The 18th century literature

Important Literary Term

Enlightenment （启蒙运动）：The Enlightenment was a progressive intellectual movement throughout Western Europe in the 18th century. It was an expression of struggle of the bourgeoisie against feudalism. The Enlighteners thought the chief means for bettering the society is enlightenment or education for the people

Sentimentalism（感情主义）：It indulges in emotion and sentiment, which are used as a sort of relief for the grief felt towards the world’s wrongs and as a kind of mild protest against the social injustice.

●What are the characteristic of English literature in the 18th century?

The main literary stream of the 18th century was realism. What the writers described in their works were social realities. The main characters of their works were usually common men. Most of the writers concentrated their attention on daily life. In this century the newspaper was born. And prose literature which include the book, the newspaper and the magazine, became the chief instument of the nation’s progress. The new social and political conditions demanded expressions not simply in books but more especially in pamphlets, magazines and newspapers. Poetry, which had been the glory of English literature in the preceding ages, was inadequate for such a task. So prose had a rapid development in this age. The 18th century was an age of prose. A group of excellent prose writers,such as Addison, Steele, Swift, Fielding, were produced.

Novel writing made a big advance in this century. The main characters in the novels were no longer kings and nobles but the common people.

In this age satire was much used in writing. Since there was fierce strife between the two political parties in society, nearly every writer of this century was employed and rewarded by Whigs or Tories for satirising their enemies. English literature of this age produced some excellent satirists, such as Pope, Swift and Fielding.

●What are Jonathan Swift’s writing features?

⑴Jonathan Swift is one of the realist writers. His realism is quite different from Defoe’s. Defoe’s stories are based upon the reality of human life, while all of Swift’s plots come from imagination, which is the important device he uses in his satires. His satire is marked by outward gravity and apparent earnestness. This makes his satire all the more powerful. He not only criticises the evils of the English bourgeoisie but those of other bourgeois countries.⑵Swift expresses democratic ideas in his works. This exerts strong influence on later writers, such as Sheridan, Fielding, Byron and even Bernard Shaw.⑶Swift is one of the greatest masters of English prose. His language is simple, clear and vigorous. He said, “Proper words in proper place, makes the true definition of a style.” There are no ornaments in his writings. In simple, direct and precise prose, Swift is almost unsurpasses in English literature.

●How are the poems in Songs of Innocence contrasted with the poems in Songs of Experience? Songs of innocence contains short lyrical poems with little children as the speakers. Through the mouths of the little children, the poet expresses his own love for the beauty of the world. Each poem in the collection is the expression of love and tender feeling and of belief in the goodness of nature. Using the language of small babies, Blake expresses his delight in the sun, the hills, the

streams, the insects and the flowers. The best-known poems in the collection are “The Lamb”, “Holy Thursday”and “Laughing Song”. The whole collection is pervaded with the breath of simplicity and fancy. The sweetest poems are those cradle songs. The melody is simple, artless, and yet exquisite.

Songs of Experience is the counterpart of the first collection. It is a much maturer and Blakes’s most important work. The poems in this collection show that the poet’s eyes are open to the evils and vices of the world. He points out that the earth is unhappy and lacks love and gaiety. The miserable living conditions of the poor are reflected. The savation is to come through revolt or revolution. Through symbolic devices, Blake expresses his progressive democratic ideas. The best-known poems in the collection are “The Tyger”, “The Fly”, “London”, and “The Chimney-Sweeper”.

What are the features of Robert Burns’ poetry?

1) Burns is one of the greatest songwriters in the world. He is the national poet of Scotland. Most of his poems and songs are written in the Scottish dialect. 2) Burns is a plowman. He comes from the people and writes for the people. He is the people’s poet. 3) Burns has a deep knowledge and an excellent mastery of the old Scottish song tradition. He learns a lot from it in his poems. This is the main factor of his great success.

Selected Reading

A Red，Red Rose

by Robert Burns

O my luve is like a red, red rose,

That's newly sprung in June;

O my luve is like the melodie

That's sweetly played in tune.

As fair thou art, my bonie lass,

So deep in luve am I;

And I will luve thee still, my dear,

Till a' the seas gang dry.

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,

And the rocks melt wi' the sun;

And I will luve thee still , my dear,

While the sands o' life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only luve,

And fare thee weel a while;

And I will come again, my luve,

Tho'it wre ten thousand mile!

Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And auld lang syne!

For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne.

