17th and 18th century in English literature

The first half of the 17Th century represented a critical stage in Europe, caused by the scientific revolution and the following world view. The natural philosophy replaced Scholasticism, which had produced a philosophy based on assumptions and ancient observations. Scholasticism had provided a geocentric and ordered universe , instead the natural philosophy introduced the experimental method getting rid of authorities, based on observations and inquiry into nature. They discovered that the universe was Heliocentric and matter-based and was seen as a mechanical object. This change in the world picture was not seen as a challenge to religion for the scientists, but the Church of Rome tried to stop/repress this revolution. Only England encouraged scientists.

The centre of the development of the natural philosophy was London. In fact in 1662 the Royal Society was founded receiving the patronage of Charles II. The motto of the Society was “nullius in verba” and clarified the experimental foundation of the new world view. The useful and simple replaced the complex of the previous age.

With the raising of the natural philosophy started to emerge some of the typical traits of the English character: materialism, tolerance, reasonableness, common sense, pragmatism.

George I became ascended the throne in 1714 and at this time the dynasty of the Hanover and the Augustan age began, even if the new king preferred Germany to England and the only large town was London. This period is called Augustan after the age of Roman history, in which there was political stability, power and the flourishing of the arts. England is characterized by wit, elegance and traditionalism.

English society was pragmatic, materialistic, responsive to economic pressure, yet its institutions were hierarchical and privileged. Elections were controlled by landowners and only 3% of the population could vote, but this wasn't secret.

In 18^th century individualism was championed, as well as seizing economic opportunities. The state had the duty to protect the individuals, but it was a minimal state, which didn't interference in private property.

The Golden age corresponds to the Enlightened age. Even if English society was characterized by traditionalism, it was a free and open age, in which free-will, goodness of mankind, optimism and the ideal of progress affirmed. Puritanism of the previous age had stressed English society, which was now opened to liberal thought. Reason is the privileged means of the man and make him different from beasts. Thanks to the philosophy of John Locke and Hume, common sense and convention grew in importance.

faith in progress

Since English society was worldly, pragmatic and responsive to reality and economic pressure, writers were interested in reality and recognisable facts. Balance, symmetry and refinement were observed by all arts and this was caused by the imitation of nature, regulated by principles.

Even if the Enlightened age elevated reason, life was not ruled only by it. Sensibility gained importance because of the liberal though. Man was the judge of himself and many writers interested in the inner emotions, foreshadowing Romanticism.

In 1660 Parliament asked Charles II to return from exile, because the kingdom had felt oppressed by the strict rules of Puritanism and Oliver Cromwell. When he returned back to England, he ruled immorally and his court was addressed “the most immoral” in English history. It wasn't a positive period : in 1665 the bubonic plague hit the country and only one year later The Great Fire broke out and destroyed London.

In 1689 started the Glorious Revolution. The word “glorious” underlines the bloodlessness of the event. William of Orange became monarch and started a policy to encourage progress and economy. In this period London became the financial capital of the world.

The Augustan age was characterized by the growing importance of London. Trade and transport improved, markets became shops and consequently town grew larger. The prominence of London was due to many factors: for example, through its port passed most of England's foreign trade and the greatest trading company had a seat in London. Another reason is due to the culture and political affairs. Because of every session of the Parliament more than 400 members gathered in London with their families. London was also important for the Inns of Court and the many schools.

The Augustan age was a period of activity in policy. After his accession, George I chose the Whig Robert Walpole as Prime Minister. He remained in power from 1721 to 1742, for over 20 years, during which he encouraged the economy of England. To achieve this objective, he try to keep England out of foreign conflicts, he lowered taxes and trade could flourish. In fact he removed customs duties on exports and on imports of raw materials, but in 723 he levied a tax on coffee, tea and chocolate in order to reduce smuggling and to increase the income of the state. After George I's death, George II gave him a house in Westminster.

There are signs of the forthcoming Agrarian and Industrial Revolution, for example the division of labour in cloth-factories, but there is still a lack of capital, high danger in transports.

The middle class developed stronger in during the Pitt's period. Pitt was a whig and put into effect a mercantilist policy from 1766. England increased commerce and gain wealth, prestige and power and expanded in India and North America.

The expansion of the middle class continued stronger, influencing social life and culture. The wealthy merchants controlled the most productive trades, owned the mines and factories, bought large estates to gain prestige. If they were the “upper station of low life”, the artisans and craftsmen had to suffer hardships. They worked as apprentices for long hours for a low salary. Below them there was the urban population, who hadn't political rights. They were afflicted by diseases like smallpox, scurvy, typhus and it had been estimated that 51 percent of the children in London died before they reached the age of five. Some of them who survived were hired as apprentices by parishes or became chimney-sweepers. Some adults of the urban population worked in workhouses, built by parishes and hired out to factory owners. People who didn't work suffer terrible conditions of living and started to steal or to drink. City weren't safe, especially some districts. Part of the urban proletariat had been farmers, who had lost their fields after the enclosure system. This method of walling/ marking territories convey to an improvement of farming methods.

The literature of the Augustan Age is characterized by a remarkable variety of genres, which reflected the prosperous period and the growing of the middle class. There was an increase in the reading public due to the lending or circulating libraries and the low price of the subscriptions. The view of the time, so the faith in progress and economy, is represented in the novel. The father of the novel is considered Daniel Defoe, other famous writers of this genre are Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding and Swift.

The novelist is the spokesman of the middle class, writes in a simple way in order to reach even a less educated public. The novel, as I have already said, expresses the will of enterprise, of making something bigger, of testing one's own abilities. It's present the sense of punishment, which the character searches in this inner: an influence of the Puritanism and the new virtue of sensibility. The story presented isn't real but it's written in a realistic way. The protagonist is always a middle-class man and struggles for survival or success. All the names that the author uses are real and contemporary, to give the story the impression of realism. The time of the story is usually linear and the facts are told in chronological order. The settings of the story are detailed and well described. The narrator is usually in the 1st person, internal.

Daniel Foe was born in 1660 in a family of Dissenters, a Protestant sect. The prefix “De” is an aristocratic sounding he adopted. He had an eventful life. He studied in one of the best Dissenting Academies and he learned practical subjects, as well as traditional ones. His father wanted a religious career for him but he started writing in Whig papers. He founded a periodical, “The Review”, which he published from 1704 to 1713. He became a well-paid intellectual but his critical attitude wasn't appreciated by the Queen, who had him arrested. He had to denied his Whig ideas to free himself and he worked as secret agent for the government. Writing novels was an occupation he started when he was quite old. In 1719 he published “Robinson Crusoe”. He wasted his money and was haunted by creditors until his death.

Defoe 's novels are fictional autobiographies but they pretend to be true by means of biographical details and memories. They started with a preface, in which the author attests their authenticity. The novel is made of many adventures and episodes, which are hold together by the unifying presence of a hero. There isn't a plan.

The characters are presented from the inside and through their actions. They are in isolation and they struggle for something to reach.

Defoe portrays the middle-class in his novel.

Robinson belongs to the middle state, which his father declares “The best state in the world”.

The novel is full of religious references, to God, sin and Providence. The diary of him can be seen as a comfort, to record his events and by analyzing them, find God's will. It seems that Robinson prays God to be freed from sin, rather than rescued. In the novel there is the concept of working in a Puritan way, in order to show that the person deserves to be saved.

Robinson reproduces the English society on the island and exploits nature.

Robinson is a man of faith and shapes his destiny in the light of God's will. Even if it's religious, he uses the scientific method of the new philosophy. Even the language points out this fact: it is simple, solid and descriptions concentrate on primary qualities.