1660 – 1785 Augustan & Restoration

1. 1660 – 1785 Augustan & Restoration By Priya

2. The Augustan Age – What is it? • The Augustan Age was during the first half of the eighteenth century. • Augustan literature was produced during the reigns of Queen Anne, King George I, and George II. • The Augustan Age was a period when art and literature flourished – it also saw the beginning of the novel. • The Augustan Age has also been called the Age of Reason and the Neoclassical Age.

3. The Age of Reason • An 18th Century movement which followed after the mysticism, religion and superstition of the middle ages. Neoclassical Age • The neoclassical age came after the Renaissance period. • The writing in the Neoclassical Age was influenced by Sophocles.

4. It is a literary epoch – a calendar year – which featured the development of the novel. • There was also the explosion of the Satire genre. • Augustan Literature was produced in the 18th Century. Satire is a literary form of drama. Augustan Literature.. • Augustan Literature was also used to organise a new government – this showed the heavy political criticism. Satire is mostly sarcastic and witty. Jonathan Swift

5. Literary Styles.. • The literature of the 18th Century is political. • This time was also called the Age of Scandal, because the novels contained crimes and vices of the world. • In Prose • -Clarity and simplicity of expression. • -The realism –high class people being defined for what they were. • In Poetry • -There was the use of poetic diction • -Frequent use of personification and inversion • -Latin construction and vocabulary

6. Features of Augustan Literature.. • The features of novels and poems are characterised by the development of poetry and the rise of the novel. • The development of poetry – showed irony, satire and meditation. • This led to a breach in the metaphysical tradition. • Relation to Nature – the Augustan writers followed nature and its laws. • Ideals of Harmony – represented a way of life which was crucial in relation to the Age of Reason. • Ideals of Beauty – this was a representation of the idea of perfection and simplicity which was based on the neoclassical idea. • Ideals of Order – this represented stability and balance.

7. The Rise of the Novel • The modern novel appeared in the early half of the 18th Century – after the restoration period. • The Augustan Age – when the ground for journalism/novel had been laid by drama and satire. • Novels were dominated by satire, real social events, family life, economical issues and women. • The rise of the novel coincides with the rise of middle classes in Western Europe.

8. Jonathan Swift • Jonathan Swift (born 30 November 1667) was an Irish satirist, as well as a political pamphleteer. • Swift was an important person in the political life of London – until he was dropped and exiled back to Ireland. • Swift’s most famous novels ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ was published after Swift was dropped and exiled.