18th century poetry

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Characteristics

description

Characteristics of literature in the eighteenth century

Transcript of 18th century poetry

Page 1: 18th century poetry

Characteristics

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18th century English poetry was political, satirical, and marked by the central philosophical problem of whether the individual or society took precedence as the subject of verse.

Intellectual passion is the main event in this century.

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The entire century's poetry was dominated by Alexander Pope. Since Pope began publishing when very young and continued to the end of his life, his poetry is a reference point in any discussion of the eighteenth century poetry.

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From a technical point of view, few poets

have ever approached Alexander Pope's

perfection in metric ("heroic verse"), and his

lines were repeated often enough to lend

quite a few clichés and proverbs to modern

English usage.

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In this period of time, and that is what Pope shows with his technical perfection, reason over feelings is the most important thing for every author.

Verses are extremely well worked in rythm, rhyme and metric.

The subjects are mainly about practical and reasonable things.

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Awake, my ST. JOHN! leave all meaner things To low ambition, and the pride of Kings. Let us (since Life can little more supply Than just to look about us and to die)

Expatiate free o'er all this scene of Man; A mighty maze! but not without a plan;

A Wild, where weeds and flow'rs promiscuous shoot, Or Garden, tempting with forbidden fruit.

Together let us beat this ample field, Try what the open, what the covert yield;

The latent tracts, the giddy heights explore Of all who blindly creep, or sightless soar; Eye Nature's walks, shoot Folly as it flies, And catch the Manners living as they rise;

Laugh where we must, be candid where we can; But vindicate the ways of God to Man. Say first, of God above, or Man below,

What can we reason, but from what we know? Of Man what see we, but his station here, From which to reason, or to which refer?

Thro' worlds unnumber'd tho' the God be known, 'Tis ours to trace him only in our own.