Augustan Literature. Satires and Essays

7/29/2019 Augustan Literature. Satires and Essays

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Augustan Literature

Satires and Essays


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Augustan

early 18th

-century Britain ~ the RomanEmpire under Emperor Augustus (27 B.C.

14 A. D.)

Queen Anne

(1702-1714)George I of Hanover

(1714 - 1727)

Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus

(63 A.D.14 B. C.)

George II (1727 -

1760)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/53/Queen_Anne.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Aug11_01.jpg


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Sir Robert Walpole(1676 - 1745)

An age of political stability and

party politicsWhigs versus

Tories, under a Constitutional

Monarchy

An age of Empiricism andExperimental Science

An age of religiousaccommodation rather thandogmatism with theoccasional Evangelical Revival.

An age of economic growth andstock booms and busts

The South Sea Bubble,1720

An age of world wars andpolitical expansion

War of the SpanishSuccession, 1701-1713

Seven Years War, 1756-1763

An age of increasing Literacy

(60+ % of adult males by1800?)

John Wesley (1703-1791), founder ofMethodism


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Augustan Literature

1700 1745 (death of Pope and Swift, 1744-45)

it refers back to the heyday of classical writing,represented by the works of the Latin poets of

the GoldenAge: Virgil

Horace

Ovid

Tibullus.

Authors in this period gained inspiration from thegreat writers of the past classical age and followedtheir examples.

Publius Ovidius

Naso (43 BC

17/18 AD)

Publius Vergilius Maro

(70 19 B.C.) Quintus Horatius

Flaccus (65-8 B.C.)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Publius_Vergilius_Maro1.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Latin_Poet_Ovid.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Latin_Poet_Ovid.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Latin_Poet_Ovid.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Latin_Poet_Ovid.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Latin_Poet_Ovid.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Publius_Vergilius_Maro1.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Publius_Vergilius_Maro1.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Publius_Vergilius_Maro1.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Publius_Vergilius_Maro1.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Latin_Poet_Ovid.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Publius_Vergilius_Maro1.jpg


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Literary Background

Neoclassicism reaches its peak.

Art is pragmatic, and man is its most appropriate subject.

Literature reaches out to a wider circle of readers, withspecial satirical attention to what is unfitting and wrong.

The influence is felt within the works of: Alexander Pope

Jonathan Swift

Joseph Addison and Richard Steele

The rise of the novel witnesses to the same neoclassictendencies (Defoe, Richardson, Fielding).


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Poetry

Satires and Essays


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Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

1709 Pastorals

1711 An Essay on Criticism 1713Windsor Forest

1714Rape of the Lock

1715-1720 Translated the Iliad

1717 The Elegy to the Memory of

an Unfortunate Lady; Eloisa toAbelard

1725-1726 Translated the Odyssey

1725 EditedThe Works ofShakespeare Collated and

Corrected 1728The Dunciad

1734 Essay on Man

1735 Imitations of Horace
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1c/WindsorGreatPark_LongWalk1.jpg


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Early poems

Pastorals (1709)

Windsor Forest (1713)

The Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady(1717)

Eloisa to Abelard (1717)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/62/Eternal_sunshine_of_the_spotless_mind_ver3.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1c/WindsorGreatPark_LongWalk1.jpg


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Satires

The Rape of theLock (1712,1714)

The Dunciad(1728, 1743)


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The Rape of the Lock Prompted by an actual incident in polite

society (Robert, Lord Petre MissArabella Fermour)

A mock-epic (mock-heroic) poem It echoes the Iliad, the Aeneid,

Paradise Lost.

It invokes classic epic devices:invocation of a deity, a formalstatement of theme, the division intobooks and cantos, grandiose speeches,battles, supernatural machinery

It bears upon a trivial subject: thecutting off of a lock of hair

It functions as: A satire on the trivialities of fashionable

life

A commentary on the distorted moralvalues of polite society

An implicit indictment of human pride

Arabella Fermor

(1696-1737)


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Characters and Plot Belinda Beautiful young lady with

wondrous hair, two locks of whichhang gracefully in curls.

The Baron Young admirer ofBelinda who plots to cut off one ofher locks.

Ariel Belinda's guardian sylph(supernatural creature).

Umbriel Mischievous spirit who

enters the cave of the Queen ofSpleen to seek help for Belinda.

