Neoclassicism II: Culture and Society in The Eighteenth Century

Neoclassicism II
Objective
In this lesson, you will evaluate the social changes of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century
England and the impact of the time period on neoclassic writers
Culture and Society in the Eighteenth Century

Political changes and success overseas reflected broader changes in British society, such as:
❖ noble bloodlines becoming less more important.
class
❖ the creation of a wealthy merchant ________________ and a
middle
thriving ___________________ class.
Two important forces driving cultural change were
❖ population growth
❖ the publishing industry
The Population Explosion

The huge population boom in Great Britain from 1721 to 1820 was due to:
✓ increased wealth ✓ advances in agricultural production

✓ relative ✓ better medical practices
While industrialization had negative impacts (pollution, unequal gains, market volatility), it also led to
a/an decreased increased standard of living for many workers. That meant the British
population, particularly the middle and upper classes, had less more leisure time.
The Print Explosion

literature
The merchant and middle classes provided a demand for __________________________. They were highly
literate
_______________________, free
they had money, and they had ________________ time.
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Language Change and Grammar Texts
standardize
The abundance (large amount) of print materials encouraged efforts to _______________________ the
cost saving
English Language. To publishers, standards were a ____________-__________________ measure.
Another force behind the standardization movement came from writers and scholars, who worried
rapidly
that the English language was changing too _____________________. Writers like Jonathan Swift wondered
outdated
whether works written in this time would be _______________________ within a few hundred year.
Swift and fellow writers Joseph Addison and Sir Richard Steele favored the
language
establishment of a national _____________________ academy. The academy would
rules
decide on official _________________ publish
for mechanics and usage and ________________
an official English dictionary based on the examples of the French and Italians.
controls
Many scholars objected outright to such ___________________ on creativity, arguing that creative freedom
was a crucial part of genius. According to Alexander Pope, for instance, the French and Italians might
strict
need the ________________ controls of a language academy, but the British could handle their
language
___________________ on their own.
Characteristics of Eighteenth-Century Literature

magazines
The publishing boom also resulted in the growth of ______________________ journals
and _____________________,
which featured works by some of the period’s greatest writers.
Though prose was least most common, poetry remained popular.
Neoclassical writers accepted rejected the heavy subject matter and moral preaching common to
allegorical works such as John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress. Even when eighteenth-century writers
tone
addressed serious topics, their _______________ often remained lighthearted and optimistic. Alexander
changed
Pope’s “Essay on Man” reflects the _____________________ attitude and tone of eighteenth-century works.
All nature is but art, unknown to thee;

All chance direction, which thou canst not see;
All discord harmony, not understood;
All partial evil, universal good;
And, spite of pride, in erring reason’s spite,
One truth is clear: Whatever IS, is RIGHT

Reading Eighteenth-Century Literature
Daniel Defoe
social
No author embodies the changing ____________________ hierarchy (order) of the
eighteenth century better than Daniel Defoe.
In 1719, Defoe turned to writing fiction nonfiction. Some scholars refer to
founder
him as the ___________________ of the English novel.
The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe was popular and different from other novels on the market
humble
because it focused on a man of ____________________ ordinary
birth. He (Crusoe) was an ______________________
young man who had extraordinary adventures. Over the course of the novel, the hero
✓ survives two shipwrecks ✓ escapes

✓ marooned on island ✓ saves lives
✓ fends off hostile attackers ✓ eventually returns to England
✓ is captured
Stylistically, Robinson Crusoe reflects static changing ideas about literature. Defoe favored a simple,
middle
direct style that appealed to the growing ___________________ class.
Alexander Pope
satires
During his lifetime, Alexander Pope was famous for his witty ___________________ and his bitter spats
(arguments) with other writers.
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift wrote few many essays over the course of the early eighteenth century.
novel
However, most people know him for his 1726 _______________ Gulliver’s Travels.
Summary
How did writing change during the eighteenth-century?
sentence construction involved periodic and complex sentences, often diluting the subject, verb,
object pattern to which we are so accustomed. Eighteenth-century writing also poses a fairly
different orthography[the system of spelling and letters] than does present-day English.

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Neoclassicism II

Culture and Society in the Eighteenth Century

Two important forces driving cultural change were

The Population Explosion

✓ increased wealth ✓ advances in agricultural production

The Print Explosion

Copyright © 2019 Edmentum Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Characteristics of Eighteenth-Century Literature

Though prose was least most common, poetry remained popular.

All nature is but art, unknown to thee;

Copyright © 2019 Edmentum Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe

✓ survives two shipwrecks ✓ escapes

Copyright © 2019 Edmentum Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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