Wednesday, 11 January 2017

Anita Ma'am's Notes.

Restoration Prose Dates From 1660 to 1700.

The restoration period saw the rise of modern English prose. After the restoration of Charles II English prose broke with.

The pre-restoration prose. The prose of Milton Hooker and others were two intricate, involved and cumbrous or general used. The influence of the spirit of common sense and of the critical temper along with a scientific approach favoured clearness of thought and plainness of expression. The coming up of new kind of reading public also contributed to the establishment pf a new prose. According to Matthew Arnold “The restoration marks the beginning of Modern prose. It is by its organism and organism opposed to length, involvement and enabling us to be clear, plain and short…”

The growing awareness and the involvement of the English public in social as well as political spheres saw the birth of new prose forms like the essay ranging from personal, social and political to philosophical topics, diaries which were personal as well as reflective, literary criticism as and history, journalistic writing that created a new desire for information and scientific investigations which were reported and recorded in various periodicals and journals.

Dryden is the first of the really great prose writers in the modern style. His prose writings consist mainly of essays and prefaces dealing with various questions connected with poetry and drama. Dryden is not only the first modern prose writer of England, but also the first modern critic. In the course of his criticism, he discusses nearly all the questions connected with the literature. Such as forms, methods of the drama, the elements of heroic and the epic poetry, the relations of arts and nature, the qualities of a great writers of Greece, Rome and England. His first important critical work was his essays of dramatic poesy. It is a dialogue on the nature of the poetic drama and the respective principles and merits of chief types of drama such as the classical drama of the Greeks and Romans the neoclassical drama of the French and the romantic, drama of England. In it he undertakes to justify the use of rhyme in place of blank verse in the drama. In this dialogue, everyone agrees to define a play as a just and lively image of human nature representing its passion and humours and the change of fortune to which is subject for the delight and instructions of mankind. Much of Dryden’s critical prose is found in his dedications and prefaces. In the preface to ‘All For Love’ he discusses the nature of tragedy, the preface to the fables is Dryden’s last piece of critical writing. Here he talks of the authors he has been translating - Homer, Virgil, Ovid and Chaucer. This preface is one of the great landmarks of practical criticism in English. His account of Chaucer occupies the whole of the second part of the essay and his central aim is to give the reader an idea of Chaucer’s literary character and achievement . As a critic Dryden also praised Shakespeare for his infinite variety and his insights which influenced the course of literary criticism Dryden remarks about Shakespeare.

“He needed not the spectacles of books to read nature.”

Dryden critical writing show his remarkable mental ability and penetration of thought. His style is characterised by clearness, vigour, wonderful felicity of phrasing and a colloquial ease which preserves a literary distinction and rarely descends to the level of the slip-shod or the common place. The frequency with which his phrases turn up in later authors indicates a considerable and appropriate amount of influence.


In restoration England Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn became famous for their diaries. The Diary of Samuel Pepys covers the period between 1660 to 1669, the first entry being first January is a social document. It discusses the events of the restoration, the coronation of the Charles II (1665), Plague, the fire of London (1666), and the Dutch wars exactly in detail and comprehensive in scope, Pepys diary is also a humanist document. It reveals intellectual curiosity as well as human frailty. His writing gives a full psychological detail of man thus a great humane document including matter of love affairs, the colleagues, the tea drinking and administrative hassles and London entertainment. His style is spontaneous and presents a very spectacle of his age.

John Evelyn, a man of many interests ranging from gardening to numismatics and experimental science. His work Fumi Fugium ( 1661 ) was an environmental tract railing against the smokiness of London. In Sculptura ( 1662 ), he discussed engraving Silva ( 1664 0 is one of the most significant environmental documents of 17th century and one of the first to suggest active reforestation. Evelyn stands in sharp contrast to Pepys as he has no confessions to make. His prose deals with wide range of interest, life in London and finally a retired life in rural England.



Journals and periodicals increased in the restoration period. The newspaper were political tools and the major parties. And the major parties had their own voice in papers like Flying Post ( Whig Party 1695 - 1731 ), and  Post Boy ( Tory Party 1695 - 1736). The journal “philosophical transactions” of the royal society published essays, informative articles and scientific data from 1666, Robert Boyle, John Locke and other eminent figures contributed to this journal. The topics ranged from botany, zoology, geology, history, weather and scientific experiments. It also carried reviews and extracts from travelogues and helped popularise conditions and features of the newly discovered parts of the world. A fascinating feature of the transactions was an item called Inquiries. These were a series of question sent out with travellers two foreign lands and covered almost every conceivable topic from poisonous snakes and rainfall to history and fashion. These Inquiries thus enable the construction of a knowledge base about places like India and Arabia, the oriental world. They also contributed in a huge way to western images of Asian nations.



