The Classical Age: 18th Century English Literature

The Classical Age of English Literature

The Eighteenth Century in England is called the Classical Age or the Augustan Age in literature. It is also called the Age of Good Sense or the Age of Reason. John Dryden belonged to the seventeenth century, but he was also included in the Classical or Augustan Age. Other great literary figures who dominated this age successively were Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson.

The Three Periods of the Classical Age

The Classical Age is divided into three distinct periods: the Ages of Dryden, Pope, and Johnson.

The Age of Dryden and the Restoration

Dryden was the dominating and most representative literary figure of the Dryden Age. The literature of the Restoration Period emphasized directness and simplicity of expression, which counteracted the tendency of exaggeration and extravagance encouraged during the Elizabethan and the Puritan ages.

The Restoration writers gave emphasis to reasoning rather than romantic fancy and evolved an exact, precise way of writing, consisting of short, clear-cut sentences without any unnecessary words. The Restoration poetry was mostly satirical, realistic, and written in the heroic couplet, of which Dryden was the supreme master. He was the dominating figure of the Restoration Period, and he made his mark in the fields of poetry, drama, and prose.

Why It Is Called the Classical Age

The Eighteenth Century is called the Classical Age in English literature on account of three primary reasons:

• Rank and Influence: In the first place, the term ‘classic’, in general, applies to writers of the highest rank in any nation. This term was first applied to the works of the great Greek and Roman writers, like Homer and Virgil. As the writers of the Eighteenth Century in England tried to follow the simple and noble methods of the great ancient writers, they began to be called Classical writers.
• Literary Abundance: In the second place, as during the Eighteenth Century in England there was an abundance of literary productions, the critics named it the Classical Age in English literature.
• Adherence to Classicism: Finally, the Eighteenth Century is called the Classical Age because the writers followed the ‘classicism’ of the ancient writers, which was taken in a narrow sense to imply fine polish and external elegance.

However, as the Eighteenth Century writers in England followed the ancient classical writers only in their external performance, they lacked their original sublimity and grandeur.