Characteristics of the Neoclassic Period

The Neoclassic Period in British literature lasted roughly from the end of the Puritan Commonwealth Interregnum in 1660 (with the death of Oliver Cromwell and the restoration of the English monarchy) to the end of the following century. Some authors take the publication of Lyrical Ballads in 1798 as the demarcation that ends the period. The period may be subdivided into three categories:

Restoration Age (1660-1700)

During this period, literature exhibited the following features:

Reaction against Puritanism.

Greater interest in science and philosophy.

Development of the ode as a major genre.

Increased use of the heroic couplet (rhymed, end-stopped iambic pentameter).

Didacticism or satire in poetry.

Increased interest in drama since the theatres reopened (the Puritans banned drama in 1642).

Receptiveness to French influences.

Major writers included John Milton (Paradise Lost), John Bunyan (Pilgrim’s Progress), and John Dryden. The restoration of the monarchy gives this period its name.

Augustan Age (1700-1750)

Named after the Roman Emperor Augustus (27 BC to AD 14), this period’s literature took writers like Virgil and Horace as its models. The literature exhibited the following features:

Emphasis on taste, common sense, and reason.

Less interest in emotion and imagination.

Interest in Deism.

Movement toward more realism.

Satiric, moral, and politically motivated writing.

Development of the mock epic (e.g., Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock).

The Licensing Act of 1737 brought censorship for the theatre (with three patent theatres). Prose was developed in terms of the essay and the periodical. Also, novels began to flourish from the likes of Jonathan Swift, Daniel Defoe, Henry Fielding, Samuel Richardson, and Tobias Smollett.

Age of Johnson (1750-1798)

Named after Samuel Johnson, this period marks the transition of British literature toward Romanticism. Literature of this period exhibits the following characteristics:

Interest in human freedom.

Appreciation for external nature and country life.

Interest in the primitive and sensibility.

Interest in folk literature and ballads.

Drama became more popular, with new renditions of Shakespeare and with the development of pantomimes and melodramas (since spoken drama was censored). Richard Sheridan and Oliver Goldsmith wrote for the stage, and political and Gothic novels emerged from the likes of William Godwin, Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, and Clara Reeve. Robert Burns wrote during this period but often is classified as a Romantic. Samuel Johnson (lexicographer, novelist, poet, essayist, critic, and journalist) is the most notable writer of the period, followed by his biographer, James Boswell.