EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY :

The literature of the century may be classified under three categories: the trend of classicism, the revival of romantic poetry, and the beginning of the "modern novel". Modern newspapers like "Chronicle", "Post", and "Times" and the literary magazines like "Tatler" and "Spectator" had greatly influenced the development of the prose style. 

Alexander Pope (1688-1774), a unique figure during the period, was, for a generation, "the poet" of a great nation. Pope's "Pastorals", "Windsor", "Forest Messiah", "Essays on Criticism", "Tamburlaine", "Eloise to Abelard", "the Rape of the Lock", "Dunciad", "Moral Epistles" are well known. 

Besides, Jonathan Swift's (1667-1745) famous work "Bickerstaff Almanac" containing "Predictions for the year 1708, as Determined by the Unerring Stars", , his two great satires are "Tale of a Tub", and "Gulliver's Travels". 

Joseph Addison (1672-1719) seized upon the new social life and made it the subject of many of his essays based upon types of men and manners. The most interesting work of Addison's early life is his "Account of the Greatest English Poets". His "Cato" is one of his popular poems. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) is remembered chiefly for his "Dictionary", an English lexicon, the "Lives of the Poets", and "Rasselas", "Prince of Abyssinia". Edmund Burke (1729-1797) is best known for essays, like "Reflections of the French Revolution", "A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful". Edward Gibbon's (1737-1794) "Memoirs" and "The Decline and Fall of Roman Empire" are two remarkable works. Thomas Gray's (1716-1771) "The Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" is the most perfect poem of the age, although his "Letters" and the "Journal" are also noteworthy. 

Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774) is famous for his "The Deserted Village" (poem), although he was also noted essayist, dramatist and novelist. His "The Vicar of Wakefield", "The Citizen of The World", "The Good-Natured Man" and "She Stoops to Conquer" brought him more fame. William Cowper (1731-1800) wrote his largest poem, "The Task". Robert Burns (1759-1796) is better known as a great song-writer. William Blake (1759-1796) is perhaps the most original romantic poet of the age. His last huge prophetic works, prophetic works; "Jerusalem" and "Milton", the "Poetical Sketches", "Songs of Experience" reflect different views of human soul. His other famous works are "Urizen", "Gates of Paradise", "Marri age of Heaven and Hell", "The French Revolution", "The Vision of the Daughters of Albion". 

James Thomson's (1700-1748) poems, like "Rule Britannia" (one of the national songs of Britain), "The Castle of Indolence", "The Seasons"; William Collins' (1721-1759) "Oriental Eclogems", George Crabbe's (1721-1759) poetical works, like "The Village", "The Parish Register", "The Borough", "Tales in Verse", "Tales of the Hall" ; James Macpherson's (1736-1796) "Fragments of Ancient Poetry Collected in the Highlands", "Fingal", "Temora" are wonderful works of the age.

Other prominent writers of the age were Thomas Chatterton, Thomas Percy, the author of "Reliques of Ancient English Poetry", "Northern Antiquities", Daniel Defoe, famous for his "Robinson Crusoe", "Journal of the Plague Year", "Memoirs of a Cavalier", "Captain Singleton", "Colonel Jack", "Moll Flanders", "Roxana" etc.; Samuel Richardson, a noted writer of "Family Letters", "Pamela", "Clarissa", "Sir Charles Grandison" etc.; Henry Fielding, the author of "Joseph Andrews", "Jonathan Wilde", "The History of Tom Tones", "A Foundling", "Amelia" etc.; Tobias Smollett, The author of "Roderick Random", "Peregrine Pickle", "Humphrey Clinker" etc.; Lawrence Sterne, the author of "Tristram Shandy", "A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy".