Augustan Age 1688-1776

Augustan Age 1688-1776

1688 James II removed: bloodless revolution

1689 Bill of rights

1707 Act of Union: Scotland part of UK

1714 Hanovers ascend the throne

1746 Stuarts defeated at Culloden

1764-75 Industrial revolution

1776 American indipendence

throne by James II to William of Orange to Queen Anne to (Hanovers) George I;

when J II converted to Catholicism he was strongly opposed. However, everybody expected the throne to pass to 1 of the king's Protestan daughters from his 1st marriage. The situation changed when his 2nd wife gave him a son: the Parliament offered the trhone to William & Mary of Orange under the condictions defined in the Bill of Rights:

- the crown cannot change a law nor keep an army without Parliament's consent;

- Parliament can leave taxes & control over governmaent finance;

- Parliament is freely elected and it enjoys freedom of speech;

- 1701 addiction: only protestant heirs can ascend the throne;

Robert Walpole (Prime minister - mercantile expansion - British Empire);

Captain Cook (Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Ocean Islands);

The social context

Political stability, expanding colonial empire & technological progress contribuited to the growth of Britain: economy flourished, towns increased in size, bridges & canels were built, the 1sts technological inventions (in textile & transport sectors) were introduced.

There was an increasing shift of population from countryside to the towns: because of the continuation of the practice of enlosing common lands and the decreased need for manaual labour caused by the application of technology in the farms.

The balance of economic and political power passed from landed gentry to the urban mercantile classes of tradesmen & financiers. The rising middle class lacked social status. They looked to the aristocracy as a model of refinement. Their desire to be accepted into the aristocracy increased the demand for greater educational opportunities. Marriage between the rich daughters of the bourgeoisie and aristocrats became common.

The creation of circulating libraries, books a low cost, was an elementin social change and helped to spread literacy.

The cultural context

Age of Reason, of Enlightenment, Augustan, Neo-Classical Age. Prevalence of reason over feelings

Progress in natural science and in the application of acientific method to other areas of life. Newton. The religious fervour diminished, for a more ratinal approach to religious matters.

The Court lost its primacy as a cultural centre replaced by independent centres which developed around coffee house: meeting places for political, cultural and philosophical debates, from which journalism developed: encouraged the circolation of ideas and provided models of moral values. Another important centre was the Royal Society.

Writing became a profession and patrons began to disappear.

Satire was the most popular form both in poety and in prose.

Writers of the time looked upon Virgil, Horace as models. So the period was called neo-classical. This meant observing strict rules of metic and using a language elevated only appropriate for poetry.

Subjective, meditative & emotional trends were also present and culminated towards the end of the century with pre-romanticism: love of nature, interest in folklore and a tendency to mystery and melancholy.

This period is notable for the birth of a new genre, the novel.

The literary men felt that language needed rules. Latin with its regular grammar was the model. A dictionary was badly needed (Johnson's Dictionary).

In Scotland after the 2nd Jacobite uprising, Scots, the English dialect spoken by the Lowlanders, became predominant over Gaelic.

The development of Fiction

Factors which favoured the rise of th novel:

1st, the improvement in printing technology which made publishing cheaper & faster.

2nd, the increase in the number of middle class people who could read & write ( due to the expansion of the school system & the setting of lending libraries.

Fictional autobiographies of criminals enjoyed great popularity. Pilgrims Progress was the book most read.

The 18th century novel laid the foundations of the genre in terms of plot, cheracterisation, dialogue, use of narrator and the combination of humour, realism and serious moral concern. The novel is verey flexible as a literary form and in continuous renewal over time.

Horace Walpole created the tradition of the Gothic novel and established the main rules of this genre. Gothic novels are set in remote places, medieval castles, and include many inexplicable or supernatural events. The atmosphere is highly emotional & the main feeling are anxiety and terror. The characters are flat and divided into good and bad, while the main story is usually of an innocent girl pursued by a villain.

The devlelopment of poetry

The most valued ideals were harmony, clarity, proportion, correctness, technical perfection, elegance of language & of poetic diction.

Satire. The pastoral, a classical form which presents idealized situations of rural life set in the Arcadia of ancient Greece.

Classicsm were very evident in the work of 3 of the major poets of the age: John Dryden, the 1st Poet Laureate, a poet appointed by the king to write poems celebrating court & national events. A. Pope S. Johnson. Thomas Gray expressed renewed interst in nature & displayed attitudes which anticipate later literary tendencies, such as the search for solitude & a subjective dimension. His Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard is rightly considered a transitional poem.