375. DSC 201: Neo-Classicism (1)
Periodisation of Neoclassicism
(1660-1790)
In England, Neoclassicism flourished roughly between 1660, when the
Stuarts returned to the throne, and the 1798 publication of Wordsworth’s
Lyrical Ballads, with its theoretical preface and collection of poems that came
to be seen as heralding the beginning of the Romantic Age.
NEOCLASSICISM
Definition
● Neoclassicism (also spelled Neo-classicism; from Greek ‘nèos,’
"new" and Greek ‘klasikόs,’ "of the highest rank") was a Western
cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre,
music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture
of classical antiquity.
● The writers of the age consciously adopted the genres and
conventions of ancient literature and applied ideas and techniques
derived from the classics to their own literary practice.
● Neoclassical writers modeled their works on classical texts and followed
various aesthetic values first established in Ancient Greece and Rome.
● Seventeenth-century and eighteenth-century Neoclassicism was, in a
sense, a resurgence of classical taste and sensibility, but it was not
identical to Classicism.
● In part as a reaction to the bold egocentrism of the Renaissance that saw
man as larger than life and boundless in potential, the neoclassicists
directed their attention to a smaller scaled concept of man as an
individual within a larger social context, seeing human nature as
dualistic, flawed, and needing to be curbed by reason and decorum.
Characteristics of Neoclassicism
● In style, neoclassicists continued the Renaissance value of balanced
antithesis, symmetry, restraint, and order.
● Additionally, they sought to achieve a sense of refinement, good taste,
and correctness.
● Their clothes were complicated and detailed, and their gardens were
ornately manicured and geometrically designed.
● They resurrected the classical values of unity and proportion and saw
their art as a way to entertain and inform, a depiction of humans as social
creatures, as part of polite society.
● Their manner was elitist, erudite, and sophisticated.
Characteristics of Neoclassicism
Characteristics of Neoclassicism
The main Neoclassical movement coincided with the 18th-century
Age of Enlightenment, and continued into the early 19th century,
laterally competing with Romanticism.
The age is also known as :
○ “neo” (new) + classical
○ “period of Enlightenment”
○ “age of reason”
○ “era of logic”
Characteristics of Neoclassicism
● Literature of this age is concerned with “nature “ human nature,
Supremacy of reason.
● Unity in the works of all writers.
● The age is known as classical age.
● The period is marked by the rise of Deism, intellectual backlash against earlier Puritanism and American’s
revolution against England.
● Neoclassical literature is characterized by order, accuracy, and structure.
regarding English literature is typically divided into three periods:
• The Restoration Age (1660–1700)- This period marks the British king’s restoration to the throne after a
long period of Puritan domination in England. Its characteresitics include the dominance of French and Classical influences on poetry and drama. Restoration literature continued to appeal to heroic ideals of love and honour, particularly on stage, in heroic tragedy. In poetry, the classical forms of the
heroic couplet and the ode became popular. With the opening of the theatres appeared plays written in couplets and others in prose that fell in the category of the comedy of manners.
• The Augustan Age (1700–1750)
• It is called Augustan because King George I wanted his subjects to become as under Augustus Caesar. This period is marked by the imitation of Virgil and Horace.
• Imitation and Satire, Epic and Mock Epic
• In this second period flourished the poetry of Alexander Pope, with his
exquisite mastery of the couplet in Essay on Man (1734);
• Many of Pope’s lines became famous sayings that are familiar in
modern times such as this one from Essay on Criticism (1711):
‘‘Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.’’
• Also in the Augustan Age the rise of journalism and its way of evolving
into and shaping fiction writing is visible in the work of Daniel Defoe,
who began as a pamphleteer and ended by securing his place in the
canon of great novelists with such famous works as Robinson Crusoe
(1719) and Moll Flanders (1722), which are fictions appearing to be
autobiographical.
• The Age of Johnson (1750– 1798)
The Age of Johnson
• This period marks the transition toward the upcoming Romanticism
though the period is still largely Neoclassical. Much was happening
around the world politically, such as both the American and French
Revolutions.
• This time marked a transition in English literature from the structure
and formality of the Neoclassical writers to the emotional, ungoverned
writings of the Romantics.
Literary Trends
• The Age of Johnson was dominated by Samuel Johnson and the
consummate work of his is The Dictionary of the English Language
(1745–1755).
• In drama, the comedy of manners continued to be popular, but in
poetry, there was a rise of the ballad and sentimental poetry as written
by Thomas Gray, William Cowper, Robert Burns, and George Crabbe,
which in some ways anticipates the style and sentiment of the
romantics to follow.
• Additionally, there appeared the novel of sensibility, particularly the
work of Horace Walpole and Ann Radcliffe, which in their
sensationalism and emotionality anticipate the Gothic novel of the
nineteenth century.
Conclusion
● The Neoclassical era in literature brought a sense of decorum and
stability to writers.
● There were rules to be carefully followed, and there was structure
to be upheld.
● People praised wit and parody, as well.
● It was a time of careful moral appearances, though appearances
were more valued than honesty