Queen of Spleen Underworldgoddess who gives Umbriel gifts forBelinda.

Clarissa Young lady who gives the

Baron scissors. Thalestris Friend of Belinda.

Thalestris urges Sir Plume to defendBelinda's honor.

Sir Plume Beau of Thalestris. Hescolds the Baron.

Sylphs, Fairies, Genies, Demons,Phantoms and Other SupernaturalCreatures

Canto 1: Belinda wakes up,glorifies her appearance at a

ritualistic dressing table and iswarned by Ariel of impendingdoom.

Canto 2: She takes a boat ride upthe Thames to attend a party (boththe Sun and the Baron become

victims of her beauty.) Canto 3: At the party she engages

in the epic game (plays cards, sipscoffee, flirts and gossips) and theBaron cuts off the lock.

Canto 4: Umbriel journeys to the

Cave of Spleen to procure a sackof sighs and a flask of tears.

Canto 5: A battle ensues betweenheroines and heroes to recover thelock. The violated lock reappears inheaven, transformed into a new

star.


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Epic Mock-epic

Iliad, Aeneid, Paradise Lost The Rape of the Lock

Invocation of a muse Invocationof his friend(John Caryll)

The Arming of the Hero Toilet [dressing] scene

Aeneas voyage up the

Tiber

Belindas voyage up the

Thames

Battle Card Game

Meddling Gods and

Goddesses

Spirits (Sylphs and

Gnomes)

The Journey to the

Underworld

The Cave of Spleen

Rape of Helen & Fall of Cut of lock


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The Heroic Couplet

Whether the Nymph shall break Diana's Law,

Or some frail China Jar receive a Flaw,

Or stain her Honour, or her new Brocade,

Forget her Prayer's, or miss a Masquerade,

Or lose her Heart, or Necklace, at a Ball...

(Canto II, lines 103-9)


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The Dunciad

Written and recast and thenenlarged

1728: the "three book" Dunciad(Pope was member of theMartinus Scriblerus Club)

1735: the Dunciad Variorum(Pope confirmed authorship).

1743: the New Dunciad, in fourbooks, with a different hero.

Struggle against ignorance,dullness and emptiness /

Personal attacks on personalenemies

Gives (in the neoclassical spirit)a broad satirical picture of thewhole literary life in the 18th-century England
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Dunciad_Cibber_illustration_1760.jpg


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Subject of satire: literary dullness

Personified as the goddess of Dulness,daughter of Chaos and Night, at warwith reason and with light.

Object of satire: Lewis Theobald(1688 1744), scholar and playwright,author ofShakespeare Restored, areaction to Alexander Pope's edition of

Shakespeare Tibbald: king of theDunces

Dunce: a slow-witted or stupid person John Duns Scotus (1265/66-1308)

Mock-epic structure: influenced byDrydens MacFlecknoe

Plot: The Goddess looks for a successor to

the throne of her kingdom

She chooses Tibbald

In honour of his coronation, she holdsheroic games.

He is then transported to the Temple ofDullness, where he has visions of thefuture.

Object of satire: Colley Cibber (1671

1757), actor-manager, playwright, andPoet Laureate, who had ridiculed oneof Popes plays Bays: king ofDunces

Adaptations and expansions of keypassages to fit Cibbers career

A darker tone overarching metaphor

of Cibber as Anti-Christ of Wit, ratherthan Classical hero of Dullness.

Apocalyptic ending:

She comes! she comes! the sable Thronebehold

OfNightPrimaeval, and ofChaosold! []Lo! thy dread Empire, CHAOS! is restor'd;

Light dies before thy uncreating word:

Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtainfall;

And Universal Darkness buries All. (629-

56)

The First Dunciad The New Dunciad


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Essays

Essay On Criticism (1711)

Essay On Man (1733-4)

Moral Essays (1731-5) Imitations of Horace (1733 5)


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Essay On Criticism

a compilation of Pope's variousliterary opinions;

a didactic poem in heroic couplets

discusses the rules of taste whichought to govern poetry, and which

enable a critic to make soundcritical judgments;

best authority the classicalauthors who dealt with the subject;

conclusion: the rules of the

ancients are in fact identical withthe rules of Nature ~ poetry andpainting, like religion and morality,actually reflect natural law.

First follow Nature, and your judgementframe

By her just standard, which is still thesame;

Unerring Nature, still divinely bright,

One clear, unchanged, and universal light,

Life, force, and beauty must to all impart,At once the source, and end, and test of

art.


