-
?
The English literature of the
18th century
?
I Historical
background
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After the
tempestuous events of the 17th century, England
entered a period of comparatively
peaceful development.
?
There was still strife between Tories
and Whigs, between opposing religious sects,
between the
ruling class
and the laboring poor ,etc.
?
In short, it was an age full of
conflicts and divergence of
values.
?
18th century?s
England witnessed unprecedented technical
innovations, and the rapid growth of
industry and commerce influenced the
way of social life as a whole.
?
(The Industrial Revolution)
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II Cultural background
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A. The Enlightenment
Movement
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B. Neo-classicism
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1 Joseph Addison and
Richard Steele
?
“The
Tatler” and “The Spectator”
?
The essays in the paper
deal mainly with the manners, morals and
literature of the time.
?
Appreciation: “Sir Roger
at Church”
?
To
sum-
up Addison?s and Steele?s
contribution to English literature:
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a. Their writings shape a
new code of social morality for the bourgeoisie.
?
b. They give a true
picture of the social life of England in the 18th
century.
?
In
their hands, the English essay had completely
established itself as a literary genre. Using it
as
a form of character sketching and
story-telling, they ushered in the dawn of the
modern novel.
The Rise of the English
Realistic Novels
?
The modern European novel began after
the Renaissance, with Cervantes? “Don
Quixote”
?
(1605-1615). The modern English novel
began in the 18th century. The rise and growth of
the
realistic novel is the most
prominent achievement of the 18th century English
literature.
?
It has given the world such novelists
as Defoe, Swift and Fielding.
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The 18th century was the golden age of
the English novel.
Daniel Defoe
?
I Life
?
II Points of View
?
Defoe had a remarkably
liberal mind and was very advanced in opinion. He
valued the Puritan
ethic and believed
in diligence, self-reliance and fortitude. On the
other hand, having undergone a
lot of
ups and downs in his own business and social life,
?
he
had a better understanding of the world and a
heart broad and ready enough to embrace all
the people, including social outlaws,
and took it as his duty to work for the welfare of
all.
?
III Major
Works
?
“Robinson
Crusoe”
“Captain
Singleton”
“Moll
Flanders”
“A
Journal
of
the
Plague
Year”
“Hymn to the Pillory” “The Shortest Way
with the
Dissenters”
?
The
publication of “The Review” (magazine)
?
Defoe
was
a
merchant,
soldier,
economist,
politician,
journalist,
pamphleteer,
publicist
and
novelist. His
versatility fills us with wonder. He was great in
at least two occupations: journalism
and authorship. His place in English
literature was made for him by his novels.
?
IV
Appreciation “Robinson Crusoe”
?
Defoe?s “Robinson Crusoe”
was one of the forerunne
rs of the
English realistic novels.
?
A. Story
?
B.
Analysis
?
The
novel is based on real fact.
?
The realistic account of the successful
struggle of Robinson single-handed against the
pitiless
forces of nature forms the
best part of the novel.
?
Robinson is a real hero, and the best
qualities of his character are shown to the full:
diligence,
self-
reliance, fortitude, thrift.
?
He is most practical and exact, always
religious and at the same time mindful of his own
profit.
?
colonialism (in Defoe?s
bo
urgeois outlook)
?
Defoe was an
anti-feudal, anti-romantic realistic writer. His
writing reveals his real concern for
his time: man?s struggle against his
natural and social environment, for survival and
expansion.
?
“Robinson
Crusoe”
creates
the
image
of
an
enterprising
Englishman,
typical
of
the
English
bourgeoisie of the
18th century.
Jonathan Swift
?
The
most
outstanding
personality
of
the
epoch
of
Enlightenment
in
England
was
Swift
who
ruthlessly exposed the dirty mercenary
essence of bourgeois relationships.
?
A. Life
?
B. Literary
works
?
“Tale of A Tub” “The
battle of the Books”
?
“A Modest Proposal” “Gulliver?s
Travels”
?
In
his
famous
novel
“Gulliver?s
Travels”
Swift
typified
the
bourgeois
world,
drew
ruthless
pictures
of
the
depraved
aristocracy
and
satirically
portrayed
the
whole
of
the
English
state
system.
?
In his
pamphlets written in defense of the Irishmen,
Swift courageously came out as a champion
for the freedom of the people.
?
His
“Gulliver?s Travels” gives an unparalleled
satiric
al depiction of the vices of his
age.
?
Swift is a master
satirist. His satire is often masked by an outward
seriousness and earnestness
in tone.
This makes his satire more bitter, biting and
poignant.
Henry Fielding
?
Henry
Fielding, the greatest novelist of the 18th
century, not only a novelist, but also a
dramatist,
an essayist, a political
pamphleteer. He is considered the Founder of the
English Realistic novel.
?
I life
?
II Major
works
?
A. plays
?
“The
Coffee
-
house
Politician”
?
“Don Quixote in England”
?
“The Historical Register
for the Year,1737”
?
B. Novels
?
“Joseph Andrews”
?
“The Life of Mr. Jonathan
Wild the Great”
?
“The History of Tom Jones, a
Foundling”
?
“Amelia”
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III “Tom Jones”
?
A. story
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Mr. Allworthy (adopts) Tom
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Miss Bridget (sister of
Mr. A) gives birth to
?
young Blifil (Nephew of Mr. A)
?
