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==18th century==

==={{Anchor|Augustan literature (1700-1750)}} Augustan literature (1700–1750)===
{{Main|18th-century literature|Augustan literature}}

{{more citations needed section|date=March 2016}}
During the 18th century literature reflected the worldview of the [[Age of Enlightenment]] (or Age of Reason): a rational and scientific approach to religious, social, political, and economic issues that promoted a secular view of the world and a general sense of progress and perfectibility. Led by the philosophers who were inspired by the discoveries of the previous century by people like [[Isaac Newton]] and the writings of [[Descartes]], [[John Locke]] and [[Francis Bacon]]. They sought to discover and to act upon universally valid principles governing humanity, nature, and society. They variously attacked spiritual and scientific authority, dogmatism, intolerance, censorship, and economic and social restraints. They considered the state the proper and rational instrument of progress. The extreme rationalism and skepticism of the age led naturally to deism and also played a part in bringing the later reaction of [[romanticism]]. The [[Encyclopédie]] of Denis Diderot epitomized the spirit of the age.

The term Augustan literature derives from authors of the 1720s and 1730s themselves, who responded to a term that [[George I of Great Britain]] preferred for himself. While George I meant the title to reflect his might, they instead saw in it a reflection of [[Ancient Rome]]'s transition from rough and ready literature to highly political and highly polished literature. It is an age of exuberance and scandal, of enormous energy and inventiveness and outrage, that reflected an era when English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish people found themselves in the midst of an expanding economy, lowering barriers to education, and the beginnings of the [[Industrial Revolution]].

====Poetry====
It was during this time that poet [[James Thomson (poet)|James Thomson]] (1700–1748) produced his melancholy ''[[The Seasons (Thomson poem)|The Seasons]]'' (1728–30) and [[Edward Young]] (1681–1765) wrote his poem ''[[Night Thoughts]]'' (1742), though the most outstanding poet of the age is [[Alexander Pope]] (1688–1744). It is also the era that saw a serious competition over the proper model for the [[pastoral poetry|pastoral]]. In criticism, poets struggled with a doctrine of ''decorum,'' of matching proper words with proper sense and of achieving a diction that matched the gravity of a subject. At the same time, the [[mock-heroic]] was at its zenith and Pope's ''[[Rape of the Lock]]'' (1712–17) and ''[[The Dunciad]]'' (1728–43) are still considered to be the greatest mock-heroic poems ever written.<ref>J. A. Cuddon, ''A Dictionary of Literary Terms''. (London: Penguin, 1999), p. 514.</ref> Pope also translated the ''[[Iliad]]'' (1715–20) and the ''[[Odyssey]]'' (1725–26). Since his death, Pope has been in a constant state of re-evaluation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.poets.org/apope/ |title=Alexander Pope |work=Poets.org |access-date=2013-01-06 |date=2007-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140128102619/http://www.poets.org/apope/ |archive-date=28 January 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

====Drama====
Drama in the early part of the period featured the last plays of [[John Vanbrugh]] and [[William Congreve (playwright)|William Congreve]], both of whom carried on the Restoration comedy with some alterations. However, the majority of stagings were of lower [[farce]]s and much more serious and domestic tragedies. [[George Lillo]] and [[Richard Steele]] both produced highly moral forms of tragedy, where the characters and the concerns of the characters were wholly middle class or working class. This reflected a marked change in the audience for plays, as royal patronage was no longer the important part of theatrical success. Additionally, [[Colley Cibber]] and [[John Rich (producer)|John Rich]] began to battle each other for greater and greater spectacles to present on stage. The figure of [[Harlequin]] was introduced, and [[pantomime]] theatre began to be staged. This "low" comedy was quite popular, and the plays became tertiary to the staging. [[Opera]] also began to be popular in London, and there was significant literary resistance to this Italian incursion. In 1728 John Gay returned to the playhouse with ''[[The Beggar's Opera]]''.  The [[Licensing Act 1737]] brought an abrupt halt to much of the period's drama, as the theatres were once again brought under state control.

