Poetry of “The Age of Pope” (1700-1744)



A. 

  1. The early parts of the 18th century or the Augustan age in English literature are called the Age of the Pope.

  2. Pope was the dominating figure of this age.

  3. Though there were a number of other writers Pope was one who devoted himself to literature.

  4. His poetry served as a model to others.


B. 

  1. Poetry - the classical school of poetry dominated the age.

  2. Now the people rejected the Puritan values, especially those who rejected innocent recreation.

  3. They chose the middle path, not in excess of moral or emotional ways.

  4. They insist on the role of intelligence.

  5.  ⤵️

  1. The 18th-century writers were deficient in emotion and imagination.

  2. Dominated by intellect, poetry in this age was didactic and satirical 

  3. Then the poet of this age was more interested in ‘cultural society’.

  4. There is no picture of village life, birds, flowers and nature.

  5. Thus they had no feelings for their early-age writers such as Shakespeare, Chaucer and Milton.

  1. ⤵️

  1. The form became more important in this age.

  2. The close couplet becomes the only form for serious work inverse.

  3. The couplet was too narrow.

  4. It become mono tonous and thus did not serve the high passion.

  5. ⤵️

  1. The prose becomes a prominent medium of expression.

  2. Precision exactness and clarity were demanded in poetry.

  3. Poets had to say in clear and simple language.

  4. The result was that poetry could not reach the demands in this way.

  5. There was nothing such as deep study and interpretation.


C. Alexander Pope (1688-1744) - 

  1. Pope is called the ‘principle of classicism’ as 

  2. Prof Elton says.

  3. Physically he was short, invalid delicate. This made him weak and he himself said of his life as a ‘long disease’.

  4. Despite everything, he left a permanent mark on the literature of the age.

  5. He was highly intellectual and he was looked upon as a ‘model poet’.

  6. The poetry of the Pope had the quality of correctness.

  7. ⤵️

  1. At the age of 23, he published his essays in criticism (1711) 

  2. Here he insists on the rules of the Ancients as their rules were in harmony with nature.

  1. The Pope of the Lock is his masterpiece. It is a ‘mock-heroic’ poem. 

  2. He translated Homee’s Illiad and Odyssey.

  3. Now there were a host of jealous rivals against Pope, because of his popularity.

  4. Pope ridiculed his rivals in his work The Dunciad. Imitations of Horace and Epistles are also satire where Pope attacks his enemies.

  5. He is a supreme master of the Epigrammatic style of condensing an idea into a line or couplet.

               As a result, many of his lines have become proverbial language.

  1. “Hope springs eternal in the human heart.


D. Minor poets

  1. Minor poets of the age were very few.

  2. ⤵️

  1. Mathew Prior (1685- 1732). He was an active and diplomatic politician also.

  2. He wrote Solomen on the vanity of the world and Alma or the Progress of the mind

  1.      a) J and Gay (1685-1765) Gay is the master of Vivid rural scenes.

     b) He wrote rural sports Trivia etc.  

  1.      a) Edward Young (1683-1718) thought of the 18th-century young  had the temper of    

         Romantics.

     b) his works are The Night Thoughts and Universal Passion to name a few 

  1. Thomas Parnell (1670-1708) Parnell excelled in translation. His best-known work is The Night Piece.

  2.      ⤵️

  1. Lady Winchelsea (1660-1725) Winchelsea was followed by Pope but she was more inclined Towards Nature.

  2. The Nocturnal Reverie may be considered to be the pioneer of Nature poetry.