Blifil hates and backbites
Tom (banished by Mr. A to London)
?
Sophia
(daughter
of
a
squire
Western,
loved
by
Tom
and
flees
to
London
to
escape
the
compulsory marriage to
young Blifil)
?
In London, Blifil intends to frame up
Tom
?
but his
intrigues are laid bare.
?
A
letter (has been kept maliciously by Blifil) to
Mr. A in which Miss Bridget confesses Tom is
her illegitimate son.
?
Mr. A claims Tom his heir.
?
Squire Western consents
to
Sophia?s marriage to Tom.
?
All ends happily.
?
B. Characterization
?
Tom Jones: good in nature,
devoid of malice though quick-tempered; he lives
by impulse, not
by reason. far from a
model character)
?
His waywardness and
imprudence are the result of his unhappy
childhood.
?
Blifil:
(the
villain)
strongly
attached
to
the
interest
only
of
himself,
both
malicious
and
hypocritical, though he
appears discreet, pious and always respectful.
?
Sophia:
tender
but
courageous,
she
insists
on
her
right
to
choose her
own
mate
and
finally
realizes her own happiness.
?
(Her character and
behavior were rather advanced for her time, when
compulsory marriage was
universally
prevailing.)
?
VI Artistic features
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A.
Fielding
employed
the
grand
style
and
high-flown
language
of
the
classic
epic
in
the
depiction of the common, silly and
sometimes ridiculous people, thus dramatizing the
real life and
adding much to the
amusement of the novel.
?
B. He ignored the
subjective narration and started “the third person
narration”. With such an
approach
he
became
the
“all
-
knowing
God”
and
develop
his
narrative
in
the
fullest,
freest,
clearest and most straight--forward
manner.
?
C.
Satire abounds everywhere in Fielding?s works.
(humorous satire and grim satire)
?
D. He believed in the
educational function of the novel. (The purpose of
the novel is not only to
amuse, but
also to instruct.) Sometimes in the stories
Fielding himself gives comments which help
us to appreciate the deeper meaning.
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E. His prose
style: easy, unlaboured and familiar, but
extremely vivid and vigorous.
?
Richard
Brinsley Sheridan
?
the most important English dramatist of
the 18th century
?
I life
?
II literary work
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“The Rivals” “Sir
Patrick?s Day” “The Duenna” “The School for
Scandal” “The Critic”
?
III “The
School for Scandal”
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In this play, Sheridan repudiates
English high society for its vanity, greed and
hypocrisy.
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It has been
regarded as the best English comedy since
Shakespeare. It remains a favorite with
the English audience today.
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In the play,
the author contrasts two brothers:
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Joseph
Surface:
a
hypocrite,
backbiter,
always
declaring
noble
feelings
and
uttering
moral
speeches
?
Charles: a reckless gambler, but frank,
honest and good-natured
?
Comedy of Manners
?
This
genre
has
for
its
main
subjects
and
themes
—
the
behavior
and
defortment
of
men
and
women under specific
social codes. It tends to be preoccupied with the
codes of middle and upper
classes and
it is often marked by elegance and sophistication.
Oliver Goldsmith
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Sentimentalism
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It is the expression of
the emotional ideas in art, music or literature,
influenced by feeling rather
than
reason.
In
English
literature,
it
marks
the
midway
in
the
transition
from
classicism
to
its
opposite, romanticism in the 18th
century.
?
In
“The Vicar of Weakfield”, Goldsmith shows his
compassion for the poor and the afflicted.
?
His novel
appeals to human sentiment as a means of achieving
happiness and social justice.
Thomas
Gray
?
His
best-
known
poem
“Elegy
Written
in
a
churchyard”
,
a
model
of
sentimentalist
poetry.
Written with classical precision and
polish, it shows a keen interest in the English
countryside and
the life of the common
people.
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Its prevailing
tone is melancholy.
?
?
Pre-
Romanticism
?
The thought in
the late 18th century just before Romanticism, a
movement in art and literature
that
subordinates
form
to
content,
emphasizes
imagination,
emotion,
introspection
and
the
freedom
of spirit.
?
(In England, it
is represented by Blake and Burns.)
William Blake
?
Of
all
the
Romantic
poets
of
the
18th
century,
Blake
is
the
most
independent
and
the
most
original, following no man?s lead and
obeying no voice but that which he heard in his
own mystic
soul.
?
He is called a Pre-Romantic or
forerunner of the Romantic poetry of the 19th
century.
?
“Songs of Innocence” and “Songs of
Experience”
?
“Songs of Innocence”: writes “happy
songs every child may happy to hear”, depicting
the happy
condition of a child before
it knows anything about the pains of existence.
?
“Songs of
Experience”: shows the sufferings of the
miserable.
?
The
contrast between the two is of great significance.
It marks a progress in the poet?s outlook
on
life.
To
the
poet?s
eyes,
the
first
glimpse
of
the
world
was
a
picture
of
light,
harmony
and
peace.
?
But later the poet was
conscious of the power of evil, the pain of
people?s life and “some blind
hand”
crushing man.
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Appreciation:
?
“London” “Tiger”
老虎
?
?
老虎！老虎！黑夜的森林中
?
燃烧着的煌煌的火光，
?
是怎样的神手或天眼
?
造出了你这样威武堂堂？