4. Give a brief account of Dryden's life. What are his chief poetical works? For what new object did he use poetry? Is satire a poetical subject? Why is a poetical satire more effective than a satire in prose? What was Dryden's contribution to English prose? What influence did he exert on our literature?
5. What is Butler's Hudibras? Explain its popularity. Read a passage and comment upon it, first, as satire; second, as a description of the Puritans. Is Hudibras poetry? Why?
6. Name the philosophers and political economists of this period. Can you explain why Hobbes should call his work Leviathan? What important American documents show the influence of Locke?
7. Tell briefly the story of Pepys and his Diary. What light does the latter throw on the life of the age? Is the Diary a work of literature? Why?
| [CHRONOLOGY] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Half of the Seventeenth Century | |||
| HISTORY | LITERATURE | ||
| 1649. | Execution of Charles I | ||
| 1649-1660. | Commonwealth | 1651. | Hobbes's Leviathan |
| 1660. | Restoration of Charles II | 1660-1669. | Pepys's Diary |
| 1662. | Royal Society founded | ||
| 1663. | Butler's Hudibras | ||
| 1665-1666. | Plague and Fire of London | ||
| War with Holland | |||
| 1667. | Dutch fleet in the Thames | 1667. | Milton's Paradise Lost. |
| Dryden's Annus Mirabilis | |||
| 1663-1694. | Dryden's dramas | ||
| 1671. | Paradise Regained | ||
| 1678. | Pilgrim's Progress | ||
| published | |||
| 1680. | Rise of Whigs and Tories | ||
| 1681. | Dryden's Absalom and | ||
| Achitophel | |||
| 1685. | James II | ||
| Monmouth's Rebellion | |||
| 1687. | Newton's Principia | ||
| proves the law of | |||
| gravitation | |||
| 1688. | English Revolution, William of | ||
| Orange called to throne | |||
| 1689. | Bill of Rights. Toleration Act | ||
| 1690. | Locke's Human | ||
| Understanding | |||
| 1698. | Jeremy Collier attacks | ||
| stage | |||
| 1700. | Death of Dryden | ||
[CHAPTER IX]
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY LITERATURE (1700-1800)
I. AUGUSTAN OR CLASSIC AGE
[History of the Period.] The Revolution of 1688, which banished the last of the Stuart kings and called William of Orange to the throne, marks the end of the long struggle for political freedom in England. Thereafter the Englishman spent his tremendous energy, which his forbears had largely spent in fighting for freedom, in endless political discussions and in efforts to improve his government. In order to bring about reforms, votes were now necessary; and to get votes the people of England must be approached with ideas, facts, arguments, information. So the newspaper was born,[182] and literature in its widest sense, including the book, the newspaper, and the magazine, became the chief instrument of a nation's progress.