v
Name
: Dave Nimesh B.
Class:
M.A. (semester -1)
Roll
No. 20
Paper
: 2 ( Neo Classical literature)
Topic :Major writers of the Neo
Classical age
Submitted
to: Department of English
M.K.
Bhavnagar University.
‘Major writers of the Neo-Classical Age’
·
Introduction
Neo-Classical age is considered as a very remarkable age of
English literature. In this age literature proceeds in many forms like prose,
poetry, drama, novel and many others. And in creating this wonderful form of
literature there is immense contribution of many great writers. Some very
important of them are describe as under.
Ø Prose writers
v Jonathan
Swift (1667-1745)
Biography
Swift
was born in Dublin in 1667. His father died before swift’s birth so the boy was
thrown upon the charity of an uncle, who paid for his education in Ireland.
Much of his distemper was due to purely physical causes, for he suffered from
an affection of the ear that ultimately touched his brain and caused insanity.
In 1686, at the age of nineteen, he left trinity college. An embittered man ,
he spent the last thirty years of his life in gloom, and largely in retirement.
His last years were passed in silence and, at the very end lunacy.
His poetry
Swift
would have been among the first to smile at any claim being advanced for him on
the score of his being a great poet, though he always longed to excel in
poetry, yet in bulk his verse is considerable. His poems were to a large extent
recreations, add verses to his friends.
In
his poems he is as a rule lighter of touch and more placeable in humour than he is in his prose. His favourite metre
is the octosyllabic couplet, which he handles with dexterity.
His prose
His
first noteworthy book was the Batttle of the books, published in
1704. The theme of the work is well known one, being the dispute between
ancient and modern authors. Swift gives the theme a half allegorical, mock
–heroic setting, in which books in a library at length literally contend with
one another.
A Tale of a Tub also published in 1704, though it was
written as early as 1696, is regarded by many as swift’s best work. It
certainly reveals his power at its highest. It is a religious allegory.
A
Tale of a Tub is full of wit and brilliant in its imaginative power and the
incisiveness of its thought.
From
a literary point of view, the next important period of life was from 1710,
several of them were written for The Examiner, a Tory journal of which he was
given charge, and the best known are The conduct of
Allies (1711) and Some
Remarks on the Barrier Treaty (1712). And The Public Spirit of the Whigs (1714). To this
period also belongs journal to Stella, which
is a kind of informal
private log book. His other important work are The Drapier’s Letters(1724) , which gives him population. Then followed some miscellaneous political work, aimed at the improvement of the lot of the oppressed and poverty stricken irish. And then longest and his most famous book The Gulliver’s Travels (written between 1720 and 1725 and published in 1726).
private log book. His other important work are The Drapier’s Letters(1724) , which gives him population. Then followed some miscellaneous political work, aimed at the improvement of the lot of the oppressed and poverty stricken irish. And then longest and his most famous book The Gulliver’s Travels (written between 1720 and 1725 and published in 1726).
The style
of swift is best is not mannered
or laboured , clean, powerful, and tireless, ease without being slovenly and as
clear as summer noonday.
Swift
is greatest English dramatist. He restrict himself to general rather than
personal attacks,
and
his work has a cosmic , elemental force, which is irresistible and, at times,
almost frightening. His directions of humanity shows a powerful mind
relentlessly and fearlessly probing into follies and hypocricy, but he is never
merely distructive.
Joseph
Addison
(1672-1719)
· HIS LIFE
Educated at the charter house,
Addison went to Oxford. He early made
his mark as a serious and accomplished scholar.
In 1704 it is said that the instigation of
the leaders of the whigs, he wrote the
poem The Camoaign, praising war policy of the whigs in general. This poem
brought him fame and fortune. He obtained many appointments and pensions,
married a dowager countess and became a secretary of state. Two years
later he died, at the early age of
forty-seven.
His poetry
In his Latin verses Addison attained early distinction.
These verses were highly praised at a time for proficiency in such a medium was
of some significance. Then his campaign in 1704 gave him reputation as one of
the major poets of the age. It is written in Heroic couplet.
His other poetical works worthy of notice are hymns which
are melodious, scholarly and full of cheerful piety. The one that begins ‘The Spacious Firmament on High’ is
among the best.
