The Augustan Age - The Age of Reason - The Enlightenment.pdf, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica The Augustan Age - The Age of Reason - The Enlightenment.pdf e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! George I George | (1714-27) spent most of his reign in Hanover and he had to rely upon a cabinet, a council of top ministers. The political scene of his reign was dominated by two opposing parties: the Whigs and the Tories (the Whigs descended from the supporters of Parliament and were more liberal while the Tories descended from the Royalists and were conservative). An ambitious Whig, Robert Walpole, became the most powerful minister in Parliament. He is traditionally regarded as the first Prime Minister and his anti-war government was to be the longest in English history. This period is also known as a golden age. George Il George | died in Hanover in 1727 and was succeeded by his son, George Il (1727-60). Like his father, he relied on the prime ministers, Walpole and then William Pitt to govern the country. In this period England took part in two wars, the Austrian War of Succession and the Seven Years” War, which helped England extend its control over North America and India. Pitt became Prime Minister. His foreign policy was guided by mercantilism (Pitt benefits from a profitable trading) and aimed at maintaining a favourable balance of power in Europe. George Il died in 1760 and was succeeded by George III. A Golden Age The 18th century is generally regarded as a golden age and is also called: the Augustan Age - compared to the years when the Roman Emperor Augustus reigned; return to classical models (Virgil, Horace and Ovid), a period of political stability, power and flourishing of the arts. the Age of Reason - reflected a new way of thinking in scientific and philosophical fields. Faith in progress, common sense, desire for balance, scientific revolution (empirism) and methods of Bacon (inductive method), Hobbes (Leviathan), Locke (experience with learning), Newton (laws of motion and gravity). Enlightenment period - against the darkness of the Middle Age and the desire to overcome old superstitions. Civility and moderation The ideal of the 18th century was the “art of pleasing” —> morality and fashion was all about simplicity and authenticity (figure of the gentleman). The role of women Women were independent and active in social and cultural life —> they were allowed to attend theatres and coffee houses. Women readers and writers influenced the rise of the novel (literary genre of the period). Access to books increased with the spread of circulating libraries and book clubs and thanks to a significant reduction in book prices. A new view of the natural world Enlightened thinkers wanted to improve the world —> they adopted a new optimistic view of nature, which was seen as the complex system or set of principles divinely ordained and manifested in the Creation. The “English Garden” was invented as a huge commercialised garden where the principles of the Enlightenment were put into practice: harmony between man and nature. Explorations The new optimism and belief improved society and encouraged men to discover and explore new places. Augustan literature The reading public Literature had an important role in the economic and intellectual progress; this was mainly due to the growing interest in reading. At that time books were too expensive for the lower classes, so cheaper forms were printed: these included ballads, pamphlets and newspapers with short stories and novels. Prose The growth of the middle class, the rise in popularity of prose through the novel and journalism led to the establishment of periodicals. Swift and Fielding’s novels based their parody and satire on the idea of reason, analysing both the world and themselves, while Defoe and Richardson combined religious and secular interests in their works. Poetry Poetry was neglected in this period because people preferred to read information, debates and news. The poet had the role of providing “social poetry” with models of refined behaviour and the satire and mock-heroic verse were still the favourite techniques for criticism and moral concern. The rise of the novel Daniel Defoe and Samuel Richardson are regarded as fathers of the English novel —> they were concerned with everything about social status and written for a bourgeois readership. The writer's aim The historical, legendary and mythological plots were abandoned and the writer’s primary aim was to write in a simple way about everyday life for the less educated readers. The message of the novel The story was appealing to the self-made man, the sense of reward and punishment. The characters Writers aimed at presenting realism and different human experiences. The subject was the “middle class man” and his problems. The narrative technique Writer: omnipresent A chronological sequence of events was generally adopted by the novelists —> temporal dimension and references were to particular and exact times. The setting Setting: where the action happened —> more realistic and detailed descriptions. Types of novels The 18th -century novel developed different sub-genres: * The realistic novel (Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe) where there are realistic descriptions of time and place. * The utopian novel (Jonathan Swift's Gulliver’s Travels) is the satire of contemporary English society. * The epistolary novel (Samuel Richardson’s Pamela) letters exchanged between characters. * The picaresque novel (Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones) adventures of a young hero with misfortunes. * The anti-novel, such as Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy, not linked to a logical sequence of events.