Elizabethan age (1550-1620)
Introduction:-
Elizabeth ushers in Peace and Plenty.The Elizabethan Age is the time period associated with the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603) and is often considered to be a golden age in English history. It was an age considered to be the height of the English Renaissance, and saw the full flowering of English literature and English poetry. In Elizabethan theater, William Shakespeare, among others, composed and staged plays in a variety of settings that broke away from England's past style of plays. It was an age of expansion and exploration abroad, while at home the Protestant Reformation was established and successfully defended against the Catholic powers of the Continent.
The Elizabethan Age is viewed so highly because of the contrasts with the periods before and after. It was a brief period of largely internal peace between the English Reformation, with battles between Protestants and Catholics, and the battles between parliament and the monarchy that would engulf the seventeenth century. The Protestant Catholic divide was settled, for a time, by the Elizabethan Religious Settlement and parliament was still not strong enough to challenge royal absolutism.
#Characteristics of Elizabethan age:-
∆ Revival of Interest in Greek Literature:-
The ardent revival in the study of Greek literature brought a dazzling light into many dark places of interest. The new classical influences were a great benefit. They tempered & polished the earlier rudeness of English Literature.
∆ Abundance of Output:-
The Elizabethan age was rich in literary productions of all kinds. Singing is impossible when one’s hearts undeclared & at any moment one may be laid prostrate.
Not till the accession of Queen Elizabeth, did a better state of things began to be. In the Elizabethan age, pamphlets & treatises were freely written.
Sometimes writers indulged in scurrilous abuses which were of personal character. But on the whole, the output of the literature was very wide, & after the lean years of the preceding epoch, the prodigal issue of the Elizabethan age is almost embarrassing.
∆ The New Romanticism:-
The romantic quest is, for the remote, the wonderful & the beautiful. All these desires were abundantly fed during the Elizabethan age, which is the first & the greatest romantic epoch (period).
According to Albert, “there was a daring & resolute spirit of adventure in literary as well as the other regions, & most important of these was an un-mistakable buoyancy & freshness in the strong wind of the spirit. It was the ardent youth of English Literature & the achievement was worthy of it.”
∆ Translations in Elizabethan Age:-
The Elizabethan age witnessed translation into English of several important foreign books. Many translations were as popular as the original works.
Sir Thomas North translated Plutarch’s Lives & John Florio translated Montaigne’s Essais.
No less popular were the translations in poetry. E.g. Metamorphoses by Arthur Golding, Arisoto Orlando Furioso by Sir John Harrington, Tasso’s Terusalom Liberata by Richard Carew.
∆ Spirit of Independence
In spite of borrowings from abroad, the authors of this age showed a spirit of independence & creativeness.
Shakespeare borrowed freely, but by the alembic of his creative imaginations, he transformed the dross into gold.
Spenser introduced the ‘Spenserian Stanza’, & from his works, we got the impression of inventiveness & intrepidity.
On the whole, the outlook of the writers during the age was broad & independent.
∆ Development of Drama
During the Elizabethan Age, drama made a swift & wonderful leap into maturity. The drama reached the splendid perfection in the hands of Shakespeare & Ben Jonson, though in the concluding part of the age, particularly in Jacobean Age, there was a decline of drama standards.
Popularity of Poetry:-
Poetry enjoyed its hey-day during the Elizabethan age. The whole of the age lived in a state of poetic fervour.
Songs, lyrics & sonnets were produced in plenty, & England became nest of the singing birds. In versification, there was a marked improvement.
Melody & Pictorialism were introduced in poetry by Spenser.
∆ Prose and Novel
For the first time, prose rose to the position of first rate importance.
“Even the development of poetical drama between 1579 A.D. -1629 A.D., is hardly more extraordinary than the sudden expansion of English prose & its adaptation to every kind of literary requirement.”
The dead weight of the Latin & English prose acquired a tradition & universal application.
English Novel made its first proper appearance during this age.
The Neo-Classical Age(1660-1788)
Introduction:-
This period goes by the names "the Enlightenment," "the Age of Reason," and "the Neo-Classical Age."
There was a great turning away from religion as primary way of life.People had been caught up in religious schism and sometimes outright warfare from 1534, the year Henry VIII split away from the Catholic church, until the Glorious Revolution of 1589. England now turned its attention to politics and scientific/logical analysis & reason.
belief had been based on authority; restoration brought the scientific method
∆We can divide the era into three sub-periods.
1) 1660-1700 Restoration Literature:-
Dryden was the main literary figure of this period. He wrote in the modes popular in that time - verse, comedy, tragedy, hero plays, ode, satire, translation, & critical essay. The style of the time is less ornate than before, with a more plain, straightforward approach.
2) 1700-1745 The Augustan period:-
The literature of this era is "chiefly a literature of wit, concerned with civilizatino and social relationships, and consequently, it is critical and in some degree moral or satiric" (Abrams 832). It is called the Augustan period because the golden era of Roman writing was under the Emperor Augustus. This period tried to emulate the earlier one.
3) 1745-1785 The Samuel Johnson period:-
This was a period of intense prose writing. Earlier periods had tended to produce great poetry, but not great poetry so much.
∆ Characteristics of Neo- classical Age:-
1) Imitation of Classics:-
One of the most important features of the Neoclassical literature is the imitation of the classics of ancient Greek and Roman literature.
Although the Renaissance writers had imitated the classics, whereas Renaissance writers mere derived inspirations from the classics rather than copying the models of the past, the Neoclassical writers strictly adhered to the authority of their models. Thus Neoclassical literature can be called as ‘Traditional’.
2) Concept of Nature:-
The concept of nature was also an important characteristic of the Neoclassical age. By nature, they never meant the forest nature, but for them, nature meant the general human nature.
The general human nature was not what the ordinary men and women felt and thought, but the standard view of human nature as held by Homer and Horace.
Like their static view of the world, the Neoclassical writers thought of human nature also was something static and standard, which is the same in all men and remains the same at all times. Thus their view of nature as well as of man, world, and genre was static and standard.
3) Concept of Man:-
The Neoclassical literature considers man as a limited being, having limited power. A large number of satires and works of the period attack the man for his pride and advise him to remain content with his limited power of knowledge. Thus man in Neoclassical literature remains a being of limited means and power.
4) The New Restraint:-
Writers started inventing new words and regularising vocabulary and grammar. Complex bodily metaphysical language such as Shakespeare used in his major tragedies was clarified and simplified.
∆Literary Forms:-
Among the Neoclassical forms of literature, the most famous were the essay, both in verse and prose. While drama declined and almost disappeared during the later part of the period, Novel made its beginnings. The literature of the age was mostly comic and satiric. An important failure of the age was to produce tragedy.
∆Neoclassical Drama:-
-Neoclassical drama falls into two phases-
•Restoration Drama (later 17th century)
•Sentimental Drama (18th century)
In the Restoration Age, drama rose in the form of Comedy of Manners. But in the second phase, it declined as the Elizabethan dramas like those of Shakespeare were reproduced and age itself did not produce drama. Thus the decline of drama happened.
∆\ Conclusion:-
The Neoclassical Period in literature brought a sense of decorum and stability to writers. There were rules to be carefully followed. It was a time of careful moral appearance, though appearances were more valued than honesty. However, some of England’s most brilliant literature can be credited to this era.
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