Introduction to English Literature - Eighteenth-Century Literature: An Introduction

An introduction to Restoration and Eighteenth-century English Literature -- beginning with the context of the period in the history of ideas, namely in relation to the Scientific Revolution of the 17th Century and the Enlightenment. In addition, reference is made to the position of this period in relation to Leo Strauss's Three Waves of Modernity -- that is, in the 18th Century we see that late stages of the "First Wave" of modernity and some of the roots of the historical turn that led to the "Second Wave" of modernity. In terms of the literary movements of this broad period, the introduction is broken down to three "Ages": the Age of Dryden, the Age of Pope and the Age of Johnson. The "Neoclassicism" of the period are discussed, in particular in relation to the neoclassical aesthetics elucidated by Alexander Pope in his Essay on Criticism. Finally, the "rise of the novel" in the 18th Century is discussed. Powerpoint slides for this lecture: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12xoK2oL3mfw7eR5e0sIf7fnj6kPYWtVz/view?usp=drive_link My Web site: https://sites.google.com/site/untergehenproject/sample6 0:00 - Introduction 3:48 - The Enlightenment -- reference to Newton, Locke, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot and the French Revolution 12:05 - The Age of Dryden -- the Restoration; Absalom and Achitophel (1681) 15:41 - The Age of Pope -- the Glorious Revolution (1688); on Satire; 19:41 - Pope's Dunciad 21:50 - Swift's Battle of the Books; the Quarrel of Ancients and Moderns 24:28 - Pope's An Essay on Criticism -- Neoclassical Aesthetics 33:13 - The Age of Johnson 35:32 - The Rise of the Novel Related lectures: https://youtu.be/5aQraZkgWkE?si=nWudUkX5_YejXmRn https://youtu.be/LAAHbV-9UWc?si=0QSjjIAdifTW8Ijb https://youtu.be/2RsoS2917N0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0Xho-swi7o&t=29s&pp=ygUrbWFjaGlhdmVsbGkgYW5kIHRoZSBmaXJzdCB3YXZlIG9mIG1vZGVybml0eQ%3D%3D https://youtu.be/ux4EVsurjKE?si=MjIS3wvmAiw3u2_S https://youtu.be/G0YGzzfwf0U?si=oAiMHB159JNzHZyg&t=1 https://youtu.be/NXj2yN9mgZM?si=SxGKLqJZEMFLgYay The Ancient Liberty of Milton's Epic Verse: https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2021/03/ancient-liberty-milton-epic-verse-timothy-wilson.html