The Restoration (1660-1702) and the XVIII Century (1702-1798)

The Restoration
1. History
  1. Charles II (1660-1685)
    1. 1665: Plague in London
    2. 1666: Great Fire in London
      1. Sameul Pepys' chronicles
    3. Disregard for Parliament, religious persecution against Protestants, political instability
  2. James II (1685-1688)
    1. Catholic king, claimed divine right to rule, avoid consulting with the Parliament, more persecutions
    2. 1687: Act of Indulgence: relieving Catholic and Dissenters
    3. His daughter, Mary, was Protestant. When a male hire was born, many decided that they didn't want another Catholic king
    4. 1688: Bloodless Revolution_William of Orange arrived in England with a great popularity and a small force. James II had to flee
  3. William III of Orange (1688-1702) and Queen Mary (James II's daughter)
    1. The Parliament was divided in two parties: Whigs (mercantile middle class) ad Tories (old aristocracy)
  4. Very Important People
    1. Isaac Newton (1642-1727
    2. Henry Purcell (1658-1695), opera
2. Literature
  1. New Science and Philosophy influenced a new style, simple and concise. this was due also to the Puritan great influence. The new cultural movement was typified in the foundation of the Royal Society (1667). It was to dictate the tastes for the new prose: primitive purity and shortness
    1. Moral works, Puritan Literature
      1. John Bunyan (1628-1688): "The pilgrim's Process" (1678)
    2. Diaries, biographies and letters
      1. Samuel Pepys (1633-1703)
        Pepy's "Diary" (1660-1690): Protestant upper-middle class life; new style: telegraphic; he often give thanks to God for the good conditions his family has acquired
      2. John Evelyn (1620-1706)
      3. Biographical works: Margaret Lucas Cavendish; Lucy Hutchinson ('40s-60s)
      4. Letters: Dorothy Osborne (1627-1695) - her style is a predecessor of J. Austen's
    3. Restoration Poetry
      1. Classical ideal, philosophy from Horace's "Carpe Diem"; generally aristocratic poets; some satire in heroic couplets
        Aristocrats: Earl of Rochester; John Sedley ('40s-'90s)
        John Dryden (1631-1700)
        He is the first modern critic (Shakespeare's works) and poet; Born in a Puritan family, became a monarchist when Charles II became king; he learnt to write poetry from the Metaphisical tradition and for some time he also devoted himself to theatre (Heroic plays); he turned Catholic after James' II accession to the throne
        Style: in the plays the characters have little psychological insight; taste for elegance in words and images; visual quality of his poetry; many subjects are allegories or satires
        Early poetry: "Heroic Stanzas", "Astrea Redux", "Annus Mirabilis" ('60s)
        Critic: "An Essay on Dramatic Poesie", about Shakespeare and others
    4. Restoration Drama
      1. Indoor, private theatres; influence of Ben Jonson, Italian's Commedia dell'Arte, Calderòn; themes: sensual attraction, vanity, social reputation as the main passions;
      2. Heroic Plays: love, decoration, perfect and stereotyped heroism (Dryden)
      3. Tragedies: they shold rise admiration among the spectators; noble manners, blank verse (Thomas Otway)
      4. Comedies: allied with satire, but the humor hides a total lack of ideals, showing the dissoluteness of the higher classes; prose
        William Congreve (1670-1729) - educated in Ireland, "The old Bachelo" attracted Dryden's attention, influenced by Jonson, typical Restoration comedy characters, comic, realistic and sentimental elements
The XVIII Century
1. Literature
  1. Great Augustans
    1. Alexandre Pope (1688-1744)
      1. Born Catholic, suffered discrimination and poor health
      2. "Nature Methodized"; Horace's "Carpe Diem"; against wit and empiricism
      3. Early poetry: "The Pastorals"
      4. "An Essay on Criticism" (1711): summed up all the critical ideals of the moment; direct references to Horatians taste
      5. "The Rape of the Lock" (1712): mock-heroic poem - trivial subject with epic diction; frivolity of the English aristocracy
      6. "An Essay on Man" (1733-34): philosophical, heroic couplets, about human nature, society, God and universe
    2. Their aim was to build a great rational system to include all aspects of society; rules were laid down in heroic couplets
    3. Rationalism, didacticism, Nature, Classics, Aristocratic idea of society
    4. Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)
      1. He was born in Ireland, from English parents; always parted between Irish and English identity; fought for the Irish cause, though. Died after the loss of mental power
      2. Satirical pamphlet (polemical genius)
        "The Battle of Books" (1697): prose satire; comparison between ancient and modern learning - victory to Classics
        "A Modest Proposal fro Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burden to Their Parents" (1729): satirical proposal to kill the 80% of one-year-old babies and use them as food to solve the problem of famine in Ireland
      3. Fiction: first person narration
        "Gulliver's Travel" (1726): novel in 4 books, first published in Dublin; Travel story, satire, philosophical tale, realism; it is similanr to diaries and autobiographies (the narrator is authorative)
    5. Samuel Jonson (1709-1784)
      1. Began his carrear in harsh economical conditions; success came in 1755, fame sanction in the creation of a circle (Literary Club); then he was the arbiter of literary taste in late Augustan England
      2. Referred to as "Dr Jonson", successor to Pope, still rooted in classical and Reinassance traditions; his favourite theme is how life always deludes expectations
      3. Critic: "Preface to Shakespeare" (1765) - first modern critic, he questions even most accepted ideas of literary criticism (fe doctrine of dramatic unities); always bases his criticism upon texts
      4. 1746-1755: years in which Jonson works upon the "Dictionary if the English Language", where a standard language is established; dictionary historically-based (great writers and their language are the authorities)
2. History
  1. Queen Anne (1702-1714)
    1. 1707: Act of Union (English and Scottish Parliament
    2. Protestant daughter of James II; she is the last of the Stuarts
  2. George I (1714-1727)
    1. He wasn't a Stuart, but the nearest non-Catholic relative of Anne
    2. The Hanoverians dynasty begins (from Germany)
    3. Since he wasn't really practical of English Politics, he had to rely in the Parliament, allied in particular with the Whigs (leader: Sir Robert Walpole); period of oligarchy ("Whigs' dictatorship)
  3. George II (1727-1760)
    1. Son of George I
    2. Renewed conflicts against France
      1. 1740-48: war for the succession of the Austrian Throne_UK and the party of Maria Antonietta against France, Prussia, Spain
        Period of loss in economics and politics for England
      2. 1756-63: Seven Years' War _Prussia, England against the rest of Europe and Russia
        Radical change of policy, rebirth of the nation thanks to the new Prime Minister William Pitt the Elder
  4. George III (1760-1820)
    1. First native Enlish speaking Hanoverian king, this meant a period of almost internal peace
    2. 1765-1783: American's Indipendence War
      1. 1765: "No Taxation Without Representation"
      2. 1773: Boston Tea Party
      3. 1775: the 13 American colonies met in Philadelphia and put up an army; military command to George Washington
      4. 4 July 1776: Declaration of Indipendence
      5. 1783: after a long war (Britain against USA, France and Spain) the Treaty of Versailles ratified USA's indipendence
    3. James Cook discovers Oceania
    4. Emerging problems: Irish Catholicism, electoral reform
    5. 1793-1815: wars against France and Napoleon
  5. End of the century: Industrial Revolution begins (steam engine, iron industry, textile industry); cultural reaction: Methodism, which helped to create many humanitarian movements, concerned with social problems

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The Restoration (1660-1702) and the XVIII Century (1702-1798)

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