Glorious Revolution & 18th Century

I. Historical Background

Politically: After Bourgeoi

s Revolution, the

Tory and Whig joined hands against tyranny and restoration of Catholicism, and welcomed to the throne Mary and her husband, William of Orange (Glorious Revolution/Bloodless Revolution) in 1688, thus ending the autocratic monarchy 君主独裁制 , replacing it with a constitutional monarchy 君主立宪制 .

I. Historical Background

• The power passed from the king gradually to the parliament and cabinet ministers.

• With it established the capitalist system once and for all in England

.

Stuart Dynasty Mary II and William III (1688-1694, -1702)Anne (1702-1714))

Hanoverian dynastyGeorge I (1714-1727)George II (1727-1760)George III (1760-1820)

Socially: Age of Bourgeoisie• The old aristocratic class was fast

loosing its power politically and economically to the rising urban middle class or bourgeoisie who worked hard, economized and accumulated great wealth and became the mainstay of the nation.

I. Historical Background

• The Puritan spirit of wisdom, diligence, honesty, and thriftiness contributed greatly to the development of the country. They accumulated more wealth and money, and their social status was raised.

Economically:• Industrial Revolution

the beginning of larger- scale manufacturing

• continued to expand its colonies abroad in Asia, Africa and North America, which led to social unrest in Scotland, Ireland, America

Ideologically: Age of EnlightenmentUnder the influence of scientific discoveries (Newton) and flourishing of philosophies,French enlightenment started. Enlightenment:• an intellectual movement beginning in

France and then spread throughout Europe.

• a continuation of Renaissance in belief in the possibility of human perfection through education

I. Historical Background

• the guiding principle or slogan is Ration/Reason, natural right and equality (American Independence War in 1776; French Revolution in 1789).

• Ration became standard for measurement of everything.

II. Literature: Age of Neoclassicism/ Age of Pope

Inspired by the spirit of Enlightenment,

• Better education facilitated by developing economy was available to more and more people, esp. middle-class men and women, more schools and social clubs were established.

• Ancient classic works and contemporary French works were models of writing.

II. Literature: Age of Neoclassicism/ Age of Pope

• New genres of literature appeared to satisfy middle-class readers:

• ---Periodicals (Tatler and Spectator) to write interesting sketches and stories, to entertain and teach

• ---Novels about middle class by middle class for middle class’s education

1. Neoclassicist poetry: 新古典主义 a) Upheld the classic principles of ration, morality, balance, unity, order, propriety, decorum, etc. b) Led by Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson c) Mock epics, romance, literary criticism, satires

2. Prose• Satire: Jonathan Swift’s “Proposal” and G

ulliver’s Travels• Journalism/Periodicals: Steels and Addiso

n’s literary journals • Realist novel: bourgeois in essence 写实 /

现 实主义小说 ---subject matter, ----readership, ----didactic purpose, ---form (prose, comic epic);

---Samuel Richardson’s Pamela (epistolary)

Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, Henry Fielding’s Joseph Andrews (comic epic in prose); Tom Jones (picaresque) Smollett (sea novel), Sterne(sentimentality) Goldsmith, etc.

• Gothic novel (from mid-18th-century) 哥特式小说

--- against the rigid rationality principle

--- emphasis on the irrational and dark

side of human nature: the imaginative,

the supernatural, the discarded Medieval castle

II. Literature: Age of Neoclassicism/ Age of Pope

---1st book: Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto(1764)

--- Ann Radcliffe the most successful: The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794)

---influenced the later generations:

Coleridge, Keats, Dickens, Bronte sisters, etc.

• Sentimentality literature 伤感文学 ---started by Samuel Richardson’s Pamel

a and Clarissa ---represented in novel form by Laurence Sterne ---represented in poetry by “The Graveyard School”: Thomas Gray, Edward Young

---emphasizing the emotion/heart instead of ration

---gradually merged into Romanticism

• Biography

James Boswell’s Life of Samuel Johnson

3. Drama• theatres moved from outskirts into the

cities; • tragedies replaced by comedies as

source materials and audience changed; to satirize the upper middle class people;

• the best playwrights Sheridan (The School for Scandal, The Rivals)

and Goldsmith (She Stoops to Conquer).

III. Text Study

Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) 1. A master of prose:“proper words in proper places”simple, direct, precise prose style: --- clear, simple and concrete diction 用词明了、简单、具体 --- uncomplicated sentence structure 简单句子结构 --- economy and conciseness of languag

e 语言简约

2. A master satirist:

usually masked by an outward gravity and

an apparent earnestness which render his

satire more powerful

III. Text Study

3. “A Modest Proposal”: p.84-87• a model satire• the most devastating protest against the in

human exploitation and oppression of the Irish people by the English ruling class

• the apparent eagerness, sincerity and detachment of the author adds to the bitter irony and biting sarcasm

A. Pope An Essay on Man p.89-90

T. Gray Elegy p.91-92 (Stanza 1-9)

Assignment for Next Week:

Assignment for Next Week:

Text study:

An Essay on Man by A. Pope (89-90)

• What is heroic couplet?

• What is the poetic pattern?

• What are the themes of the two extracts?

• Paraphrase the texts or tell in brief your interpretation.

Assignment for Next Week:

“Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” by Thomas Gray (91-92)

• What do you know of the Graveyard poetry?

• What is the poetic pattern?

• What is the predominant mood?

• What is the theme ?

• Summarize each stanza in your own words.