1、The 18th Century Literature Background The Enlightenment Movement Characteristics Effects Literary divisions Neo-classicism The Rise of the Modern Novel Revival of Romantic PoetryBackgrounds The Glorious Revolution(1688)Religious Conflicts The Expansion of the British Empire The Industrial Revolutio
2、n Two-party Politics Connection Between Politics&Literature The American War of Independence The French RevolutionFrench PhilosophersMontesquieu&VoltaireRousseau,Didero&KantThomas Paine&William GodwinEdmund Burke&Edward GibbonThe Enlightenment Movement It refers to the movement of intellectual liber
3、ation that developed in Western Europe from the late 17th century to the late 18th(the period often called the“Age of Reason”).It culminated with the writings of Rousseau,the philosophy of Kant,and the political ideas of the American and French revolutions.Its central idea was the need for and the c
4、apacity of human reason to clear away ancient superstition,prejudice,dogma and injustice.Its thinking encouraged rational scientific inquiry,humanitarian tolerance,and the idea of universal human rights.The advocates of enlightenment tended to place their faith in human progress brought about by the
5、 gradual propagation of rational principles.In English,the attitudes of the Enlightenment are found in the late 18th century,in Thomas Paine,William Godwin,Edward Gibbon and so on.Neoclassicism Literary Theory The Restoration Literature(1660-1700):the Age of Dryden The Augustan Age(1700-1745):the Ag
6、e of Pope The Neoclassical Decline(1745-1785):the Time of JohnsonNeo-classicism It refers to the literary principle according to which the writing and criticism of poetry and drama were to be guided by rules and precedents derived from the best ancient Greek and Roman writers.Often employed in contr
7、ast with Romanticism,this term has also been used to describe the characteristic world-view or value-system of this“Age of Reason”,denoting a preference for rationality,clarity,restraint,order and decorum,for general truth rather than particular insights.The neo-classical view of literature included
8、 the principle of decorum by which the style must suit the subject matter,and the believe that art must both delight and instruct.The central assumption was that the ancient authors had already attained perfection,so that the modern authors chief task was just to imitate them.Chief Characteristics o
9、f Neoclassic Literature1.The neoclassics manifested a strong traditionalism2.they believe literature must be perfected by long study and practice and laid much emphasis on the correct,the appropriate,on restraint and discipline,on their style and established rules of their art.3.they regard poetry a
10、s imitation of human life and emphasized on representative characteristics and widely shared experience,thoughts,feelings and tastes.4.they believe that the poet is the“makerand he must please the reader by his fictions and craft.5.they invented new rules of their own6.the neoclassic poetry is more
11、formal,more artificial,polished,prosaic and dull;the chief form is heroic coupletThe Restoration Literature(1660-1700)The Age of DrydenChief Characters of This Age English literature of this period was influenced by that of France where classicism was prevailing.There was a great variety in literary
12、 forms with John Dryden as the dominant figure.John Dryden(1631-1700)Heroic play:The Conquest of Grenada Blank verse tragedy:All for Love Prose:An Essay of Dramatic Poesy Poetry:Absalom and AchitophelThe MedalA Song for St.Ceciliss DayAlexanders FeastAll for LoveANTONY:How I loved.Witness,ye days an
13、d nights,and all ye hours,That danced away with down upon your feet,As all your business were to count my passion!One day passed by,and nothing saw but love;Another came,and still twas only love:我爱得多么热烈，我爱得多么热烈，白昼和黑夜，你们可以作白昼和黑夜，你们可以作证，还有所有的时刻，证，还有所有的时刻，你们脚上长了羽毛，悄悄你们脚上长了羽毛，悄悄地逝去，你们也是证人，地逝去，你们也是证人，因为你
