The Restoration Period

1. The Restoration Period Enlightenment Era (18th Century)

2. Why is it called the period of Restoration? • Monarchy was restored in England and Charles II, son of Charles I who had been defeated and beheaded, came back to England from his exile in France and became the King. • it is also called the age of Dryden because Dryden was the dominating and most representative literary figure of the Age.

3. The style of literature • They renounced old ideas and pulled away from Shakespeare and Elizabethans as their models, and instead the poets and dramatists of the Restoration period began to imitate French writers. • Instead of writing about freedom and puritan spirit and creative vigor prose evolved into the form of realism and preciseness. • Realism painted the real pictures of the corrupt society and court. Preciseness emphasized directness and simplicity of expression. These writers gave emphasis to reasoning rather than romantic fantasy.

4. John Dryden (1631-1700) • Because of their plain precise way of writing, this poet adopted the easiest type of verse form, the Heroic Couplet. • The Restoration poetry was mostly satirical, realistic and written in the Heroic Couplet which Dryden was the supreme master. • his poety can be divided under three heads: Political Satires, Doctrinal Poems, and The Fables. He had the power and skill to defend any position he took up and master the ability of presenting an argument in verse.

5. Song From Marriage-A-La-Mode • Why should a foolish marriage vow,
Which long ago was made,
Oblige us to each other now,
When passion is decayed?
We loved, and we loved, as long as we could,
Till our love was loved out in us both;
But our marriage is dead when the pleasure is fled:
'Twas pleasure first made it an oath.

If I have pleasures for a friend,
And farther love in store,
What wrong has he whose joys did end,
And who could give no more?
'Tis a madness that he should be jealous of me,
Or that I should bar him of another;
For all we can gain is to give ourselves pain,
When neither can hinder the other.

6. The Enlightenment • Otherwise known as the “Age of Reason” is when people pulled away from asking “WHY?” but “HOW?” • Unusual events such as earthquakes, comets ,and even babies born with malformations had some kind of meaning, and that they were sent as punishment for passed misdoings. People asked “WHY did this this happen?” instead of “HOW did this happen?” That all changed. • Instead of relying on religion and accepting God placed everything on this earth people started going out in the world and experiencing things for themselves, discovering what the universe is really made of. • It was a celebration of ideas- ideas about what the human mind was capable of, and what could be achieved through action and scientific methodology. • Intellectuals began to consider the possibility that freedom and democracy were fundamental rights of ALL people not gifts bestowed upon them by monarchs or popes.