====Prose, including the novel====
In prose, the earlier part of the period was overshadowed by the development of the English essay. [[Joseph Addison]] and [[Richard Steele]]'s ''[[The Spectator (1711)|The Spectator]]'' established the form of the British periodical essay. However, this was also the time when the English [[novel]] was first emerging. [[Daniel Defoe]] turned from [[journalism]] and writing criminal lives for the press to writing fictional criminal lives with ''[[Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress|Roxana]]'' and ''[[Moll Flanders]].'' He also wrote  ''[[Robinson Crusoe]]'' (1719).

[[File:Jonathan Swift by Charles Jervas detail.jpg|150px|thumb|left|[[Jonathan Swift]]]]
If Addison and Steele were dominant in one type of prose, then [[Jonathan Swift]] author of the satire ''[[Gulliver's Travels]]'' was in another. In ''[[A Modest Proposal]]'' and the ''Drapier Letters'', Swift reluctantly defended the Irish people from the predations of [[colonialism]]. This provoked riots and arrests, but Swift, who had no love of Irish [[Roman Catholicism|Roman Catholics]], was outraged by the abuses he saw.

An effect of the [[Licensing Act 1737|Licensing Act]] of 1737 was to cause more than one aspiring playwright to switch over to writing novels. [[Henry Fielding]] (1707–1754) began to write prose satire and novels after his plays could not pass the censors. In the interim, [[Samuel Richardson]] (1689–1761) had produced ''[[Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded]]'' (1740), and Henry Fielding attacked, what he saw, as the absurdity of this novel in, ''[[Joseph Andrews]]'' (1742) and ''[[Shamela]]''. Subsequently, Fielding satirised Richardson's ''[[Clarissa]]'' (1748) with ''[[The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling|Tom Jones]]'' (1749). [[Tobias Smollett]] (1721–1771) elevated the [[picaresque novel]] with works such as ''[[Roderick Random]]'' (1748) and ''[[Peregrine Pickle]]'' (1751).

==={{Anchor|Age of sensibility: 1750-1798}} Age of Sensibility (1750–1798)<!--'Age of Sensibility' and 'Age of sensibility' redirect here-->===
[[File:Dr-Johnson.jpg|thumbnail|upright|[[Samuel Johnson]]]]
{{main|Sentimental novel}}
This period is known as the '''Age of Sensibility'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA-->, but it is also sometimes described as the "Age of Johnson".<ref>''A Handbook to English Literature'' (7th edition), ed. Harmon & Holman. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall), 1996), p. 575.</ref> [[Samuel Johnson]] (1709–1784), often referred to as Dr Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and [[lexicographer]]. Johnson has been described as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history".<ref>{{citation|last=Rogers|first=Pat|contribution=Johnson, Samuel (1709–1784)|title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2006|edition=online|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/14918|access-date=25 August 2008}}</ref> After nine years of work, Johnson's ''[[A Dictionary of the English Language]]'' was published in 1755, and it had a far-reaching effect on [[Modern English]] and has been described as "one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship."<ref name="Bate240">{{Harvnb|Bate|1977|p=240}}</ref>

The second half of the 18th century saw the emergence of three major Irish authors: [[Oliver Goldsmith]] (1728–1774), [[Richard Brinsley Sheridan]] (1751–1816) and [[Laurence Sterne]] (1713–1768). Goldsmith is the author of ''[[The Vicar of Wakefield]]'' (1766), a pastoral poem ''[[The Deserted Village]]'' (1770) and two plays, ''The Good-Natur'd Man'' (1768) and ''[[She Stoops to Conquer]]'' (1773). Sheridan's first play, ''[[The Rivals]]'' (1775), was performed at [[Covent Garden]] and was an instant success. He went on to become the most significant London playwright of the late 18th century with a play like ''[[The School for Scandal]]''. Both Goldsmith and Sheridan reacted against the sentimental comedy of the 18th-century theatre, writing plays closer to the style of [[Restoration comedy]].<ref>''The Bloomsbury Guide to English Literature'' (1990), pp. 564, 698, 906.</ref>

Sterne published his famous novel ''[[Tristram Shandy]]'' in parts between 1759 and 1767.<ref>''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'', p. 947.</ref> In 1778, [[Frances Burney]] (1752–1840) wrote ''[[Evelina]]'', one of the first [[novel of manners|novels of manners]].<ref>"Fanny Burney" Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 1 June 2013. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/85638/Fanny-Burney>.</ref> Fanny Burney's novels "were enjoyed and admired by Jane Austen".<ref>''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'', ed Margaret Drabble. (Oxford: Oxford University Press,1996), p. 151.</ref>

====Precursors of Romanticism====
The Romantic movement in English literature of the early 19th century has its roots in 18th-century poetry, the [[Gothic novel]] and the novel of sensibility.<ref name="britannica.com">J.A. Cuddon, ''A Dictionary of Literary Rerms'', p. 588; "Pre-Romanticism." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 5 October 2012. [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/474262/Pre-Romanticis].</ref> This includes the [[graveyard poets]], from the 1740s and later, whose works are characterised by gloomy meditations on mortality. To this was added, by later practitioners, a feeling for the [[Sublime (philosophy)|'sublime']] and uncanny, and an interest in ancient English poetic forms and folk poetry.<ref>William Harmon and C. Hugh Holman, ''A Handbook to Literature''. (Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1986), pp. 452–53, 502.</ref> The poets include [[Thomas Gray]] (1716–1771), ''[[Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard]]'' (1751) in<ref>''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'' (1996), p. 418.</ref> and [[Edward Young]] (1683–1765), ''The Complaint, or [[Night Thoughts]] on Life, Death and Immortality'' (1742–45).<ref>''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'', p. 1106.</ref> Other precursors are [[James Thomson (poet)|James Thomson]] (1700–1748) and [[James Macpherson]] (1736–1796).<ref name="britannica.com"/> James Macpherson was the first Scottish poet to gain an international reputation, with his claim to have found poetry written by the ancient bard [[Ossian]].<ref>J. Buchan, ''Crowded with Genius'' (London: Harper Collins, 2003), {{ISBN|0-06-055888-1}}, p. 163.</ref>

The [[sentimental novel]] or "[[novel of sensibility]]" is a genre which developed during the second half of the 18th century. It celebrates the emotional and intellectual concepts of sentiment, [[Sentimentalism (literature)|sentimentalism]], and [[sensibility]]. Sentimentalism, which is to be distinguished from sensibility, was a fashion in both poetry and prose fiction which began in the 18th century in reaction to the rationalism of the [[Augustan literature|Augustan Age]].<ref>Richard Maxwell and Katie Trumpener, eds., ''The Cambridge Companion to Fiction in the Romantic Period'' (2008).</ref> Among the most famous sentimental novels in English are [[Samuel Richardson]]'s ''[[Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded]]'' (1740), [[Oliver Goldsmith]]'s ''[[Vicar of Wakefield]]'' (1766), [[Laurence Sterne]]'s ''[[Tristram Shandy]]'' (1759–67), and [[Henry Mackenzie]]'s ''[[The Man of Feeling]]'' (1771).<ref>J.A. Cuddon, ''A Dictionary of Literary Terms'' (1999), p. 809.</ref>

Significant foreign influences were the Germans [[Goethe]], [[Schiller]] and [[August Wilhelm Schlegel]] and French philosopher and writer [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] (1712–1778).<ref name="J. A. Cuddon, pp. 588–9">J.A. Cuddon, pp. 588–89.</ref> [[Edmund Burke]]'s ''[[A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful]]'' (1757) is another important influence.<ref name="English Literature, pp. 957–8">''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'', pp. 957–58.</ref> The changing landscape, brought about by the [[Industrial revolution|industrial]] and [[British agricultural revolution|agricultural]] revolutions, was another influence on the growth of the Romantic movement in Britain.

In the late 18th century, [[Horace Walpole]]'s 1764 novel ''[[The Castle of Otranto]]'' created the [[Gothic fiction]] genre, that combines elements of [[Horror fiction|horror]] and [[Romance (heroic literature)|romance]].<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30313775 "The Castle of Otranto: The creepy tale that launched gothic fiction"]. BBC. Retrieved 14 October 2017</ref> [[Ann Radcliffe]] introduced the brooding figure of the gothic [[villain]] which developed into the [[Byronic hero]]. Her ''[[The Mysteries of Udolpho]]'' (1795) is frequently cited as the archetypal Gothic novel.<ref>''Oxford Book of Gothic Tales''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001</ref>

Return to English literature.



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