14、们的一切职责就在因为你们的一切职责就在于计量我的爱情。于计量我的爱情。一天过去了，它看到的只一天过去了，它看到的只有爱情；有爱情；第二天来了，它看到的仍第二天来了，它看到的仍旧是爱情：旧是爱情：The suns were wearied out with looking on,And I untired with loving.I saw you every day,and all the day;And every day was still but as the first,So eager was I still to see you more.While within your arm
15、 I lay,The world fell mouldering from my hands each hour一天一天的太阳看够了爱一天一天的太阳看够了爱情，看得疲惫不堪，情，看得疲惫不堪，而我求爱永不疲倦。而我求爱永不疲倦。我每天看着你，整日看着我每天看着你，整日看着你；你；每一天永远好像只是头一每一天永远好像只是头一天：天：我永远是这样迫切着能够我永远是这样迫切着能够更多地看到你更多地看到你当我睡在你的怀抱里，当我睡在你的怀抱里，全世界每时每刻就在我手全世界每时每刻就在我手中崩溃。中崩溃。Alexanders FeastT was at the royal feast,for Persi
16、a won By Philips warlike son;Aloft in awful stateThe Godlike hero sateOn his imperial throne;His valiant peers were placed around;Their brows with roses and with myrtles bound;(So should desert in arms be crowned).腓力的儿子英武善战，腓力的儿子英武善战，征服了波斯，大开御宴，征服了波斯，大开御宴，这位英雄亚赛天神下凡，这位英雄亚赛天神下凡，高居宝座，高居宝座，尊贵庄严。尊贵庄严。勇敢
17、的臣爵环绕身旁，勇敢的臣爵环绕身旁，头戴衣冠，绚烂芬芳，头戴衣冠，绚烂芬芳，汗马功劳应得的荣光。汗马功劳应得的荣光。The lovely Thais,by his side,Sate like a blooming Eastern brideIn flower of youth and beautys pride.Happy,happy,happy pair!None but the brave,None but the brave,None but the brave deserves the fair.可爱的泰绮丝偎坐在可爱的泰绮丝偎坐在身旁，身旁，好象是东方的新娘一好象是东方的新娘一般，
18、般，青春焕发，妩媚娇艳。青春焕发，妩媚娇艳。美满、美满、美满缘，美满、美满、美满缘，只有英雄，只有英雄，只有英雄，只有英雄，只有英雄配红颜。只有英雄配红颜。The Augustan Age(1700-1745)The Age of PopeChief Characters of This Age It is the culmination of Neoclassicism.The literature of this period is chiefly a literature of wit,concerned with civilization,with man in his social
19、relationships and consequently it is critical and in some degree moral and satirical.The chief representatives are Pope,Swift,Addison and Steele.Alexander Pope(1688-1744)Heroic couplets:iambic pentameter rhymed in couplets Major Works On Criticism On Man The Rape of the LockHeroic Couplet A pair of
20、rhymed iambic pentameter lines.Though this verse form was introduced into English by Chaucer in the fourteenth century,its name derives from its use in seventeenth-century heroic(epic)drama and poetry.e.g.THE RAPE OF THE LOCK Her lively looks a sprightly mind disclose,Quick as her eyes,and as unfixe
21、d as those:Favours to none,to all she smiles extends;Oft she rejects,but never once offends.Bright as the sun,her eyes the gazers strike,And,like the sun,they shine on all alike.Yet graceful ease,and sweetness void of pride,Might hide her faults,if belles had faults to hide;If to her share some fema
22、le errors fall,Look on her face,and youll forget em all.Essay on ManOne TruthAll Nature is but art,unknown to thee;All chance,direction,which thou canst not see;All discord,harmony not understand;All partial evil,universal good:One truth is clear:Whatever Is,is RIGHT.整个自然都是艺术，不过你不领悟；一切偶然都是规定，只是你没看清；
23、一切不协，是你不理解的和谐；一切局部的祸，乃是全体的福。凡存在的都合理，乃是清楚的道理。The Neoclassical Decline(1745-1785)The Time of JohnsonChief Characters of This Age This is an age when neoclassicism was coming to a decline and new literary themes and forms began to emerge.This is“Age of Prose”.Samuel Johnson He is a poet,essayist,litera
24、ry critic and a lexicographer Major works Dictionary The Vanity of Human Wishes London The Lives of Great PoetsOther Important Writers James Boswell(1740-1795)Oliver Goldsmith(1728-1774)Richard Brinsley Sheridan(1751-1816)Edmund Burke(1729-1797)Edward Gibbon(1737-1794)Oliver Goldsmith(1728-1774)Life
25、 Novel:The Vicar of Wakefield Play:She Stoops to Conquer Essay:The Citizen of the World Poetry The Traveller The Deserted Village Richard B.Sheridan(1751-1816)Life Comedy The Rivals The School for Scandal The CriticJames Boswell biographical work:Life of JohnsonFiction What is fiction?More generally