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AnEssay on Man philosophical, in heroic couplets

influenced by deism attempt to justify theway of God to Man

addresses the question of human nature andthe potential for happiness

structure medieval doctrine of the GreatChain of Being

4 epistles:

I : the nature of man and his place in theuniverse

II : man as an individual

III : man in relation to human society,political and social hierarchies

IV: mans pursuit of happiness in thisworld

Conclusion: there exists an ordered universe which

possesses a coherent structure andfunctions in a rational fashion, accordingto natural laws designed by God

humanity should acknowledge itsinsignificant position in the greatercontext of creation in order to live happily

and virtuously on earth.

Know then thyself, presume not God to

scanThe proper study of Mankind is Man.Placed on this isthmus of a middlestate,

A Being darkly wise, and rudely great:[]

He hangs between; in doubt to act, orrest;In doubt to deem himself a God, orBeast;In doubt his mind and body to prefer;

Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err;[]

Created half to rise and half to fall;Great Lord of all things, yet a prey to all,Sole judge of truth, in endless errorhurl'd;

The glory, jest and riddle of the world.


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Prose

Periodical Essay

Prose Satire


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The periodical essay

17th-century background: 1645: the Oxford Gazette(first English newspaper) was

introduced;

1647: the Licensing Act established government control of thepress;

1681: The Observer;

1691: The Athenian Gazette;

1694: the Licensing Act expired.

Other changes:

Improvement of printing press technology; Rise of the burgeoning commercial class an audience with the

means, education, and leisure time to engage in reading.

Periodical culturenewspapers & magazines, both topical and

philosophical, and a freer and partisan press


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18th century developments

Established with theDaily Courant(the firsttrue daily) in 1702;

Reached maturity with

Addison and Steele's

Tatler(170911) andSpectator(171112)

Term: applied to any grouping of essays that appear serially

First use: George Colman the Elder and Bonnell Thornton in their

magazine the Connoisseur(1754-56)

But: serial essays had been published for half a century:

Joseph Addison Richard Steele
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:STEELE_Richard.jpg


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The Tatler

Edited by Richard Steele, and including contributions by Joseph Addison,the periodical appeared thrice weekly from 12 April 1709 to 2 January1711(271 issues.)

At first it took the form of a miscellany: accounts of manners and morals

literature

scholarship

news.

In time single essays, written in the voice ofIsaac Bickerstaff. Its avowed intention was to investigate manners and society, establishing

its principles of ideal behaviour, its concepts of a perfect gentleman andgentlewoman, and its standards of good taste.

Dueling, gambling, rakish behaviour, and coquettishness were criticized,and virtuous action was admired.

Numerous anecdotes and stories gave point to the moral codes advanced.

The periodical had an explicit Whig allegiance and was several timesdrawn into political controversy.


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The Spectator Founded jointly by Addison and Steele, it appeared daily -

except Sundays - for 555 issues, from 1 March 1711 to 6

December 1712. Stated goal: to edify and instruct morally and aesthetically

Form: one long essay, narrated by the fictitious Mr. Spectator a man of travel and learning, who frequents London as anobserver

Through him the readers were introduced to his small circle offriends (Mr. Spectators club): Sir Roger de Coverley the country squire and Tory foxhunter;

Will Honeycomb the gallant man-about-town;

Sir Andrew Freeport a Whig merchant and man of affairs;

Captain Sentry the retired soldier.

social-types meant to exemplify different modes of social conduct

The stories and the characters witty, sometimes satirical

observations of the contemporary scene attempted to teachlessons on the ro er behaviour of men and women in societ .


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The Prose Satire: Jonathan Swift

(1667 1745) Born in Ireland, of Anglo-Irish

parents

1689 went to England (secretaryto Sir William Temple, a diplomatand man of letters)

1695 ordained as a priest in theChurch of Ireland

Supported the Whigs, then theTories

Published many works, andedited the Examiner(chief Torynewspaper)

Loved two Esthers: EstherJohnsonStella / EstherVanhomrigh Vanessa

1714 returned to Ireland, installedas the Dean of St. Patrick'sCathedral in Dublin (to die like a

poisoned rat in a hole.)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Jonathan_swift.JPG


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Works Satires:

A Tale of a Tub The Battle of the Books A Modest Proposal A Meditation Upon a Broom-

Stick

Gullivers travels

Pamphlets: The Drapiers Letters The Abolishing of the

Christianity in England

On the conduct of the allies The Barrier Treaty The Public Spirit of the Whigs The Story of an Injured Lady

A Short View of the State ofIreland

Poems: A Beautiful Young Nymph

Going to Bed Cadenus and Vanessa A Description of a City Shower

Other: The Journal to Stella

Also wrote periodical essays,sermons, prayers, etc.


