18TH CENTURY – HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Political - political changes, establishment of constitutional monarchy, creation of
the Kingdom of Great Britain – Hanoverian succession – rise of the parliament
Religious – dominance of the church of England but dissenting groups allowed to
follow their ideologies – Tolerance Acts – religious discourses and debates
Social – rise of the middle class – urbanisation – colonial expansion
Literary - Influence of Enlightenment - emphasis on reason, science, and skepticism,
focus on individual rights and the scientific methods – novel as a dominant literary
genre – journalistic literature – newspapers, periodicals, pamphelets
Economical – mercantilism – agricultural revolution- beiginning of the industrial
revolution
1. Political Literature
Unprecedented growth
Background – rise of the parliament, Tolerance Acts, Expiry of the Licensing
Acts, Elections
Genres – Newspapers, pamphlets, periodicals, essays
Political essays by Daniel Dafoe and Jonathan Swift (anonymous works)
Increase in literarcy rates – demand of reading material – growth of new
literature – literary and social criticism
Descriptive, reformative –
Richard Steele – new topics fashion, commerce, science, society
Joseph Addision – critical appreciation of Milton’s PARADISE LOST – great
source of religious wisdom – a great English epic
Alexander Pope – AN ESSAY ON LITERARY CRITICISM – Literary criticism –
didactic poem in heroic couplet – deals with poetic rules, style, rules for
literary criticism
2. Satire
A literary device – political and social commentary using exaggeration, irony,
humour, allegory etc to highlight and corrrect the shortcomings , flaws of a
character, institution or society
Both in fiction and non-fiction
Satire and Social Critique - criticism of social and political issues
Origin – Ancient Roman critics – Horatian Satire (playful, mild, light-hearted)-
Juvenalian Satire (bitter and ironic) – Menippean Satire (psychological)
PROSE : Jonathan Swift’s GULLIVER’S TRAVELS (child fiction) and A MODEST
PROPOSAL (essay) (add few details)
POETRY : Pope’s THE RAPE OF THE LOCK (narrative – mock-epic) (add few
lines about this text)
3. Novel
Portrayal of Gender Roles and Female authors
Rise of the Novel (realism, precision -essaywriting during the 17th Century)
Epistolary novels, sentementalism
establishment of reading clubs, coffee houses and literary salons
Realism and Everyday life - everyday life and realistic characters, away from
fantasy (Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Dafoe)
Epistoalry Form - in the form of letters, personal narrative (Pamela by Samuel
Richardson)
Social Critique and Satire - satirical tone, critique on social norms, criticism on
institutions (Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift)
Didacticism - moral lessons and guidance (Tom Jones by Henry Fielding)
Rise of the Bildungsroman - based on the development of the protagonist
(Josephy Andrews by Henry Fielding)
Sentimental Novels - emotional experiences, feelings and emotional depth
(Clarissa by Samuel Richardson)
Female authors - insight into female experiences (mention female authors
