The document summarizes the Neoclassical period in literature from 1660-1790. It was divided into three stages: the Restoration period from 1660-1700 which saw a dominance of French and classical influences; the Augustan Age which imitated the style of ancient Roman writers like Virgil and Horace; and the Age of Johnson in the mid-1700s. Major writers of the period included John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, and Daniel Defoe who wrote works like Absalom and Achitophel, The Rape of the Lock, Gulliver's Travels, and Robinson Crusoe. The Neoclassical period was characterized by an emphasis on reason and order as well

1. Neo classical literature
A.M.CK.ABEYSEKARA
SSH/11/12/006
SH/2656
UNIVERSITY OF RAJARATA
SRILANKA

3. NEO CLASSICAL AGE
• The Renaissance (c. 1485-1660)
• Neo classical (c.1660-1790)
• Romantic era. (c. 1790-1830)

4. NEO CLASSICAL
(1660-1790)
• “Neo” + “classical”
(New) (Roman & Greek classics)
• Thus the combination of the terms 'neo,' which means 'new,' and
'classical,' as in the day of the Roman and Greek classics.
 period of enlightenment
 age of reason
 era of logic

5. Three stages
• Three distinct stages :
(1).Restoration period
(2).The Augustan period
(3).Age of Johnson

7. Restoration Period
• 1660 to 1700 - the period of Restoration.
• Because restoration of monarchy in England.
• Its symptoms include the dominance of French
& classical influence on literature
(poetry & drama)

8. Famous Writers of
Restoration Age.
• John Dryden
It is called the Age of Dryden, because Dryden
was the dominating and most representative
literary figure of the Age.
• John Milton

9. Absalom and Achitophel
• "Absalom and Achitophel" is one of Dryden's great
political satires.
• In "Absalom and Achitophel," Dryden comments on
(a) the Popish Plot
(1678: an alleged plot by Catholics to kill the king and make
England Catholic again)
-the Exclusion Crisis
(to keep Charles' Catholic brother, James, from inheriting
the throne after Charles' death)
(b)Monmouth Rebellion
(1685: an attempt to put the king's illegitimate son James,
Duke of Monmouth on the throne)

10. Cont.
• He frames these contemporary events in terms of the
biblical story of King David and his rebellious son
Absalom.
• Biblical narratives would have been very familiar to
contemporary audiences.

12. Augustan Age
• literary period of Virgil, Horace and Ovid
under the Roman emperor Augustus.
• self-conscious imitation of the original
Augustan writers
• has been called,
- the Augustan Age
-the Neoclassical Age
-the Age of Reason.

13. Famous Writers
• Alexander Pope
• He is the dominant figure who associated with
the epoch known as the Augustan Age,
• Jonathan Swift
Gulliver’s travel
A modest proposal
• Daniel Defoe

14. Pop’s Literary Work
• The Rape of the Lock (1714)
• translated the Iliad and the Odyssey
• Essay on criticism
• Prologue of wife of bath

15. The Rape of the Lock
• Mock –heroic Masterpiece (1714)
– = speaks of a trivial matter
– epic poems → the effect is comical.
A nobleman cut a lock of hair from the head of Lady
Arabella Fermor. This caused an argument between
the two respective families and Pope, who was a
friend of both of them wrote this poem to make
them laugh and reconcile.
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16. Robinson Crusoe By De-Foe
• form of fictional autobiography or diary
• who manages to survive for years without any
human companionship.
• different ways that men cope with reality when
hardship comes.
• creating his own reality, rescuing a savage.
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18. The Age of Johnson
• “The Age of Sensibility”
• middle of the eighteenth century until 1798.
• Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)-
poet, critic, and author of fiction,

19. Cont.
• William Collins
• William Cowper
• Thomas Gray
• Christopher Smart
are also attributed to the Age of Sensibility.