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A Tale of a Tub

It is a a satire on religiousexcess.

An allegorical tale the

adventures of three brothers,Peter, Martin and Jack

(Catholicism, Puritanism,

Anglicanism) and their treatment

of the coats (religious practices)inherited from their father (God)

through a Will (Bible).
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Tale-Title.gif


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The Battle of the Books

A satire indicting pride (believing

one's own age to be supreme) and

the inferiority of derivative works

a literal battle between books in the

King's Library, as ideas and authors

struggle for supremacy: Classical vs.modern authors, authors vs. critics.

An interpolated allegory of the spider

and the bee:

The bee (who gathers its materials

from nature and sings its drone song inthe fields) is like the ancients;

The spider (who kills the weak and

then spins its web (books of criticism)

from the taint of its own body) is like

the moderns and like critics.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/34/Swift-Battle.jpg


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A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of

Poor People from Becoming a Burden to their

Parents or to their Country

satirical essay ironically and paradoxicallysuggesting the poor in Ireland could sell theirchildren as food to rich people

Narrator parodies the style of contemporary projectors (authors of

pamphlets writing in accordance to the rules of rhetoric: statingthe case, establishing that they have no interest in the outcome,and then offering a solution before enumerating the profits of theplan.)

goes to great lengths to support a logical argument whoseproposed solution (cannibalism) is immoral:

"A young healthy child well nursed, is, at a year old, a mostdelicious nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed,roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally

serve in a fricassee, or a ragout."-


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Gullivers Travels

Travels into Several Remote Nations of theWorld, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver,First a Surgeon, and then a Captain ofseveral Ships,

a satire on human nature

a parody of the "travellers' tales" literary sub-

genre. structured in 4 parts / books


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Part I: A Voyage to Lilliput

1) Lilliput Court of Lilliput // court ofGeorge I

Lilliputians vs their neighbours theBlefuscudans // feuding betweenEngland and France, or betweenCatholics and Protestants

Allegory of mans pettiness andgreed


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Brobdingnag the giant people

Turned into the Kings pet

Occasion to discuss English and

European systems of government

Allegory of his pride and belief inmans superiority on all other

creatures (another form of

Part II: A Voyage toBrobdingnag

Part III: A Voyage to Laputa


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Absent-minded astronomers, philosphersand scientists

Lagado Academy: satire on the RoyalSociety and its experiments

Absurdity and evils of reason when

wrongly used attack on intellectuals and scientists tendency totheorize everything (abstract thought) instead of applyingtheir knowledge to practical needs

satire on 17th- and 18th-century philosophicalmovements of rational thought

Part III: A Voyage to Laputa,Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdrib,

Luggnagg and Japan


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the Houyhnhnms

vs Yahoos // vile species of conscious

animals, grotesque images of men, hybridmonsters personifying the worst barbarityyet harmless

Disturbing experience: man is moresimilar to them than to the horses

Allegory of pure reason united with

common sense (perfection)

Part IV: A Voyage to the Countryof the Houyhnhnms


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Epilogue

Utterly pessimistic: he cannot standhis wife and childrens smell, seeingthem as Yahoos; he goes to live in

the stable hyperbole reductio ad absurdumof

contemporary reality

Desperate parable of mansprogress and ambitions

Accuse of misanthropy


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Construction

Each part is the reverse of the preceding part: Gulliver is big/small/sensible/ignorant;

the countries are complex/simple/scientific/natural;

forms of Government are worse/better/worse/better thanEngland's.

Gulliver's view between parts contrasts with its othercoinciding part: Gulliver sees the tiny Lilliputians as being vicious and

unscrupulous, and then the king of Brobdingnag seesEurope in exactly the same light.

Gulliver sees the Laputians as unreasonable, and Gulliver'sHouyhnhnm master sees humanity as equally so.

D bl ti

Augustan Literature. Satires and Essays

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