Main directions of the English Literature in the Early Middle ages

35.XVIII century English Enlightenment literature.The eighteenth-century philosophical impulse known as THE ENLIGHTENMENT rested on five general beliefs:

 the inevitability of progress;

 the perfectibility of man and his institutions;

 the efficacy (effectiveness) of reason; the beneficence (generosity) of God;

 the plentitude and perfection of nature.It stressed the primacy of science over theology, skepticism over authority, reason over faith. The philosophers of the Enlightenment were convinced that it was within man's capacity, by applying reason to his problems, to discover those great laws by which all human and natural activity could be explained. Possessing such knowledge, men could then direct their efforts toward building a society in which progress was certain and continuous.In the 18th century, England achieved, politically and economically, the position of a great power in Europe. Eighteenth-century England was distinguished also in science and philosophy. The most active sections of population at that time are the commercial classes that are the middle classes.The writers and philosophers of this age reflected the ideology of the middle class. They protested against the survival of feudalism. They thought that vice was due to ignorance, so they started a public movement for enlightening the people. The enlighteners wanted to bring knowledge that is "light" to the people. To their understanding, this would do away with all the evils of society, and social harmony would be achieved. The English Enlightenment was a relatively conservative compromise of new and old ideas with current conditions. Since the enlighteners believed in the power of reason, the period was also called the Age of Reason.The century had many other titles. It has been called the Age of Classicism, because many writers and poets of that time were fascinated by ancient Greece and Rome. It has been called the Age of Elegance, for the display of elegant style of life among the upper classes.