His Drama
In 1773 he produced the tragedy of Cato. It shows that
Addison , whatever his other qualities may be , is no dramatist. It is written
in laborious blank verse, in which wooden character devlaim long, dull
speeches. But it caught the ear of the political parties.
Addison also attempted an Opera Rosamond (1707), which was
a failure and the prose comedy ‘The
Drummer’ (1715) adds nothing to his reputation.
His Prose
Addison
started writing with his school and college friend Steele in ‘The Tatler’ and
‘The Spectator. In The Spectator Addison rapidly became the dominating spirit,
wrote 274 essays out of a complete total
of 555. In march 1713 Addison assisted Steele with ‘The Guardian’ which Steele
began.
Addison
wrote nearly 4 hundred essays , which are of nearly uniform
length, excellence of style and the wide diversity of subject, they are
faithful reflection to the life. His aim was to point out those vices which are
too trivial for a chastened of the law. Literary criticism of a mild and
curious kind , found a prominent place in his essays.
some
times he adopted the allegory as a means of throwing his ideas vividly before
his readers, and so we have a popular ‘The Vision of a Mirza’ and the political
allegory of Public Credit.
Sir Richard
Steele (1672-1729)
His Drama
He wrote
some prose comedies, the best of which are ‘The Funeral’(1701)
· ‘The Lying Loner’(1703)
· ‘The Tender Husband’(1705) and
· ‘The Conscious Lovers’(1722)
His
essays
it is as a miscellaneous essayist that Steele finds his
place in literature.
He started ‘The Tatler’
in 1709 and ‘The Spectator’ in
1711, and several other periodicals such as
Ø ‘The Guardian’ (1713)
Ø ‘The English Man’ (1713)
Ø ‘The Reader’ (1714) and
Ø ‘The Plebeian’ (1719)
The aim of
Steele’s essays was frankly didactic, he desired to bring about a reformation
of contemporary society manners and is notable for his consistent advocacy of
womanly virtue and the ideal of gentleman of courtesy, chivalry and good taste.
His essay on children are charming and he is full of human sympathy.
In
versatility and in originality he is at least Addison’s equal. His humour is
broader. His pathos is more attractive and more humane. He is incapable of
irony.
Daniel Defoe
Much of Defoe’s life is still
undetermined. He was born in London in the year 1660. He altered his original surname foe to Defoe.
He became a soldier, and then took journalism.
As
a young man, Daniel Defoe was a great traveller and went all over Europe. his
career had ups and downs and he was also put into prison several times.
When he was nearly sixty, Defoe started
writing novels. He was considered to be founder of English novels.
His work can be divided into two greater groups.
1
political Writing=
Like most of the other writer of his time
Defoe turned out a mass of political tracts and pamphlets. Many of them
appeared in his own journal ‘The Review’ which issued in 1704.
His ‘The Shortest Way with the Dissenters’ (1702) brought upon him
official wrath, and caused him to be fined, imprisoned and pilloried.
The best known of this class is ‘The True-born Englishman (1701).
In all his propaganda
Defoe in vigorous and acute and he has a fair command of irony and invective.
2 his fiction=
his work in fiction were all produced
in the later part of his life, at almost Incredible speed.
First came
v‘Robinson
Crusoe’ (1719)
v‘Memoirs
of cavellier’(1720)
\
\
v‘Captain
Singleton’(1720) all this books appeared in 1720, in 1722 appeared
v‘Moll
Flanders’
v‘A journal to the plague year’
v‘Roxana’
(1724) and
v‘A New
Voyage round the World’
This
great body of fiction has grave defect, largely due to the immense speed with
which it was produced. The general plan of the snovel in each also loose and
unequal.
At its best in finest part in Robinson Crusoe, his writing
has a realm that is rarely approached by the most ardent of modern realists.
This is achieved by Defoe’s grasp of details and his unerring sense of their
supreme literary value, a swift and resolute narrative method and a plain and
matter of fact style that inevitable lays incredulity asleep.
To this development of the novel Defoe’s contribution is
priceless.