Jeremy Taylor.

An anglican preacher who has been called the Shakespeare and the Spencer of the Pulpit was the most eloquent of the theologians. His writings reflect his exuberant fancy and noble diction. His great books are Holy Living, Holy Dying by way of introduction to Holy Living. He writes..


“As every man is wholly Gods own portion by the title of creation, so all are labourers and care all are powers and faculties must be wholly employed in the service of God and even all the days of our life, that this life being ended, we may live with him forever.” 

In Holy Dying, he prepares other for a blessed death and the remedies against the evils and temptations. In a lucid manner he states that a man is morning mushroom signifying the variety and shortness of life. His numerous sermons rank above his books they are distinguished by an imagination fed by voracious reading by extensive culture on which he constantly drew and initiated by his charming contemplation of nature. Taylor was moreover not only an observer of nature but also a psychologists of great delicacy who knew the heart of man. He also wrote about personal and social issues. There are strains of melancholy with a broad sympathy for humans but he chooses and projects a divine path. He is a proof that the best of the clergy had observed the culture of Renaissance and became the producers of literary and poetic sensibilities. The bible has been one of the major shaping influence in the development of the English novel. The most important and influential was King James Bible published in 1611 also known as the authorised version. In 1604 king James I, had wanted to have a version of bible which would become the single standardised version for use in all churches throughout the country. The authorised version was the world  of 17 scholars nominated by James I. This version exerted significant cultural influence as a treasure house of a English prose providing quotes of allusion infused through the subsequent English language. Its phrase have infiltrated the everyday language of the English speaker. For example signs of the time, salt of the earth, fought a good fight etc. William Blake proclaims the old and new testament are the great code of art. KJV  Broods over the corpus of literature in English, influencing its richness to texture familiarities or phrasing, the force of simplicity into the very texture of cultural heritage. It offers a hope that time to inspire, instruct and inform creative works and believe.

18th Century Prose (1700-1750)

The eminent critic Mathew Arnold has rightly called the 18th century “the age of prose and reason”. The 18th century literature was mainly the product of reason and intelligence. The dominance of reason made the literature of the period critical, didactic and satirical. This reason manifestated itself in various forms such as good sense, rationalism, intellect, with and was opposed to excessive emotionalism, sentimentalism, extravagance and imagination. A general search after rationality which set in the age of dryden culminated in this age. A great bulk of 18th century prose is devoted to the journalistic issues, pamphlets magazines. Moreover, the age saw the rise of two popular genres of prose literature, the novel and the periodical essays. The prose of this age has the quality of modern style characterised by simplicity, lucidity and clarity. 


Daniel Defoe works can be divided into two groups, political writings, and fictions. Defoe wrote a number of  political tracts and pamphlets. Many of them were published on his own journal ‘The Review’ , which is considered to be the forerunner of ‘The Tatler’ and ‘The Spectator’. Its main aim was to make the English people acquaint with the thoughts of Defoe on international politics and commerce. ‘The Review’ comes nearer to the periodical essay proper in the section called ‘Advice From The Scandalous Club’ which is described as “being a weekly history of nonsense, impenitence, vice and debauchery’. Later , it was separated from the main position and was distinguished by the title, ‘The Little Review’ in which the element of news took all the gossip and moral criticism. He contributed number of essays on the vices and follies of society and in the minor morals of the day.

His works in fiction were all produced in the latter parts of his life. The first work being ‘Robinson Cursoe’ (1719). It was followed by ‘Duncan Campbell’ (1720), Memoirs Of A Cavalier (1720), Captain Singleton ( 1720 ), Moll Flanders, Journal of the plague year ( 1722), Roxana ( 1724 ) and ‘A New Voyage Round The World’. These stories in fiction are picaresque in matter an form. The hero who is the narrator consist the chief element of unity. Defoe conceals his personality behind that of the hero yet his personal attitude towards life is revealed clearly in each. Robinson Cursoe is Defoe’s masterpiece and one of the most enduring fables of the western culture. The story derives from the experience of the ‘Alexander Selkirk’ who was wrecked on the island of Juan Fernandez of the cost of Chile. And who reminded there for five year. Cursoe makes a kingdom of his own on this new island. His relation with first Xury than with his Man Friday is of master and slaves. Cursoe can also be seen as a coloniser who establish on the island a model of his own society. Defoe best known heroine ‘Moll Flanders’ is an autobiography of a prostitute. It shows the writer’s knowledge of English social and economic life. Moll uses her beauty to achieve financial security and it becomes a commodity and she tries to sell it in the highest market. The story of Defoe presents a realistic narrative with the matter of fact, business lifestyle appropriate to the story of actual life.

Jonathan Swift published pamphlets on variety of topics is called as ‘Prince Of English Satrsis’. In his satires, he lashes at all kind of aberration ( disorder ) every kind of affection, hypocrisy, folly, pretension , comes under his lash. The most important of his satires are ‘The Battle Of The Book’ ( 1704 ), ‘A Tale Of Tub’ and ‘Gulliver’s Travel’. the theme of the first is the dispute between ancient and modern author. A tale of a tub was meant to be satire on the numerous and gross corruption in religion and learning. It represented the church of England as the best of all churches in doctrine and discipline and also lashed at the shallow writers and critics of the age. Gulliver’s Travel is the most famous of the Swift work. In it he savagely indicated ( accused ) ‘ that animal called man’. Though it had been long been considered a comic tale for children but it is a secure attack on the political parties of the time and on the pointlessness on religious controversies between different denominations with christianity. ‘The Voyage To Lilliput’ satirises the politics of England and Europe that too Laputa mocked the philosophers and last to the country of Houyhnhnms, lacerated and defiled the whole body of humanity. Houyhnhnms presented, was a race of rational, clean, civilised horses who are contrasted with the foul, brutal, uncivilised Yahoos, a race of ape - like beast. The beastly yahoos represent Swift’s conception with men. This book show him to be a misanthrope ( hater of man )

Swift despises all unnecessary ornamentation. His style is marked by directness, vigour and simplicity. So convincing is his prose that the reader never louses the sense of reality, of being present as an eyewitness of the most impossible events. According to him “proper words in proper places makes the true definition of style”.

Joseph Addison has written nearly 400 essays which are of nearly uniform in length. He attacks all the little vanities, and all the big vices of his time, not in Swift’s terrible way, which makes one feel hopeless of humanity, but with the kind ridicule and gentle humour which takes a speedy improvement for granted. His essays reflect the distant observations of the life of the time. He sets out to be a mild sensor of the morals of the age. Most of his composition deals with topical subjects such as fashion, manners, modes of conversation and vices like gambling, drinking, duelling ( fight between two persons ). Addison’s first contribution to ‘The Tatler’, which Steele began appeared first in number eighteen. Hence forward he wrote regularly for the paper contributing about forty two essays in number. In the same year, Steele began ‘The Spectator’ which was issued daily. In ‘The Spectator’  Addison rapidly because the dominating spirit, wrote 274 essays out of a complete total of 555. Addison also made remarkable contribution to literary criticism. In his essays, he sort to develop the literary test of his readers. He discussed drama and poetry in his essays. In The Spectator he published 18 papers on the paradise lost helping the readers to have a better understanding and appreciation of Milton.


Credit goes to Addison for painting pictures of men and manners admirably outside the genre of drama. His papers of ‘The Spectator’  dealt with such leading figures of ‘The Spectator’ dealt with such leading figures of The Spectator Club as Will Honeycomb, a middle aged man of fashion, Sir Andrew Freeport, a merchant and Mr. Spectator a shy person who bears some resemblance to himself, and especially with the  of amusing Tory Squire, Sir Roger De Coverley. Though in the scattered papers of The Spectator, one cannot have the sustained interest which is a must for a novel but we cannot regard but this great development in characterisation as a stage in the evolution of the genuine novel. Some of his essays, concerning episodes from Sir Roger De Coverly’s life makes it a modern novel in germ. While commenting on Addison’s contribution to the development of English novel.

