(c) Prose Narrative. Much of the narrative is still disguised as allegory, as in Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and Addison’s Vision of Mirza. In his method Swift shows some advance, for he subordinates the allegory and adds to the interest in the satire and the narrative. The prominence given to fiction is still more noticeable in the novels of Defoe, such as Robinson Crusoe. We are now in touch with the novel proper, which will be treated in the next chapter.
(d) Miscellaneous Prose. There is a large body of religious, political and philosophical work. Much of it is satirical. In political prose Swift is the outstanding figure, with such books as the Drapier’s Letters; and in religious writing his Tale of a Tub has a sinister importance. Other examples are Bolingbroke’s Spirit of Patriotism (political), Berkeley’s Alciphron (philosophical), and Steele’s The Christian Hero (religious).
THE DEVELOPMENT OF LITERARY STYLE
1. Poetry. In poetry we have to chronicle the domination of the heroic couplet. This meter produced a close, clear, and almost prosaic style, as we have noticed in the work of Pope. Blank verse is still found in Young’s Night Thoughts. Another example of blank verse is found in the mock epic of John Philips (1676–1708) called The Splendid Shilling (1703). The use of blank verse at this time is important, for it marks both a resistance to the use of the couplet and a promise of the revival of the freer forms of verse. The following is a fair example of the blank verse of the period. In style it is quite uninspired, and is philosophically dull, but it is metrically accurate and has a certain dignity and force.
Amidst my list of blessings infinite
Stands this the foremost, “That my heart has bled.”
’Tis Heaven’s last effort of goodwill to man;
When pain can’t bless, Heaven quits us in despair.
Who fails to grieve, when just occasion calls,
Or grieves too much, deserves not to be blest;