The Enlightenment

THE ENLIGHTENMENT (end of the 17^th  – middle of the 18^th c. )

HISTORY:

Puritan and Restoration Ages (1625-1702)

• The Civil War (1642-1651)- Oliver Cromwell’s puritans win and establish the Republic (they abolish the monarchy and the House of Lords);
• The Restoration – the country returns to monarchy;
• The Glorious Revolution (1688) limits the power of the monarch in favour of the Parliament.

The Augustan Age (1702-1776)

• The two-party political system is established;
• The American Declaration of Independence (1776) disrupts the British colonial expansion system.

ECONOMY AND SOCIETY:

Puritan and Restoration Ages

• Economic boom and mercantilism;
• Puritans banned all forms of entertainment;
• Puritan rigidity is discarded after the Restoration;
• The Plague (1666) and the Great Fire (1666) decimated the population.

The Augustan Age

• Start of the Industrial Revolution
  • small factories
  • mechanization
  • workers live in workhouses in poor living conditions
  • hospitals are built in towns
  • rise of the middle class
  • power is associated with money.

IDEOLOGY AND CULTURE:

• The Enlightenment period is known as The Age of Reason;
• The extravagance of Renaissance is replaced by Puritan Pragmatism and Morality;
• Scientific and social revolutions lead to research and innovation and the development of Mathematics, Physics, Medicine, and Astronomy;
• Philosophers (Th. Hobbes, R. Descartes, J. Locke) spread the idea that reason is the key to understanding the world;
• The desire for order, clarity, and stability.

LITERATURE:

Puritan and Restoration Ages

Poetry

• John Donne
• John Milton
• John Dryden

Drama

• Theatre was considered to be immoral
• The comedy of manners was the only accepted type of play- William Congreve is the most outstanding writer

Prose

• Robert Burton
• Sir Thomas Browne
• John Milton
• John Bunyan

The Augustan Age

Poetry

• Alexander Pope: is influenced by classical writers, his poetry is defined by harmony, concision, elegance, and technical perfection.

Prose

• Popular types of prose: journalism prose, essays, political satire, pamphlets
• Middle-class readers were Puritans who preferred factual writing over fiction (was considered a form of lying)
• Realistic traits in writing
  • prose is an imitation of life as it is
  • literature has an instructive purpose
  • interest in travelling
  • middle-class heroes

         Writers:

• Daniel Defoe
• Samuel Richardson
• Henry Fielding
• Jonathan Swift
• Laurence Sterne

Drama

• John Gay
• Oliver Goldsmith