E Albert says,

“If Addison had pinned the Coverly papers together with a stronger plot if instead of only referring the widow who had stolen the knight’s affections, he had introduced a definite love theme, if he had introduced same important female characters. We should have had the first regular novel in your tongue…”

Addison’s contribution to the development of English Prose style is equally praise worthy. He perfected English prose as an instrument for the expression of social thought. It was he who, more than anyone else invented the Middle Style something between the grave stately diction of formal writing and the free, easy speech of everyday. The style that is needed in almost all human discourse.

Richard Steele

Richard Steele finds his place in literature as a miscellaneous essayist. His fertile mind gave literature many innovations. He started the ‘The Tatler’ in 1709, The Spectator in 1711 and several other short livid periodicals such as The Guardian (1713), The English Man (1713), The Reader (1714), and ChitChat (1714). Steele working alliance with Addison was so close and so constant that comparison between them is inevitable. Together they gave people their most valuable characters such as Will Honeycomb and Sir Roger De Cavalry. Around the latter many essayists composed, sweetened with good nature and light humour. The Tatler was single sheet paper that came out three times a week and in the beginning consisted of short paragraphs on topics related to domestic, foreign, literature, theatre and gossip. Each topic fell under the heading of a specific place, such as a coffee house where the discussion was most likely to take place. He gave expression to the public dislike on gambling and argued that duelling was a senseless and guilty practice. Another innovation brought about in the periodicals was the publication of letters to the editor. Steele’s letter to the editor brought new points of view into the periodicals and created a sense of intimacy with the reader. The feature evolved into a forum for readers to express themselves, engage in a discussion on an important event or question, conduct a political debate or ask advice on a personal situation. Steele even introduced a separate LoveLorn  column in The Tatler and The Spectator. He desired to bring about a reformation in the contemporary society manners and is notable for his consistent advocacy of womanly virtues like decency and modesty and the ideals of gentleman like courtesy, chivalry and good sense.

Steele writes as a rule, less from his head than from his heart. His humour is kindly and genial. His sympathies quick springing and compassionate. His instincts uniformly on the sight of what is good, honest and manly. Apart from their moral qualities, there is in Steele’s essays an open frankness. He is all the more sincere because frequently his self revelation is unconscious. Thus, in Steele we have the beginning of that genial intimacy of the writer with the reader which was there and was found much later in the writing of Elia, Hazlitt and Thackeray.

18th century prose with the rise of periodicals, journal, satire indeed suited the new temperament of the age. The emergence of the social essay, the middle style in prose spoke against the coarser vices of the time. Addison’s prose is the modal of this middle style, eventually a prose suitable for miscellaneous purposes. Defining periodicals essays of the time. William Hazlitt remarks 

“It makes us familiar with the world of men and women, records their actions, assigns their motives, exhibit their whims…exposes their inconsistencies, holds the mirror up to nature and shows the very age and body of the time, its form and pressure.”

Age Of Transition.
OR
Age Of Johnson.

The Age of Johnson or The Age of Transition saw the remarkable development of prose. It did not fashion a new prose style, took the same instrument of reason and impression and turned it to glorious use. In the works of Johnson, Goldsmith, Gibbon and others, the age witnessed a solace and masculine style of prose as distinguished from the conversational almost feminine style of Addison. The later part of 18th century by itself had created practically the literary history, it had put the essay into general circulation. Had hit of various forms with an abundant supply of lighter verse and also contributed largely to the literature of philosophy.

Samuel Johnson.

Dr. Samuel Johnson won high reputation as a scholar and a prose moralist. He gained his reputation as the maker of ‘Dictionary Of English Language’ ( 1755 ). In ‘The Preface’ he says that his aim was to “preserve the purity and ascertain the meaning of her English Idiom”. He prevented the English language from being over run with cant and gallicised words. The dictionary contained words which carried not only the meaning but also illustrations and how writers like Shakespeare, Pope, Milton and others used it. Johnson was also a moral essayist. The best piece of moral writing by Johnson found in his ‘History Of Rasselas, Prince Of Abyssinia’. This was an oriental apologue ( moral faith ) related to the things he had occasionally done in the Rambler. It is his most appealing presentation of his ideas on ‘The Vanity Of Human wishes, on the Impossibility of complete happiness in the imperfect human. According to him animal can eat, sleep and be content but man who is both animal and mortal is torn by desires which this world cannot satisfy. For him, a stagnant mind is brutal and restless mind is inevitable and unhappy.

