The Neoclassic Period
1 Between the return of the Stuarts to the English throne in 1660 and the full assertion of Romanticism which came with the publication of lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge in 1798
1. Enlightenment or the Age of reason
The Enlightenment movement was a progressive intellectual movement which flourished in France and swept the whole western Europe at the time
Its propose was to enlighten the whole world with the light of modern philosophical and artistic ideas. The enlightenmenters celebrated reason or rationally, equality and science. They called for a reference to order, reason and rule , yield place to “eternal truth” “eternal justice” and “natural equality”
They believed that human beings were limited , dualistic and imperfect literature at the time , heavily didactic and moralizing.
They believed in self-restraint, self-reliance and hard work. To work , to economize and to accumulate wealth constitute the whole meaning of their life. This aspect of social life is best-formed in the realistic novels of the 18th century.
3 In the field of literature , they believed that the artistic should be order,logic, restrained emotion and accuracy . seek proportion, unity, harmony and grace in literary expression, in an effort to delight, instruct and correct human beings..
4 Neoclassicism. In English literature and, the stylistic trend between the Restoration and the advent of romanticism at the beginning of the 19th century is referred to as Neoclassicism.
5 Heroic: It is a pair of rhymed lines of iambic pentameter. The form was introduced into English by Chaucer and widely used subsequently.
1. 时间界定
The neoclassical period is between the return of the Stuarts in 1660 and the full assertion of Romanticism which came with the publication of Lyrical Ballads in 1798.
2. 启蒙运动
A. 概述
a. 特点
The eighteenth-century England is also known as the Age of Enlightenment or the Age of Reason. The Enlightenment Movement was a progressive intellectual movement.
b.起源
It flourished in France and swept through the whole Western Europe at the time.
c.性质
The movement was a furtherance of the Renaissance of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
d.目的
Its purpose was to enlighten the whole world with the light of modern philosophical and artistic ideas.
B. 人文观与文学特点
a. The enlighteners advocated universal education. They believed that human beings were limited, dualistic, imperfect, and yet capable of rationality and perfection through education.
b. Literature at the time, heavily didactic and moralizing, became a very popular means of public education.
3. 文学形式
A. 伤感主义文学
In the last few decades of the 18th century, however, the neoclassical emphasis upon reason, intellect, wit and form was rebelled against or challenged by the sentimentalists, and was gradually by Romanticism.
B. 新古典主义诗歌
The neoclassical period witnessed the flourish of English poetry in the classical style climaxing with John Dryden, Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson.
C. 现实主义小说
The mid-century was, however, predominated by a newly rising literary form – the modern English novel, gives a realistic presentation of life of the common English people.
D. 哥特式小说及其它
Gothic novels – mostly stories of mystery and horror which take place in some haunted or dilapidated Middle Age castles – were turned out profusely by both male and female writers.
4. 主要作家与作品有下列这些: