Looking up the neoclassicism of English literature

The English neoclassicism period refers to the period of English literature between the restoration of Stuart Dynasty in England and The Romantic Period in 1660, and its founding symbol is the collection of lyric songs published by Wordsworth and Coleridge in 1798.

brief introduction

British society in the neoclassical period was full of turbulence and changes, including the restoration of King charles ii in 1660 and a plague in 1665, which claimed 70,000 lives in London alone, while a fire in London destroyed a large area of the city and left two-thirds of the citizens homeless. 1689, a "glorious revolution" took place in England, with Puritan Princesse Marie and her Holland. During this period, the parliament constantly struggled with the autocratic monarch. At that time, there were endless contradictions between the Tories and Whigs, the two major political parties above the parliament and the government. In addition, there are sharp conflicts between different religious sects, such as the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Church and those who don't believe in the Anglican Church, and between the ruling class and the working people. In short, this period is a period of contradictions and differences in values.

/kloc-in the 0 th and 8 th centuries, Britain's national strength has developed by leaps and bounds. Overseas, British colonies expanded to North America, India and the West Indies, and the growing colonial wealth and trade thus generated opened up a vast market for Britain. The original small-scale cottage industry production mode is far from enough. The market needs not only British products, but also British standardized products. In China, the "enclosure movement" concentrated a large area of land in the hands of fewer and fewer big landlords, and thousands of small farmers and farm workers were driven out of their homes and became employees of the city. The British industrial revolution thus gained a solid foundation-the domestic labor force was liberated from the family and accumulated the capital plundered from the colonies. By the middle of18th century, Britain had become the first and most powerful capitalist country in the world, known as the "factory of the world", and its products flooded into markets all over the world.

With the rapid development of the economy, the British bourgeoisie or middle class has also grown and become the main force of the revolution, mostly composed of urban population, such as businessmen, industrial owners, slaves, colonists and so on. The industrial revolution is in the ascendant, which makes more and more people join the ranks. This class was progressive at that time, and it was a new force different from the feudal aristocracy. The urban bourgeoisie gained social status through their own struggle, so they understood the poverty and hardship of the working people. They believe in self-reliance, self-reliance and getting rich through labor. The meaning of their life is to work hard and accumulate property. These characteristics were reflected in realistic novels at that time.

Britain's18th century was also the age of enlightenment, or the age of reason. The Enlightenment is a progressive intellectual movement, which flourished in France and then swept across Europe. This is the continuation and development of 15 and 16 century Renaissance. The purpose of the movement is to enlighten the whole world with the dawn of contemporary philosophy and artistic thought. The enlightener praised reason, equality and science. They believe that reason is the only reason for anyone to think and act. They believe that once rationality becomes the standard to measure human behavior and relations, all superstitions, injustices and oppression will give way to "eternal truth", "eternal justice" and "natural equality". To this end, they strongly advocate order, reason and law. This thought laid the theoretical foundation for 1789 French bourgeois revolution and 1776 American war of independence. At the same time, the enlighteners also advocated universal education. They believe that people have limitations, two sides and imperfections, but they also have the ability to make themselves rational and perfect through education. If people get a good education, there is great hope for building a democratic and equal human society. In fact, the literary works at that time were full of preaching and moral concepts, which had become a good tool for mass education. John dryden, Alexander, Pope, joseph addison and Richard Steele (two pioneers of modern prose), Jonathan Novotel, daniel defoe, Richard B. Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Henry Falldin and samuel johnson are famous British enlightenment writers.

In the field of literature, the Enlightenment also aroused people's renewed interest in classical works. This trend of thought is neoclassicism. Neoclassicists believe that all literary works should follow the works of ancient Greece and Rome (such as Homer, Virgil, holas, Ovid, etc.). ) and the French classics at that time, and thought that the ideal art should be based on order, logic, accuracy and emotional control, and the value of literary works should depend on whether it serves humanism or not. This makes the writers of this period seek coordination, unity, harmony and elegance in expression and wording, and strive to make their works popular and instructive. Thus, a gentle and spiritual intellectual literature and art developed.

In almost all literary forms, neoclassicists have set the rules and rules of creation: prose must be concise, straightforward, fluent and flexible; Poetry must be lyrical, magnificent, doctrinal, allegorical and dramatic, and each style of poetry has its own set of creative principles; Drama must write heroic antitheses (iambic pentameter rhyming double lines); Time, place and events must be observed; The rules of writing must be observed, and the characters in the works should represent a kind of people, not personality.

