1. Unit 3 Age of Reason British Literature Ms. Carroll

2. Age of Reason ► Also called The Enlightenment ► Late 1600s-1700s ► Characterized by the use of scientific reasoning to understand the world

3. Neoclassical Style ► Formal and defined style of manners, clothing, architecture, art, and literature ► Used Greek and Roman civilization and literature as models ► Highly elegant ► Rise in literacy ► Use of humor/satire resurfaced

4. Literature of the Period ► Social observers—  Writing that reflected the concerns and experiences of the middle class  Middle class growing and becoming more literate

5. ► Journalism grows in popularity  Didn’t just report  Highly opinionated  Mocked, moralized, and gossiped on times from the serious stuff to the trivial  Creation of magazines

6. ► Rise of the novel

7. Satire ► Part of the Neoclassical style ► Origins are ancient and somewhat vague ► Written for a century in England but peaked in 18 th century ► Defined as a literary technique in which behaviors or institutions are ridiculed to improve society ► Swift explains: “Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own.”

8. Satire, cont’d ► Ridicules people, events, literature ► Clever ► Loses its relevance over time ► Two styles  Horatian: gentle and playful  Juvenalian: darker, more biting style

9. ► Popular Satirists: Dryden, Pope, Swift ► Called guardians of culture, seeking to protect highly developed civilization from corruption by attacking hypocrisy, arrogance, greed, vanity, and stupidity ► Still relevant today ► Uses irony, exaggeration (hyperbole), and humor

10. Jonathon Swift 1667-1745 ► Greatest satirist in English Literature ► Born in Ireland to English parents ► Anglican priest ► Raged against arrogance, phoniness, and shallowness of the people ► Two famous pieces  “A Modest Proposal”  Gulliver’s Travels

11. “A Modest Proposal” ► Essay that criticizes social conditions in Ireland under English rule ► States the problem” Ireland’s poor are leading wretched lives ► Proposes solutions to decrease population, find new food sources, and curb begging ► Uses “reasonable” logic ► Appeals to two audiences: English and Irish

12. Gulliver’s Travels ► Published anonymously in 1726 ► One of the most durable and enjoyable British satires ► Fantasy ► Lilliputians: symbolize the petty conflicts of English politics ► Brobdingnag: judges English people as vermin