The age of Johnson

 The age of Johnson (1744-1784)

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1.

1. The latter half of the 18th century was dominated by Dr. Samuel Johnson. 

2. It is been said that often the death of Johnson the classical spirit of English literature started being replaced by the romantic spirit.

3. But we will see that romanticism started only after Wordsworth and Coleridge published their lyrical Ballads in the year 1778.

4. Even during the age of Johnson, there were signs in favour of romanticism.

5.  That is why most of the writers who belonged to the age of Johnson are termed as precursors of the romantic revival.

6. The age of Johnson is also called the age of Transitio in English literature.

2.

1. Poets of the Age of Johnson - The Age of Johnson was an age of experimentation that led to the romantic revival.

2. Its history is the history of the struggle between the old and the new. 

3. The greatest protagonist of the age was Johnson and Goldsmith.

3.

1. Goldsmiths - Goldsmiths was convinced that classical writing of poetry was best.

2. They had attained perfection during the Augustan age.

3. Goldsmith's The Traveller and the Deserted Village is classical in spirit. 

4. They are written in a closed couplet.

5. These poems may be described as the last of the 18th c, but there is a touch of romanticism where nature is dealt.

6. The age of Johnson can be also said that these writers followed new romanticism…

4.

1. Romanticism was opposed to classicism in all respect.

2. Classicism poetry was - that -

1. It was mainly the product of imagination.

2. It was deficient in emotion and imagination.

3. It was chiefly town poetry.

4. It had no love for the mysterious, supernatural or what belonged to the post.

5. Its style was formal and artificial.

6. It was fundamentally didactic.

7. It insisted on the writers to follow the prescribed rules.

5.

1. Romanticism was entirely different.

2. It encouraged emotion, passion, and imagination.

3. It was more interested in nature and rustic life.

4. It revived the romantic spirit love of the mysterious and supernatural and past.

5. It opposed the artificial and formal types.

6. It insisted on simple and natural forms of expression.

7. It attacked the supremacy of the closed couplet.

8. It encourages metrical expressions

9. Its object was not didactic but the writer’s expression was for their own sake.

10. Romanticism believed in the liberty of the writer to choose their own theme and manner of writing.

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The poets who showed romantic learning during the age of Johnson and those who may be also called romantic revivals are as follows;

1. James Thomason (1700-1748) 

1. Thomson was one of the earliest 18th-century writers who showed a romantic tendency.

2. In his works work, The Season he gives minute observations of nature.

3. Here he used the Miltonic tradition of black verse.

4.  He used the Spenserian stanza.

2. Thomas Grey (1716-1711)

1. Grey is famous for his work  “Elegy Written in a country churchyard”.

2. It is the best-known English literature.

3. The poem is the manifestation of deep feelings.

4. It does not have classical restraints.

5. The poems of Grey emphasise the independence of the poet.

6. It has the classical form but in the spirit it is romantic.

3. William Collions (1725-1759)

1. Collins's poetry exhibits deep feelings.

2. His Oriental Eclogues is romantic in feelings but it is written in a closed couplet.

3. In all his poems collins values solitude and quietude.

4.  His poetry advocates nature.

5. According to him, nature gives the opportunity for contemplation.

4. James Macpherson (1736-1796)

1. Macpherson become famous for his ‘work of Ossian’ 

2. This was a translated Gaelif Folk of literature.

5. William Blake (1757-1827)

1. In the poetry of Blake, we find a complete break from classical poetry.

2. His works ‘Song of Innocence and Song of Experience have a fine lyrical quality.

3. Swinburne said of Blake that he was the only poet of “supreme and simple genius” of the 18th century. 

4. Some of his poems are the most perfect songs in the English language.

6. Robert Burns (1759-1796)

1. Burns is the greatest songwriter of the English language.

2. He had a great love for nature and a firm belief in human dignity and quality.

3. And this was one of the chief characteristics of romanticism.

4. Most of his works have an Elizabethan touch Saturday Night, ‘to a Mouse’ etc.

7. William Cowper (1731-1800)

1. Cowper’s works have an autobiographical touch.

2. It describes the pleasures and pain of humanity.

3. ‘The task’, ‘on the receipt of my mother’s picture’ etc are a few notable works.

4. Cowper lived a torturous and painful life, though he was a kind soul.

8. George Crabbe (1754-1832)

1. Crabb stood in between the Augustans and Romantics.

2. He was classical in form but romantic in temper.

3. He wrote in a heroic couplet.

4. He was he realises the intimate union of nature and man.

5. His well-known work is ‘the village’

9.  Thomas Chatterton (1752-1770)

1. Chatterton also can be considered as another precursor of romantic revival. 

2. His notable works are Bishop Percy the Cowley poems etc.