1999 Prentice-Hall, Inc. All rights reserved. be•sot \bi-"sät\ be•sot•ted be•sot•ting [be- + sot (to stultify)] (1581) verb transitive 1 : infatuate 2 2 : to make dull or stupid; esp : to muddle with drunkenness

Satire Satire: literary art of diminishing subject by making it ridiculous and evoking toward it attitudes of: Amusement Contempt Scorn or indignation Differs from comic: Comic evokes laughter Satiritist: Uses laughter as weapon against: An individual A type of person A class An institution A nation Human nature itself Among other

English Satire Jonathan Swift Pessimistic view of human nature Irish Traveled between Ireland and England Fought hard for Irish Pessimistic view of human nature Born in Dublin (1667-1745) Anglican priest took a pessimistic view of human nature Hated the human race Misused reason and produced an irredeemably corrupt society. Considered human nature to be fundamentally depraved and held out no hope that reasoned inquiry could imporve that condition.

Gulliver’s Travels (1726) 1726 - Published Gulliver's Travels. A satirical story of travel and adventure that describes the fortunes of a hero in imaginary lands peopled with midgets, giants, and other fabulous creatures. Social statement on the behaviors of human behavior   Gulliver is a plausible narrator, but the fun and satire comes in from the irony of the difference between his reaction and ours. Book I - Gulliver (sound like Gullible? - maybe an Irishman's view of an Englishman? Or a version of the Irish?) visits the Lilliputians. This race of small humans (not midgets…think smaller). Like England in the world, the much smaller people have much of the control despite their size. Gulliver witnesses arbitrary divides in the Lilliputian society which satirizes the quarrels between religious groups and their interpretations of the Bible. Book II - Gulliver visits the Brobdingnagians - a race of giants. Gulliver becomes the sexual plaything of the women at court, whom he finds repulsive because of their smell and appearance. These women, of course, would be very attractive to him in England. Gulliver boasts of European civilization, but the king thinks of them as nothing but" odious little vermin." Book III - Gulliver travels to various islands, where he encounters intellectuals and philosophers who engage in speculation and wild scientific experiments. While this happens, people are starving in the street. Book IV - Houhunhms - a race of horses who rule over the debased and morally degenerate Yahoos. He is now in a non-human world, and the difference between reason and passion, between sanity and madness, is embodied between the difference between horses and the human-like Yahoos. Gulliver wishes to remain with the horses, and when he returns home, his family disgusts him, he spends time with his horses, and is declared, of course, mad.

A Modest Proposal (1729) Background: Ireland Text British Colony Entirely dependent Land loss and starvation Text Mocked both English & Irish Read A Modest Proposal Set up Ireland in 1729 Ireland is a British colony, dependant entirely on England for its political, social, and economic prosperity. England, though, wanted to keep Roman Catholic Ireland weak. It divided up farms to such a point that the Irish could not survive financially, and, more famously, this led to the famine. People in Ireland were starving and England was doing nothing about it. A Modest Proposal mocked both the English and the Irish. The English for ruling so ruthlessley and the Irish for putting up with it.

Voltaire (1694 – 1778) French Philosphe Attacked: bigotry Manmade evil Injustice Institutional evil Asian, Russian influence: Western & Eastern influence Hated organized Religion Voltaire (1694-1778) French Philosohe Attached bigotry as manmade evil and injustice as institutional evil Background with Western Europe, but also Asia and Russia Russia often balanced both Western and Eastern ideals. Condemned organized religion and all forms of religious fanaticism.  

Optimist Theory German philosopher Leibniz believed: This is the “best of all possible worlds” Voltaire hated this, because: No good God could have created the universe and humans are not rational Direct opposite of German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, who believed this was “the best of all possible worlds” – the Optimist theory.

Lisbon, Portugal 1755 Lisbon Earthquake (1755) Earthquake and tidal wave destroyed Lisbon More than 20,000 people died

Candide (1759) Satirical parody of travel tales Like Gulliver’s Travels Candide Translates to “candid” or “frank” Approaches life with optimism taught to him by: Dr. Pangloss Translates to “All-Tounge” Mirrors Leibniz Candide (1759) Parody of travel tales Candide (translates to “candid” or “frank”) Approaches life with the optimism taught to him by Dr. Pangloss (“all-tounge”) Mirrors Leibniz

Candide witnesses: Horrors of war Evils of religious fanaticism Two self-righteous armies Evils of religious fanaticism Spanish inquisition Diasters of nature Lisbon Earthquake Effects of human greed Apparent in the aristocracy Candide witnesses: Horrors of war Two self-righteous armies Evils of religious fanaticism Spanish inquisition Disasters of nature Lisbon earthquake Effects of Human Greed Apparent in the aristocracy Final line: “We must cultivate our garden” Metaphor for?

Final line “We must cultivate our garden” We will discuss meaning

As we read Chapter 1 What hints does the tone give us. How are we to know this is a piece of satire and not to be taken seriously? What can we learn about Candide from his introduction? About Pangloss? Notice some fallacies (errors in logic). How do we know Candide has a small world view? What effect will this have on him

Candide witnesses: Horrors of war Evils of religious fanaticism Disasters of nature Effects of human greed Candide witnesses: Horrors of war Two self-righteous armies Evils of religious fanaticism Spanish inquisition Disasters of nature Lisbon earthquake Effects of Human Greed Apparent in the aristocracy Final line: “We must cultivate our garden” Metaphor for?

Immediately upon leaving Eldorado, Candide and Cacambo encounter a slave who has had a leg and a hand cut off. He tells them, “It is the price we pay for the sugar you eat in Europe” (p. 52). What relationship is Voltaire suggesting here between happiness and suffering, between the best of all possible worlds and the worst of all possible worlds? How might Voltaire make this point if he were writing today?

The old woman tells Candide: “Imagine my situation, the daughter of a pope, only fifteen years old, who in the space of three months had been exposed to poverty and slavery, had been raped almost daily, had seen her mother torn to pieces, had endured war and famine, and was now dying of the plague in Algiers” (p. 29). What does this passage, and others like it, suggest about the reality of women’s lives during the Age of Reason?

Near the end of the book, while Pangloss was “being hanged, and dissected, and beaten, and made to row in a galley,” he still holds firm to his original views that this is the best of all possible worlds. “I am a philosopher after all. It would not do for me to recant” (p. 88). What are the dangers in holding beliefs that are impermeable to reality, that do not alter according to actual experience?

Final line “We must cultivate our garden” We will discuss meaning