Reason and common sense

Reason and common sense

When Queen Anne died George of Hanover became king, under the name of George I, he was the first of Hanover dynasty. He could speak no English an preferred Germany to England, so he was unpopular.

His accession has come to be considered the beginning of the Augustan Age for the political stability and power as well as a flourish of the arts that remember the roman period. The values was  wise traditionalism, elegance and wit.

The political institutions were hierarchical, hereditary and privileged. Elections were largely controlled by the local landowners since voting was not secret.

Eighteenth-century society championed individualism, seizing opportunities in sector of economy which provided scope for initiative, enterprise and enrichment.

This Age was in many way open and free. Enlightened thinkers (Locke, Addison and Goldsmith) rejected  the strict and pessimistic values of Puritanism. They believe in the new view of the world with affirmed free-will, salvation for all, the goodness of mankind, and its capacity for progress.

Many people claimed the right to personal fulfilment, gayety and fun. They trusting on their own and reason made them different from beast.

This vision of the world accounts for the essential qualities the Augustans looked for in literature. They were interested in real life, in recognisable facts of their own existence.

In Arts were a desire for balance, symmetry and refinement, connected with imitation of nature.

Virtue had to particular meanings: 1) Disposition of benevolence towards oneself and others 2) culture of the heart, sensibility and private judgement.

The first Hanoverians

There were two political parties: the Tories (Conservative) they descended by Royalist, taken their name from Irish outlaws and believe in divine right of monarchy and opposed the religious toleration; the Church of England and landowners side with them. They enjoyed a period of power during the reign of Queen Anne but decline with Hanoverian succession; The Whigs (rude name for "cattle drivers") descended from Parliamentarians they were in power for 56 years under Hanover and pressed for industrial and commercial development, a vigorous foreign policy and religious toleration. They were supported by many of wealthy and commercial classes.

Whigs minister use meet without the king, this meeting take name of Cabinet. At first al minister were equal but after one of them began to lead the other; Prime minister.

-Robert Walpole was the first prime minister, he was a Whigs, son of Norfolk landowners. He was in power for over 20 years. His policy keep out England from foreign conflict so that trade could flourish and taxes could be kept down. He remove duties on export and import of raw material, but taxed chocolate, coffee and the. He was accused of corruption by the opposition, but he survived a change of king. The new King relied more on Walpole and gave him hose in Westminster. Under Walpole Coal was mined extensively and cloth-making was national industry.

When William Pitt entered the parliament started a mercantilist policy, to make England strong and competitive country.  New values was wealth, prestige and power. In this period England expanded its possessions in India, North America, and the Caribbean's.

-In the 18^th century the expansion of middle class continued. The wealthy merchants controlled the most productive trades, supported Walpole and often gain prestige and enable their children to marry in the aristocracy.

The Artisans and craftsmen filled the gap between aristocracy and poor. They worked long hours with low wage. Below them was the mass of the urban population who had no political rights and lived inb terrible conditions. Disease like smallpox, scurvy and typhus affected the poorest areas. Half of children die before five years old, when they survive where hired by parishes, many of them became chimney-sweepers.. For adults people parishes built the workhouse where they were hired out to factory owners. Many became alcoholic and organised crime grew.

In the countryside enclosure system affected the life. On one hand, it caused misery for great many of labourers who, dispossessed of the communal open fields, were to become the urban proletariat. On the other hand, it led to improvement of farming methods.

-The coffeehouses were one of most significant traits of London's social life. Their functions were very similar to that of the theatre in Elizabethan Age. The CH were associated with news and gossip and provided entertainments.

This place became the gathering points for artist, thinker and poet where they can exchanged opinions meet other people. The coffeehouses were exclusively attended by men.

The rise of the novel

The literature of the Augustan Age was characterised by many kind of genres, which reflected the economic and intellectual progress of the period. Lending or circulating libraries stoked all types of literature and had moderately priced, they acquired great importance and led to an increase in the reading public.

The belief in the power of reason and the individual's trust in his own abilities found expression in the novel. Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe) and Samuel Richardson are regarded as fathers of the English novel, they didn't constitute a literary school. The novelist was the spokesman of middle classes and novel was directed to a bourgeois public.

Novel had various form: Richardson's with sentimental novel, Defoe's with realistic one, Jonathan Swift with the satirical novel and Fielding's the mock-epic one.

The writers primary aim was to write in a simple way in order to be understood even by less well-educated readers. The booksellers, not the patron, rewarded the writers.

The writers aimed at realism, that it was not linked to the kind of life presented, but to the way it was shown.

The subject of the novel was the "bourgeois man" and his problem, he had contemporary names, to reinforce realism. Usually was used the chronological sequence of events and reference were made to particular times of the year or of the day. The writers was omnipresent and the narrator omniscient, and he never abandoned his characters.

Types of novel

Novels can be categorised for historically and technically:

-Satirical novel attacks vices and follies, either of individuals or of whole groups. It's tools are those of ridicule, exaggeration and contempt (Jonathan Swift's Gulliver Travels)

-Epistolary novel is told through letters exchanged between different characters (Richardson's Pamela and Clarissa). The most impressive features were the personal insight and dramatic effectiveness.

-Gothic novel is linked to a revival of interest in the gothic style and architecture. This type of novel flourished for a limited period, but some gothic elements still survive in today's horror productions.

-in The novel of formation one characters develop from early youth to some of maturity. (Dickens and Joyce)

-The regional novel focuses its attention on the life of a particular geographical region.

-The modernist novel underline the importance of the flow of images, memories, feelings, associations and expectations caused by an external event in a person's mind.

-The anti-utopian novel reflects a states of social and political tension and it contains elements of farce, fantasy, satire or sarcasm.

The features of a narrative text

The setting is the place and the time of the story. Place setting can be interior or exterior (description of landscape, interiors and object).Time setting refers season, day, year or social historical contest.

Story/plot

The story was a sequence of events, not always presented in chronological order. (flashback, anticipations or digression). The chronological succession was the plot

Point of view is the angle from which the scene is described and the story told.

First person narrator, which employs the I mode, can coincide with any characters or the author. The function are: 1)bring the reader close to the mind of narrator 2) convey an impression of reality 3)restrict the reader's view.

Third-person narrator know everything about the actions and the characters, was called omniscient. He can be "obtrusive" when he make personal remarks and digressions or "unobtrusive" when he doesn't interfere whit the story.

Characters. The description of C can be direct (trough description of narrator) or indirect (when the readers has to infer the features of a characters from his action). Characters can be Round or Flat

Theme is the ideas the author tries to convey by means of the story.