The Enlightenment. The 17th – 18th century literature Plan

The Enlightenment. The 17th – 18th century literature
Plan:
1. Historical background
2. Daniel Defoe
3. Robinson Crusoe
4. Jonathan Swift
5. A Tale of a Tub
6. Gulliver's Travels
7. Robert Burns

1. Historical background
It was a sound-thinking & rational age. Common sense ruled the day. Common sense was the proper guide to thought & conduct, in commerce & industry. Puzzled at the contrary terms of fortune in business, people tried to find out the laws that determined them.
This period saw a remarkable rise of literature. People wrote on many subjects & made great contribution in the fields of philosophy, history & natural sciences.
The problem of vital importance to the writers of the 18th century was the study of man & the origin of his good & evil qualities. According to them, human nature was virtuous but man diverged from virtue under the influence of a vicious society. "Vice is due to ignorance", they said. It's but natural that the writers of the 18th century started a public movement for enlightenment of people. The writers of the age of Enlightenment insisted upon a systematic education for all.
This period saw a transition from poetry to the prosaic age of the essayists. An essay is a composition of moderate length on any subject usually written in prose. The writer does not go into details, but deals in an easy manner with the chosen subject, & shows his relation to the subject. The style of prose became clear, graceful & polished. Writers accepted such literary forms as were intelligible to all. Satire became popular. This period also saw the rise of the political pamphlet. Most of the authors of the time wrote political pamphlets, but the best ones came from the pens of Defoe & Swift.
The leading form of literature became the novel. The hero of the novel was no longer a prince but a representative of the middle class. This had never happened before: so far, the common people had usually been represented as comical characters.
The English writers of the time formed two groups.
To one group belonged those who hoped to better the world simply by teaching:
 Joseph Addison [1672 -1719]
 Richard Steel [1672 - 1729]
 Daniel Defoe[1661-1731]
 Alexander Pope [1688 -1744]
 Samuel Richardson [1689 -1761]

The other group included the writers who openly protested against the vicious social order:

 Jonathan Swift [1667 -1745]
 Henry Fielding [1707 -1764]
 Oliver Goldsmith [1728 -1774]
 Richard Sheridan [1751 -1816]
 Robert Burns [1759 - 1769]