NEO CLASSICAL AGE
INTRODUCTION
Age of pope, broadly speaking, covers the Period from 1702 to 1740. It is called the Classical or Neo Classical or Pseudo-classical or Falsely Classical Age. It is also known as the Augustan Age in English literature. The writers of this period in England sought to emulate the styles of Virgil, Horace, Cicero, and other authors from the age of Augustus Caesar in Rome. These writers of Rome themselves imitated the classical Greek writers of a few centuries earlier. English writers of this era believed they had attained perfection in literature and social manners. For nearly a century, reason and critical habits suppressed emotion and creative spirit. The age has truly been called Pseudo Classical or Falsely Classical Age because it was essentially a second hand Augustanism and a third hand classicism. Furthermore, it is called classical as opposed lo Elizabethan romanticism because it reacts against the Elizabethans in its imitation of the ancients through Greece, Rome and France classicism was, thus, both a revolt and a revival. It was a revolt against the Elizabethan romanticism and it was a revival of the ancient classical spirit of Greece and Rome.
In its popular literary connotation, the term classicism stands for qualities such as restraint, simplicity, dignity, peacefulness, restfulness and reason. The characteristic of classicism is perfection of form. The writers of this age subordinated to, the whole. The literature of this age maintains a balance of matter and form. The artist delights in “what was oft thought but ne’er so well expressed.”
CHARACTERISTICS
(1) THE RISE OF THE POLITICAL PARTIES:
Politically seen, the most important features of the Neo-Classical age are the rise of the two political partics, the Whigs and the Tories. Their opinions were clearly different. They often look the authors’ support to spread their ideas. As a result, most men of letters showed a strong political bias. The authors fiercely satirized and unduly praised their leaders under disguised names. In order mastery in political struggle, both parties issued a large number of periodicals that became the mouthpieces of their political opinions. Thus, there can be seen the rise of the periodical essay and journalism.
In the words of Stopford A Brooke:
“Being a party literature, it naturally came to study and to look sharply into human character and into human life as seen in the great city. It debạted subjects of literary and scientific inquiry and philosophy with great ability, but without depth….”
(2) INFLUENCE OF CLUBS AND COFFEE HOUSES ON LITERATURE:
A great interest was shown by people of that time in political activity. As a result, there was the great addition to the number of political clubs and coffee houses. They were dominated by one of the parties. They gave rise to purely literary associations. Richard Steele in his Tatler announced that the activities of his new Journal would be based upon the clubs. The rising interest in politics coupled with the decline of drama resulted in a remarkable increase in the size of the reading public. As a result, a large number of people took interest in publishing translations.
(3) THE POETRY OF THE NEO-CLASSICAL AGE:
Neo-classical poetry of England or the age of Queen Anne and George I has all these qualities. It is didactic and moral. It is mainly rational and intellectual. It focuses solely on the artificial life of the upper classes in the city of London. Its form and diction is as artificial is its theme. It is far removed trom nature. It confines itself only to the heroic Couplet. It disregards the music and melody of ancient English meters. In the Neo-classical age, the heroic couplet became the dominant measure and was used for drama, satire, descriptive verse and narrative verse. John Dryden too used it in his verse. It was Alexander Pope who perfected it. He used it in all his significant poems such as The Rape of the Lock, The Dunciad, An Essay on Man and An Essay on Criticism.
One such example is as follows;
We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow
Our wiser sons. no doubt will think us so.
(4) THE AGE OF PROSE AND REASON:
The major prose writers of the age are Daniel Defoe, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele and Swift. It is the primarily an age of prose. In the field of fiction, the age is rich and has given birth to great four wheels of novels. They are Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding and Lawrence Stern and Tobias Smollett. It was not a glorious period in English drama. Its greatest achievements are found in prose. Defoe is a Voluminous writer who wrote over two hundred books and pamphlets. Addison wrote numerous essays, poems, and plays. Matthew Arnold rightly calls the eighteenth century An Age of Prose. The literature of this period is prosaic in spirit.
W H Hudson opines,
“It is a literature of intelligence, of wit, and of fancy, not a literature of emotion, passion or creative energy and in it spontaneity and simplicity are sacrificed to the dominant mahia for elegance and correctness.”
(5) SATIRE:
There was the dominance of satire in the age. This resulted from the unfortunate union of politics with literature. Almost every writer in the first half of the 18th century was utilized and rewarded by either the Whigs or Tories to satirize their opponents and promote their political agendas. Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Pope’s The Dunciad and The Rape of the Lock and The Spectator of Joseph Addison and Richard steele are the best examples of satire in thie age. Dryden used this powerful weapon in his famous works like Absalom and Achitophel and Mac Flecknow. Their satires are, no doubt, best in English language but they cannot be placed with great English literature.
(6) THE LITERATURE OF TOWN LIFE:
The literature of ihe Neo- classical period was much concerned with the life in London and with details of dress and manners. Often the Neo- classical writers used social events and controversies of the day in their poetry. Some very good examples of this style are Dryden’s famous satires Absalom and Achitophel and Mac Flecknow. Pope’s The Rape of the Lock is based on an actual incident at London Society. The Rape of the Lock was written with a purpose behind it. In the time of Pope, two well- known families were not having good relationship with each other. The reason was very trivial. One Lord Peter cut the lock of Miss Arabella Fermour. This made her angry. As a result, the two families did not have a good relationship with each other. Pope was asked to lighten the thing by writing a poem. The outcome was “The Rape of the Lock.” it is a mock heroic epic and one of the best things written in English literature.
CONCLUSION
To sum up, the Neo-classical age is the triumph of English prose. New political and social conditions of the time demanded expression not simply in books but also in pamphlets, magazines and newspapers. Poetry was not enough for this task. Therefore, prose developed rapidly and excellently. The poetry of the age was dominated by satire and so was of didactic nature. It played upon the surface of life and ignored the primary human emotions and feelings.
