Chapter 3 The Neoclassical PeriodChapter 3 The Neoclassical Period.docVIP

Chapter 3 The Neoclassical Period 1. The Enlightenment Movement — The Age of Reason Definition: The Enlightenment refers to a progressive intellectual movement throughout Western Europe that spans approximately one hundred years from 1680s to 1789. Purpose: to enlighten the whole world with the light of modern philosophical and artistic ideas. 2. Neoclassicism: Definition: In literary criticism, this term refers to the revival of the attitudes and styles of expression of classical literature. It is generally used to describe a period in European history beginning in the late seventeenth century and lasting until about 1800. Characteristics of Neoclassical Literature Neo-classicists had some fixed laws and rules for almost every genre of literature. Prose should be precise, direct, smooth and flexible. Poetry should be lyrical, epical, didactic, satiric or dramatic, and each class should be guided by its own principles. Drama should be written in the Heroic Couplets; the three unity of time, space and action should be strictly observed; regularity in construction should be adhered to; and type characters rather than individuals should be represented. 3. John Dryden (1631-1700) （1）Life: Dryden was born in a country gentry’s family of Northamptonshire in 1631. He received his education first at Westminster school. In 1650 Dryden went up to Trinity College, Cambridge. Here he would have experienced a return to the religious and political ethos of his childhood: the Master of Trinity was a Puritan preacher who had been a rector in Dryden’s home village. In 1654 he obtained his BA, graduating top of the list for Trinity that year. In June of the same year Dryden’s father died, leaving him some land which generated a little income, but not enough to live on. His first important poem, Heroic Stanzas, was written in memory of Cromwell. On 1 December 1663 Dryden married the royalist girl—Elizabeth. Dryden’s works occasionally contain outbursts against the married state but