The document summarizes the key characteristics of the Transition age in England between 1745-1798. There were two main literary movements during this time - classicism led by Samuel Johnson, and a growing romantic movement influenced by Thomson's Seasons. Romanticism was characterized by a return to nature, interest in man's place in nature, sympathy for the poor, and revolt against conventions. Other trends included a revival of ballads and older authors through publications like Percy's Reliques, the growth of the novel genre focusing on domestic life, increased historical research led by Gibbon, and a decline of political writing causing writers to rely more on public demand.

1. The age of Transition ( 1745-
1798)
The characteristics of the Transition
age

2. 1) The double tendencies
• Two movements can be noticed clearly – classicism and
romanticism
• Dr. Samuel Johnson was the chief in classicism.
• The romantic reaction started by the work of Thomson’s Seasons in
1730.
• The romanticism characterized by following features,
• 1) Return to nature
• 2) A fresh interest in man’s position in the world of nature.
• 3) Sympathy for the poor and oppressed people.
• 4) Revolt against the conventional literary techniques and desire for
strength, simplicity and sincerity.
• 5) A love for supernatural stories, legends and the middle ages.

3. 2)The New learning
• The new learning took several channels. In
literature we have the revival of the romantic
movement, leading to…
• 1)Research into archaic literary forms such as
ballad.
• 2)New editions of the older authors, such as
Shakespeare and Chaucer.
• The publications of Bishop Percy’s Reliques
(1765), which contained some of the oldest and
most beautiful specimens of ballad- literature.

4. 3)The New Philosophy
• The spirit of new thinking, which received its
consummate expression in the works of
Voltaire was marked by keen scepticism and
the zest for eager inquiry. Some destructive
spirit of disbelief would injure the Romantic
ideal, which delights in illusion. But finally the
new spirit actually assisted the romantic ideal
by demolishing and clearing away heaps of
the ancient mental lumber, and so leaving the
ground clear for new and fresher creations.

5. 4) The New realism
• We have the astonishing development of the
novel, which at first concerned itself with
domestic incidents. Fielding and his kind dealt
very faithfully with human life. In the widest
sense of the world, however, the novelist were
romanticists, for in sympathy and freshness of
treatment they were followers of the new
ideal.

6. 5) The growth of historical research
• The eighteenth century witnessed the swift
rise of historical literature to a place of great
importance. The historical school had a
glorious leader in Gibbon, who was nearly, as
much at home in the French language as he
was in English. The romantics loved history for
its own sake and not to find any authority in it.

7. 6) Decline of political writing
• With the partial decay of the party spirit the
activity in pamphleteering was over; poets
and satirists were no longer the favorites of
Prime Minister Walpole who openly despised
the literary breed, for he did not need them.
Hence writers had to depend on their public,
which was not entirely evil. This caused the
rise of the men of letters, such as Johnson and
Goldsmith, who wrote to satisfy a public
demand.

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