Johnson also published a fine edition of Shakespeare in 1765. It is a landmark in English Literary Criticism. His magnum opus, ‘The Lives Of The Poets’ ( 1777 - 1781 ) is a series of introduction to 52 poets. They were in essence detailed works of criticism. Dr. Johnson comments on Milton, Dryden, Pope, Swift, Addison and others. He also formulated critical theories of poetry. Poetry, he declared was the work of genius, whose function was to “instruct by pleasing". He also contributed essays to periodicals such as ‘The Rambler’ and ‘The Idler’. The scholar prose writer was also the subject o the one of the greatest biographies in the English language. James Boswell’s ‘Life Of Johnson’ ( 1791 ) establishes his mind as a ‘vast amphitheatre’.

Johnson’s prose style has been termed as ‘manly and straightforward’. To him a standard prose style should be above grossness and below refinement. He also has a peculiar love of putting the abstract for the concrete of using awkward invasions and of balancing his sentence in a monotonous rhythm.

Oliver Goldsmith’s prose is of astonishing range and volume. In 1759 appeared ‘The Bee’ a periodical consisting of essays and stories solely by Goldsmith. It was published weekly but it had a very lease if time, their being only eight in number. After the close of The Bee, Goldsmith contributed to another periodical ‘The Public Ledger’ a series of letters supposed to have been written by a Chinaman visiting Europe in 1760 to 1761. These letters were published together in 1762 as ‘The Citizen of the world’. They were written with the object of letting us see ourselves as other might see us. These series of letters is a shrewd comment on English society and the capital England. His Chinaman is a reminiscent of Addison’s spectator in function and outlook of life. In them appear the famous character, ‘Man In Black’, and ‘BeauTibbs’ who are worthy to rank beside Sir Roger De Coverley.

The essays of Goldsmith are characterised by extraordinary power, boldness and originality of though an in this respect he is superior to Addison or any other of the periodical essayist. They are also charming and marked by a general humour and gentle satire of the manners and ideas of the time, for their moralising and zeal for reforming the evils and for the revelation of the author’s personal feelings. They resemble the essays of Addison, Johnson, and also anticipate the familiar essays of the early 19th century.

Edmund Burke was a political philosopher and a practical politician, Burke reached the pinnacle of fame in 1788, when he led the impeachment of Warren Hastings in a speech that lasted four days, during which he brought before his hearers the most vivid pictures of the beauties of East. In his several writings on India, Burke argued that the Indians always had a great civilisation, he was also the first to propound the theory of naive. Burke also wrote a great deal on domestic issues of English, European and the politics of America. He found the events of the French Revolution abhorrent dealt with the more unified problems of the American colonies. He wished to satisfy the natural grievances of the colonists. In favour of the cause of the Americans Burke composed two great speeches that on ,’American Taxation’ ( 1774 ) and ‘conciliation with America’ ( 1775 ). Burke’s motives were certainly those of integrity. He wished justice and sound administrative procedures. Some of his famous pamphlets are ‘Thoughts on the cause if present discontent’ , ‘reflections on the revolution in France’ and ‘ A Letter To a Noble Land’. He skilfully arranged his ideas with passionate moral earnestness vivid imagination and splendid logical powers while his rich and high rhetoric style gave a gorgeous colouring to everything he wrote.

Edward Gibbon is noted for his historical writing, ‘History Of The Decline’ and ‘Fall of The Roman Empire’. The 1st volume was published in 1776 and the other five appeared at the intervals of 2 years each. Gibbon’s ‘History’ begins with the reign of Titaus in AD 95, traces the history of Rome through 13 centuries and ends with the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The scope of the book is thus enormous. It includes not only the decline and fall of Roman empire but such movement as the spread of christianity, the reorganisation of the muslim world and the course of crusaders are also recorded. For this enormous task Gibbon was equipped with adequate knowledge and information from his wide and intensive reading. His knowledge of the Roman history was so sound that recent specialised research has rarely been able to pick holes in the narrative. Gibbon’s only other work is his ‘Memoirs’ which reveals his personality as a man.

Gibbon’s style is of the elaborate type introduced by Johnson. It is finished, elegant, splendid and massive. The facts are sometimes hid behind his laboured and grand style. It can also be said that his technique is the very climax of that classicism which had ruled England for an entire century. Freeman rightly says, “Gibbon remains the one historian of the 19th century whom modern research had neither set aside nor threatened to set aside”.

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