/kloc-in the last few decades of the 0/8th century, neoclassicism was dominated by reason and wisdom, and literary forms rebelled, and sentimentalism rose, which was gradually replaced by romanticism in a certain period. However, neoclassicism has exerted a lasting and extensive influence on the history of English literature. The poetic skills and classical temperament, such as order, good format, unified structure and concise language, have become an eternal literary tradition.

During the neoclassicism period, or from the restoration of the dynasty to the second half of18th century, the classical style of English poetry flourished and reached its peak in the times of Dryden, Pope and lexicographer samuel johnson. The spirituality, form and artistic style of poetry are valued. Ridiculous heroic epics, knight lyrics, fables and satirical short poems were very popular at that time. In addition to elegance in form and wording, neoclassical poetry is full of serious and sincere tone and constant preaching.

Evaluation of works

/kloc-In the mid-8th century, a brand-new literary form, modern English novel, appeared, which, contrary to the traditional aristocratic knight literature, focused on describing the lives of ordinary British people. This great change in the history of literature is the result of the industrial revolution and the continuous development of the British middle class. The pioneers of modern English novels are daniel defoe, samuel richardson, Henry Foldin, Lawrence Stie, Tobias Smollett and Oliver Goldsmith ... From the middle of18th century to the end of18th century, there have been changes from classical literary tradition to originality and rich association, from social description to individual description, from preaching to repentance, encouragement and prediction. Among them, Gothic novels mainly tell scary and mysterious stories, and medieval churches with gloomy backgrounds are favored by many male and female writers, such as holas walpole's Otrantoberg (1765), Anne Radcliffe's The Mystery of Rudolph the Italian, and Clara River's Champion of Virtue, with gothic style. At the same time, james thomson, william collins, William Cobb and other natural poets as well as sentimental poets or "graveyard poets" are also very popular. In addition, there are romantic poems written by Scottish peasant poets robert burns and Wellcome Black, which paved the way for the prosperity of romantic literature in the early19th century.

In the field of drama, Richard Xie Lidan is the most famous. Among those essays full of wisdom and satire, jonathan swift's works are the most worth reading. His Tender Advice is recognized as a classic in the history of English literature.

Neoclassical history

From 65438 to the beginning of the 8th century, neoclassicism became fashionable in England. Neo-classicism advocates rationality, emphasizes clarity, symmetry, moderation and elegance, and pursues perfection and harmony of artistic forms. Alexander pope (1688- 1744) is a representative of neoclassical poetry. He imitates Roman poets, and his poetry style is exquisite and elegant. His content is mainly preaching and satire, and his forms are mostly heroic couplets, but he lacks deep feelings.

English prose flourished in the18th century, and its style is basically based on neoclassical aesthetic principles. Richard Steele (1672- 1729) and joseph addison (1672- 17 19) founded Tatler and Observer, and published them. Jonathan swift (1667- 1745) is the greatest satirist in the history of English literature. His style is simple, simple and powerful. Swift's masterpiece Gulliver's Travels is a fascinating children's story, and it also contains profound ideological content. The author satirizes and attacks the darkness and evil in all fields of British society by describing fictional countries such as lilliputian country, adult country, flying island country and Ma Huiguo.

John dryden (163 1- 1700) is known as the father of English criticism and the first person to popularize neoclassicism in English literature. He was the most important tragic writer during the Restoration (1660- 1700), but he was only in a critical position. While basically believing in French neoclassicism, we are open to British empiricism and literary tradition, which shows the possible tension of neoclassicism. Dryden inherited Shakespeare's great tradition, Pope inherited his empiricism and Johnson inherited his common sense. They didn't formulate norms as clearly and forcefully as boileau did.

Dryden's main theoretical work, On Poetic Drama (1668), was written in the form of dialogue, and he told all the views at that time. Among them, Neanderthals represented themselves, Eugene thought that the previous generation of drama was not better than the contemporary, Clake was in favor of ancient drama, and Ricky Diez said that French drama was better than English drama. The whole article is divided into three parts: the dispute between ancient and modern times, the dispute between France and Britain, and the dispute between poetry and rhyme. None of the three questions came to a conclusion in the end, not because some people thought Dryden was flattering on all sides, but because although he tried to introduce French neoclassicism to Britain, he didn't want to deny the parts of English tradition that he thought were still valuable.

The main writers in the neoclassical period

John. Benjamin Alexander. Pope Daniel. Defoe Jonathan. Swift Henry. Fielding Samuel. Johnson Richard. Than. Thomas, Richard Brinsley sheridan. grey