26、,the word“fiction”refers to“anynarrative,in prose or verse,that is wholly or partly theproduction of imagination”.(As such,plays and somenarrative poems can also beclassified as fiction becausethey contain certain fictionalelements.)What is non-fiction?It refers to writing that is about real facts o
27、r events rather than imagined things.e.g.scientific writings;historical accounts;news reports;etc.The Elements of Fiction Plot Character Setting Point of view Theme Symbol and allegory Style and tonePlot It is a writers artistic arrangement of events.It does not have to follow the chronological orde
28、r.A plot includes:1.Exposition:passages which give the reader basic information about the story and the characters.2.Conflicts:it rises as the central character encounter more and more obstacles in pursuit of his or her goal.3.Climax:it is a point at which the central character either achieved or fa
29、iled to achieved the goal.4.Denouement:the ending.Character It refers to the performers of action.They are imaginary people who inhabit a story,although they have true-to-life quality.Protagonist:the hero,the central character.Antagonist:a character who block the efforts of the hero to attain his go
30、al.Setting It refers to the place where the story occurs,whether indoors or out,and the atmosphere associated with that place,e.g.the historical period,the social environment,etc.Point of View (Part I)It is the angle from which a story is presented;it refers to the person or narrator through whose e
31、yes we observe the characters and actions of the story,and the position from which the narrator views the action:detached or involved,inside or outside or between.Point of View(Part II)The first-person point of view:“I”.The third-person point of view:the story is told by an invisible“voice”which ref
32、ers directly to the characters by their names or pronouns(he or she).1.Objective:the writer just records down the events,there is no commentaries.Its up to the reader to interpret or judge what he sees and hears through the writers report.2.Omniscient:the writer knows everything,like a god.3.Limited
33、 omniscient:the writer stands behind one of the characters,observes the event through his or her eyes,sometimes enter his or her mind.What we see is limited to what one character sees.Theme It is the central meaning that is implicit in a story,it is a general statement of the storys controlling idea
34、(an overall conception of a storys general point)as discovered by the reader.So when we read a story,we have an interpretation-what do we learn from it,what knowledge have we got.e.g.“The Fox and the Grapes”Symbol and Allegory Symbol:a thing that refers to more than itself.The same object can have d
35、ifferent symbolic meanings according to different contexts.e.g.a valley enclosed between mountains Allegory:the double meaning of the story,including the surface(primary)meaning and the under-the-surface(secondary)meaning,that is,to find the moral,political or religious truth the story illustrates.S
36、tyle and Tone Style:the manner in which a writer says things,i.e.,his choice of words,figures of speech,the shape of his sentence,indeed,of every aspect of his language and the way in which he uses it.Tone:a writers attitude toward his readers and subject which are conveyed through language,without
37、being presented directly as statements.e.g.sarcastic;melancholy;Classification of FictionI.Allegory Fable Fantasy Myth II.novel novelette short story Parable Picaresque Romance SatireThe Rise of Novels&Essays Joseph Addison&Richard Steel Daniel Defoe Jonathan Swift Samuel Richardson Henry Fielding T
38、.G.Smollet Laurence Sterne Gothic novelsJoseph Addison&Richard Steele The flowering of the Periodical Literature Newspaper The Tatler The Spectator Sir Roger Chief Contribution Their writings shape a code of social morality They give a true picture of the social life of England in the 18th century I
