The Restoration = The Age of Dryden 1660- 1700
This period takes its name from the restoration of the monarchy (Charles II) to the English throne and the triumph of reason and tolerance over religious and political passion.
The Augustan Age = Age of Pope 1700-1745


Alexander Pope (1688-1744) is the greatest poet of this period. He followed Dryden by using the couplet in verse. When he was young, he wrote his Essay on Criticism, which contains sayings often remembered today: A little learning is a dangerous thing. True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, As those move easiest who have learned to dance.

The Restoration = The Age of Dryden 1660- 1700

Writing should be well structured, emotion should be controlled, and emphasize qualities like wit. This is in sharp contrast to the high seriousness and sobriety of the earlier Puritan regime.

Heroic Plays:
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Men are splendidly brave; The women wonderfully beautiful; There is a lot of shouting and a good deal of nonsense; The plays are written in Heroic Couplets using Satire:
‘From the head, not the heart’
The neoclassic poetry differs from that of the Elizabethan Age, the climax of Renaissance, in three ways: First, it is more formal, with its demand to follow exact rules; Second, it is more artificial, polished, straightforward, dull and lacks the creative liveliness of the Elizabethans; Third, the chief poetic form is heroic couplet which replaced the variety of forms in the Elizabethan Age.
The Neoclassical Period 1660-1798

1660- 1700 1700-1745
The Restoration = Age of Dryden The Augustan Age = Age of Pope


1745-1798
The Age of Sensibility = Age of Johnson
Dryden’s prose is logical; he is never carried away by the sound of words or the lure of a metaphor or simile.
The Restoration
Philosophy John Locke (1632-1704) had many views on government, especially the importance of the contract. Religion John Bunyan (1628-1688) knew the Bible very well and his style is based on it, as well as his imagery. His Pilgrim’s Progress is about Christian travelling to the Eternal City. It is an allegorical story popular for its narrative skill and humor.


Dryden identified himself with official opinion and regards himself as the chronicler of the age. The tragic drama of this period was made up of Heroic Plays or Heroic Drama.


The purpose of literature is to give a picture of truth and imitate nature in the manner of the ancient Greeks and Romans; Literature must satisfy the reason; Blank verse suggests disorder, so he insists on rhyme;
THE NEOCLASSICAL PERIOD 1660-1798
17th -18th Century
The Neoclassical Period = Age of Reason = Enlightenment



After the Renaissance--a period of exploration and expansiveness--came a reaction in the direction of order and restraint. The period is called neoclassical because its writers looked back to the ideals and art forms of classical times, emphasizing even more than their Renaissance predecessors the classical ideals of order and rational control. The classical ideals of order and moderation which inspired this period, its realistically limited aspirations, and its emphasis on the common sense of society rather than individual imagination, could all be characterized as rational. And, indeed, it is often known as the Age of Reason.
‘From the head, not the heart’
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The Age of Enlightenment has been crucial for developments and advances in human rights, education, and modern democracy. One of the principal objectives of the Age of Enlightenment was to rebel against the authorities. The philosophers and artists insisted that the individual use reason and logic instead of accepting what the Monarchy (King), law, and the Church presented as truth.
The Augustan Age1700-1745
This period takes its name from the original Roman Augustan Age (27 B.C.-14 A.D.), which the leading writers of this period greatly admired its figures. The new Augustans drew parallels between the two ages, and deliberately imitated their literary forms and subjects, their emphasis on social concerns, and their ideals of moderation, decorum, and urbanity.
The Augustan Age = Age of Pope 1700-1745


Pope’s delightful poem The Rape of the Lock [the stealing of the hair] takes a light subject and treats it as important. He also translated the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer. His other famous Essay on Man shows his perfection of the heroic couplet: