The RestorationIntroduction to the Literary Period

Key Concept: Order and Reason

Key Concept: Social Classes

Key Concept: Values and Beliefs

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History of the Times

• Five years later, London suffers an outbreak of plague, and the Great Fire ravages city in 1666.

• In 1660, after twenty years of civil war and Puritan dictatorship, England is ready for stability and the return of Charles II.

Key Concept: Order and Reason

• The Glorious Revolution of 1688 enables William and Mary to take the throne without bloodshed.

• Parliament becomes more powerful; a two-party system emerges. The Age of Reason ushers in era of scientific and rational thought.

• Neoclassical writers revive standards of order found in classical literature of ancient Rome.

• The emphasis on cleverness, or wit, is intended for the upper classes.

Literature of the Times• Restoration literature is influenced

by French classical ideas.

• Journalism emerges as a new form of writing.

Key Concept: Order and Reason

• Writers Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift use satire in their works.

• Industrialization created overcrowded slums and wretched working conditions.

• The poor lived in sewage-strewn streets or rat-filled tenements. Children had to work.

History of the Times

• The hereditary nobility at the top of the system indulged in elegance and excess.

• The social order of Restoration England was based on the class system.

Key Concept: Social Classes

• Physicians served only the rich. Seventy-four percent of children died before age 5.

• On the stage, the comedy of manners appealed to men and women of fashion.

Literature of the Times

• The most successful literary form was the drama. Lavish theater dramas reflected the sophistication of Charles’s court.

• After the return of Charles II, English writers were receptive to French wit and literary taste.

Key Concept: Social Classes

• The novel finds an audience in the middle class.

• Protestants who remained outside the Anglican church were known as Dissenters.

• As the state religion, the Anglican church dominated religious life.

Literature of the Times

• Prominent writers of this period were Roman Catholics and Dissenters.

• Many were denied public office and university education despite ample talents.

Key Concept: Values and Beliefs

The End