We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,

For auld lang syne.

We twa hae run about the braes,

And pou'd the gowans fine;

But we've wander'd mony a weary fit,

Sin' auld lang syne.

For auld, &c.

We twa hae paidl'd in the burn,

Frae morning sun till dine;

But seas between us braid hae roar'd

Sin' auld lang syne.

For auld, &c.

And there's a hand, my trusty fere!

And gie's a hand o' thine!

And we'll tak a right gude-willie waught,

For auld lang syne.

For auld, &c.

And surely ye'll be your pint stowp!

And surely I'll be mine!

And we'll tak a cup o'kindness yet,

For auld lang syne.

For auld, &c.

1.in the following descriptions of the Neoclassical Period, Which is wrong?

A.The Neoclassical Period is prior to the Romantic Period.

B.Henry Fielding is one of the representatives of the Neoclassical Period.

C.The modern English novel came into being in the Neoclasssical Period.

D.Neoclassical Period is also known as the Age of Enlightenment.

2.By making the truth-seeking pilgrims suffer at the hands of the people of Vanity Fair, John

Bunyan intends to show the prevalent political and religious ______ of his time.

A. persecution

B. improvement

C. prosperity

D. disillusionment

3. An honest, kind-hearted young man, who is full of animal spirit, and lacks prudence, is expelled from the paradise and has to go through hard experience to gain knowledge of himself and finally to have been accepted both by a virtuous lady and a rich relative. The above sentence may well sum up the theme of Fielding’s work ______.

A. Jonathan Wild the Great

B. Tom Jones

C. The Coffee-House Politican

D. Amelia

4. Which of following works was not written by Jonathan Swift?

A. A Modest Proposal

B. Gulliver’s Travels

C. A Tale of a Tub

D. The Rivals

5. ______ was the greatest dramatist during the Neoclassical Period in England.

A. Goldsmith

B.Sheridan

C. Stern

D. Fielding

6. ______is the most successful religious allegory in the English language.

A. Genesis

B. Exodus

C. The Pilgrim’s Progress

D. The Holy War

7. ______is one of Swift’s masterpiece. It is a satire on corruption in religion and learning.

A. The Way of the World

B. Love for Love

C. The Beggar’s Opera

D. A Tale of a Tub

8. Many lines from Alexander Pope’s poem “Essay on Criticism” have become proverbial maxims, such as: “To err is human; to forgive, divine.”“______ learning is a dangerous thing.”

A. A little

B. Little

C. No

D. Few

9. Which of the following does not belong to pioneering efforts in the creation of the English novel?

A. John Lily’s Euphues

B. Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia

C. Thomas Lodge’s Rosalymde

D. Samuel Richardson’s Pamela

10. The novel Gulliver’s Travels was written by ______.

A. Tobias Smollett

B. Jonathan Swift

C. Laurence Sterne

D. John Bunyan

11. Whose work signaled the beginning of the age of Restoration Drama?

A. William Wycherley

B. John Dryden

C. William Congreve

D. John Gay

12. Which of the following books was Samuel Johnson’s monumental success?

A. The Dictionary of the English Language

B. Oliver Twist

C. The Old Curiosity Shop

D. Barnaby Rudge

13. Who is best remembered as the recipient of Johnson’s famous letter?

A. Dickens

B. Lord Chesterfield

C. Thomas Hardy

D. Joseph Addison

14. The Enlightenment movement was an expression of the struggle of the bourgeoisie against ______.

A. social prejudice

B. feudalism

C. superstition of religion

15. The main literary current of the 18th century was ______.

A. realism

B. romanticism

C. sentimentalism

16. The romantic poets of late 18th century fought against the poetic tradition of ______.

A. neo-classicism

B. ancient times

C. sentimentalism

17. Alexander Pope’s ______ was a manifesto of English neo-classicism because Pope put forward his aesthetic theories in it.

A. An Essay on Criticism

B. An Essay on Man

C. The Dunciad

18. The rise and Growth of the ______ is the most prominent achievement of the 18th century

English literature.

A. realistic novel

B. neo-classical literature

C. romantic poetry

19. Among the pamphlets written by Swift about Ireland, the most famous are The Drapier’s Letters and ______.

A. The Battle of the Books

B. A Tale of a Tub

C. A Modest Proposal

20. Henry Fielding’s career as a playwright paved the way for his writing of ______.

A. novels

B. poems

C. satiric plays