1. The British Restoration Period 1660-1798
Also known as. . .
The Augustan Age,
The Neoclassical Period,
The Enlightenment, and The Age of Reason

2. Why is this time known as the Restoration Period?
The period begins with the RESTORATION of the Monarchy in bringing Charles II from his exile in France.
1. Brings with him the indulgent and artistic ways of Louis XIV’s court
2. Two distinct political parties resulted, the Whigs and the Tories
a. Whigs want to limit royal authority
b. Tories support absolute royal authority.

3. More politics and kings . . .
King James I (brother of Charles II) takes the throne and is voted out by Parliament due to his highly Catholic ways.
1. The Glorious or Bloodless Revolution is a reference to the lack of violence needed to change the throne from Catholic James I to his protestant daughter Mary and her husband William.
2. Shortly after James I’s abdication of the throne,
a. Bill of Rights limiting the power of the King.
b. Parliament passed an act forbidding Catholics to rule.

4. The House of Hanover
George I of Hanover Germany took the throne in 1714 when his cousin Anne, daughter of William and Mary, died ending the rule of the Stuarts and beginning the rule of the House of Hanover.
1. George I and his son George II did NOT speak English and relied heavily on their advisors establishing the role of England’s first Prime Ministers.
Richard Walpole for George I and William Pitt for George II
2. Under George I and George II and their Prime Ministers, the British thrived winning the Seven Years War (aka The French and Indian War) and adding French Canada and India to the Empire
In 1760, George III became the first British born Hanover monarch although he was less effective than his father and grandfather.
Because his English was reliable, he used his Prime Minister less and is held responsible for the loss of the American Colonies

5. Why is this period known as the Augustan Period?
The title of The Augustan Period refers to similarities between England at this time and Rome during the reign of Caesar Augustus, also known as Octavius (63 BC-14 AD).
Octavius ruled in the time after Julius Caesar’s assassination. He restored order and peace to the people of Rome and is often classified as its second founder.
In a similar way, Charles II is taken from exile in France and restored England. He reopened playhouses, brought back a formal court, and had the body of Oliver Cromwell exhumed and decapitated.

6. Why is this period known as the Neoclassical Period?
Most educated people of the time are familiar with the classical works as well as the works of their own time and country and found enjoyment in their connection.
They enjoyed allusions to the political connections of the time periods and references to the classical characters and themes.
Works emphasizing these similarities are labeled “neoclassical” meaning “new classics.”

7. Why is this period known as The Age of Reason or The Enlightenment?
This period is known as The Age of Reason and The Enlightenment because of the country’s shift from an emotional approach to thinking to an educational and factual one.
A. The Industrial Revolution plus advances in science research and mathematics influence all aspects of British thought including the literature.
  B. People no longer believe in signs and vast punishments from God (ie. The London Fire and Plague), but begin to turn to science and order. They begin asking “how” instead of “why.”
C. The writing content, style, and order of scientists spill over into all of literature as sentences are shortened with the allusions and extended metaphors of their predecessors.

8. Let’s Review
After completing and discussing the notes above, prove your understanding of the material by answering the questions below. 1. Name the succession of British Monarchs from Charles II to George III. 2. Why is this period known as the Restoration? 3. Why is this period known as the Augustan Period? 4. Why is this period known as the Neoclassical Period? 5. Why is this period known as the Age of Reason and The Enlightenment?

9. British Romantic Period
The THS English Department presents . . .
British Romantic Period

10. Revolution, Ballads, and Emotions
The Romantic Period begins with the French Revolution and the publication of Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge in 1798 and ends with the death of Sir Walter Scott and the Reform Bill of 1832.
The English people were facing many changes.
The French and American Revolutions were inspiring and frightening much of the world
King George III was going mad
The Industrial Revolution left many without land while giving rise to laissez-faire economics.
The Romantic literary movement stresses youth, innocence, and growing up to trust emotions. It does not reflect mainstream thinking, but it is a movement of reform, protest, and personal freedom.

11. Romantic Philosophy (nature and people are essentially good.)
The philosophy behind the movement comes from the French moralist Jean Jaques Rousseau. He said:
 Evil is not inherent in human nature or the natural world
(nature and people are essentially good.)
 Evil is the result of society’s corruption

12. Romantic Ideals
B. Romantics held up nature, youth, ordinary men, the individual, simplicity, and emotions.
These ideas brought renewed interest in medieval ballads and the Elizabethan works of Shakespeare, Spencer, and Milton, as they were emotionally based works.
Children, uncorrupted by society, became the focus of British literature for the first time.
 Unruly forces of nature like storms, seas, and mountains were also praised, as they were incapable of being dominated by society.
 British Romantic movement is closely related to the American Transcendentalist movement.

13. Romantic Literature A. Poetry
1. Romantic Literature is best known for its poetry as Romantic ideals are best shown by the poets of this time period; William Wordsworth, Samuel Coleridge, William Blake, Robert Burns, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, and John Keats.
2. Popular themes included: the glorification of the individual, importance of spontaneity and freedom, a love of nature, importance of the commonplace and an interest in the imaginative and supernatural.
3. While both narrative and lyrical forms of poetry were popular, most poetry veered away from the strict formats of the neoclassical writers with their heroic couplets and inflexible formats.

14. More literature . . . B. The Novel
Jane Austen and Sir Walter Scott were important in advancing the English novel and increased the novel-reading public.
Austen's use of dialogue and small middle-class societies advanced the novel in terms of realism and concentrated storylines.
Scott's softening of the gothic and medieval romance themes were highly popular for their beautiful and wild settings and their enthusiasm for the Romantic themes and ideals.

15. And more on literature . . . C. The Essay
Tried to interpret literature from a humane, appreciative sensitive, understanding, and positive point of view.
NOT the dogmatic, cynical, or narrow-minded style of the neoclassical.

16. Language Development
A. Emphasis on the common man introduced slang, dialects, and
colloquialisms into proper literature, and gave it a more natural sound.
B. Noah Webster gave America its own language by publishing his
American Spelling Book and American Dictionary of the English
Language.
He purposefully changed standard British spellings of “re" to "er" like in centre, and dropped the “u" in words like colour, and the “k" in at the end of words like traffick to further America's independence.

17. Restoration vs. Romantic
Elements of Restoration Period
Romantic Period Elements
common dreams and goals of the society
Reasonable thinking
Scientific Experimentation
Dogmatic, unbending, rigid, strict
Cynical (pessimistic, suspicious)
narrow-minded 
The importance of the individual and his or her dreams
Love of Nature
Spontaneity and Imagination
Experimentation with literary forms, science, ideas, etc.
Passion (as opposed to Reason)
The Byronic Hero archetype (described as “rebellious, moody figures of great passion and strong will” in your textbook)
Women in distress or in situations of entrapment
Elements of grotesque, mysterious, and desolation