18世纪的英国文学

Chapter 4 The 18th Century (1688-1798)

The Age of ; The Age of

Ⅰ. H istorical Background

1. Political stability: The Glorious Revolution of 1688; constitutional monarchy

2. The Industrial Revolution: The Enclosure Movement; overseas expansion

II. Cultural Background

Enlightenment Movement

- A progressive throughout Western Europe in the 18th century

- An expression of struggle of the bourgeoisie against feudalism

- The enlighteners celebrated or rationality, equality and science.

- They advocated , the chief means for bettering the society.

- The representative enlighteners in English literature were Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, the essayists, and Alexander Pope, the poet.

III. The 18th-century Literature:

Neoclassicism

- The Enlightenment Movement brought about a revival of interest in the old classical works.

- Addison, Steele, Pope, Samuel Johnson

- They tried to make English literature conform to rules and principles established by the great Roman and Greek classical writers. Page 128

The realistic novel

- The achievement in the 18th-century English literature.

- It reflects and praises the bourgeois ideas, values and their heroic deeds.

- Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding

The pre-romantic poetry

- William Blake; Robert Burns

Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

His life:

His major works:

1. Essay on Criticism: a poem written in heroic couplets dealing with the theories of literature in general and poetry in particular

Many lines from this poem have become proverbial maxims:

“For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”

“To err is human, to forgive, divine.”

“A little learning is a dangerous thing.”

2. Essay on Man: a poem in heroic couplets, consisting of four letters

“One truth is clear, whatever is, is right.”

3. The Dunciad: a satirical poem in 4 books, Pope’s

4. The Rape of Lock: a satirical poem satirizing the foolish, meaningless life of the high society.

Comments on Pope:

1. the most important representative of the English

2. became so perfect in that no one has been able to approach him

Daniel Defoe (1660-1731)

His life:

His major works:

–Robinson Crusoe

–Moll Flanders: Page 149

Robinson Crusoe

Genre: a novel

Setting: an uninhabited island on the Atlantic

Characters:

Crusoe: a sailor, a merchant, a plantation owner and a slave trader

Friday: a “savage” whom Crusoe rescues

Plot: Page 151

On the voyage to Africa to buy slaves he met with shipwreck. Then he found himself cast by the sea waves upon the shore of an uninhabited island. He decided to stay there and managed the life for himself. First of all, he got back to the ship and took some food and clothes and a few guns. In order to protect himself he built a shelter. Then he grew crops, domesticated goats and fought against savages coming from the neighboring islands. Later he rescued one savage from death and named him Friday, who became his faithful servant. In the hope of returning to Europe, he built a boat. Finally an English ship came and took him to Europe. Thus Robinson Crusoe ended his twenty-eight-year life on the island.

Themes:

–man’s struggle against natu re

–glorifies human labor

The character of Robinson:

–a typical 18th-century English middle class hero

–the very prototype of the

Special Features

–anti-feudal realistic writer

–His stories are all real concerns of his time: people in their struggle to overcome the natural or social environment.

–adopted the autobiographical form and made full use of his long trained journalistic skill by describing things in great detail and by using specific time and space

–a plain, smooth, easy, direct, and almost colloquial language

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)

His life:

His major works:

A Modest Proposal

–A satire on the terrible oppression and exploitation of the English ruling class towards the Irish people

–suggested to the Irish people that the best way to end their misery was to produce children and sell them at one year old at market as delicious food for the English nobles.

Gulliver's Travels

Importance: Swift’s masterpiece

Genre: his greatest satiric prose in four parts

Part I. Travels in Lilliput ; Part II. Travels in Brobdingnag