His life
Pope was brn in London,
the only son of a considerable city tradesman. From his birth two conditions
were influence very deeply the career of the future poet , first he was puny
and delicate and secondly, he was baptized into
the roman catholic faith. His bodily infirmity, which amounted almost
deformity, caused him to be privately educated.
Pope’s
religious faith, though he was never excessively devout as a roman catholic ,
closed to him all the careers , professional and political , in which a man of
keen intelligence might have been expected to succeed. From his earliest youth
we find him passionately desirous of making his name as an author.
His
early verses , admirably attuned to the ear of the age, brought him recognition
and applause. His translation of homer brought him wealth and from that point
he nrver looked back .he became the dominating poetical personality of the day.
In 1719 he removed to his house at Twickenham. It remained his home till “that
long disease , his life” was finished in 1744.
His poetry
Pope’s earliest important work was his Pastorals. These poems almost certainly written before he was eighteen, were published in 1709. The characters and scenery, based as they are on Classical models, lack vigorous and reality. but the work is important as an experiment in verse technique. Pope has already choose his medium , the Heroic couplet , which is here handled with great metrical skill, variation of speed and tone and delicacy of touch. The rich discriptions are perhaps over loaded with epithet. And the diction is often artificial . we give a specimen of his earliest number.
And yet my numbers please the rural throng,Rough satyrs dance, and pan applauds the song;The nymph, forsaking ev’ry cave and spring,Their early fruit, and milk white turtled bring,Each am’rous nymph prefers her gift in vain,On you their gifts are all bestowed again,For you the swains the fairest flow’rs design,And in one garland all their beauties joined,Accept the wreath which you deserve alone,In whom all beauties are compri’d in one.
Summer:
the second pastoral
In 1711 appeared ‘An Essay on Criticism’ also written in heroic couplet . the poem professes to set forth the gospel of wit and nature as it applies to the literature of the age. There is no attempt at originality of thought , pope’s aim being merely to restate the code of the ancients. This he does with a conscious and epi-grammatic neatness which has given his remarks the permanence of proverbs. I give below four well-known examples.
ü A Little Learning is a Dangerous thing!
ü And snatch a grace beyond the reach of art
ü TO err is Human, to Forgive, divine
What of was though , but ne’er so well
expressed.
Windsor Forest (1713) is another pastoral in the familiar meter.
In 1712 was published the first version of ‘The Rape Of the Lock’ one of the most brilliant poems in the language. It is in mock-heroic strain, and its effectiveness was greatly increased when , in 1714 pope added the machinery of the sylph to the original version. For the most part, this satire is gentle and good humoured , though occasionally the half-line of couplet give us a foretaste of the most incisive tones of the later pope.
Then pope translated Iliad , the Iliad was followed in 1725 and 1726 by the Oddyssey.
Between 1731 and 1735 pope pope published a series of philosophical poems, including
§ ‘TO Lord Bathrust’
§ ‘Of the knowledge and characters of men’
§ ‘Of the character of women’ and most famous
of all
§ “An Essay on Man”, in which he discussed
man’s place in the universe.
The years 1733
to1737 marks pope’s last important period of production. In them appeared his
‘Imitations of Horace’, in using the latin satirist as his model.
His famous
prologue “Prologue to the Satirists”, better known by it’s other title,
“Epistle to dr. Arbuthnot” (1735) contains some of his most brilliant and finished work. The style shows the ultimate
development of pope’s couplet in its ease, naturalness and versatility.
Both
in subjects and in style his poems are limited. They take people of their own
social class, and they deal with their common
interests and aspirations. Pope rarely dips below the surface, and when
he does so he is not at his best. With regards to his style we have seen that
it is almost wholly restricted to the heroic couplet, used in narrative and
didactive subject.
Within
these limits his work is powerful and effective. The wit is keen, the satire
burns like acid, and his zeal is unshakable.
Above all he was a great artist. A study of his
technique shows a meticulous sense of the exact word in the exact place.
Pope’s use of the heroic couplet marks a
great change from Dryden. The couplet is tighter and more compressed.
THUS, we can Thus
say that Alexander Pope was truly was one very important figure of the
Neo-Classical age.
vConclusion
Thus,
Swift, Addison, Steele, Defoe, Pope and many other writer gave their immense contribution
to English literature.