39、n their hands,the English essay has completely established itself as a literary genreDaniel Defoe(1661-1731)Life Works Robinson Crusoe Captain Singleton Colonel Jack Moll Flanders Jonathan Wild Journal of the Plague YearRobinson CrusoeJohn Swift(1667-1745)Life Works The Battle of the Books The Tale
40、of a Tub Gullivers TravelsGullivers TravelLilliputa&BrobdingnagFlying Island&HouyhnhnmsSamuel Richardson(1689-1761)He wrote the first English novel:Pamela,or Virtue Rewarded Other works Clarissa Harlowe He was the discover of the novel of character Pamela or Virtue RewardedHenry Fielding(1707-1745)L
41、ife Works Joseph Andrews Jonathan Wild The History of Tom Jones a Foundling Amelia The Journal of a Voyage to LisbonFielding was born in 1707,at the family estate,Sharpham Park,in Somerset,England.His mother died when he was eleven years old,and,on his fathers remarriage,he was sent to school at Eto
42、n.He left Eton at seventeen and then studied for 18 months at the University of Leiden in Holland.When his father stopped his allowance,he was forced to support himself and did so as a playwright in London.He wrote 25 plays before his satire,Historical Register,For the Year 1736,ridiculing Prime Min
43、ister Robert Walpole,led to the passage of the Licensing Act.This act,requiring governmental approval of all new plays,led to the end of his career as a playwright.Fielding sought to support his wife and two children by studying law and became a lawyer in 1740.His practice was only a modest success,
44、and he supplemented his income by writing for journals.Then in 1741 he wrote a scathing satire of Samuel Richardsons popular novel,Pamela;or Virtue Rewarded under the pseudonym of Conny Keyber.Soon after,he began work on Joseph Andrews,and this comic novel.often called the first realistic novel in E
45、nglish literature,was published in 1742.His beloved wife,Charlotte Cradock,who was the model for characters in his other novels,died in 1744.His support of the government during the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745,gained him the appointment of Justice of the Peace for two sections of central London in 18
46、47.There he gained a reputation as an honest and fair magistrate.He and his half-brother,John,established the Bow Street Runners,a forerunner of the modern police force,to help curb the rampant crime in 18th century London.In 1749 his second novel,The History of Tom Jones,was published,and,two years
47、 later,his last novel,Amelia,appeared in print.The gout that had left him a virtual cripple led him to seek relief in the warmer climate of Portugal in June,1754.He died there on October 8,1754.Joseph AndrewsMain Characters Joseph Andrews-a footman in the household of Lady BoobyPamela Andrews-Joseph
48、s sister;wife of Squire Booby;the heroine of Samuel Richardsons novel PamelaParson Adams-the parson of Booby parish who befriends Joseph and accompanies him on his travels.Lady Booby-aunt of Squire BoobyMrs.Slipslop-maid to Lady BoobyFanny-Josephs sweetheartMr.and Mrs.Wilson-a kindly couple who offe
49、r shelter to Joseph and Parson Adams on their journey.Plot Joseph,the virtuous and true footman,is forced to leave the service of his mistress,Lady Booby,when he is no longer able to ward off her amorous advances.He starts out to reunite with his sweetheart,Fanny.Misfortunes on his journey continual
50、ly waylay him and his kindly traveling companion,Parson Adams.They encounter both kindness and villainy,generosity and selfishness,on their journey.Joseph and the Parson maintain their innocence and culpability throughout their trials and tribulations.All ends well when Fanny and Joseph are reunited
