Neoclassicism.pptVIP

Neoclassicism * Royal Observatory at Greenwich (1675) Sir Christopher Wren the Neoclassical period covers 1660-1785 - it contain a number of sub-periods: - The Restoration (1660-1700) - The Augustan Age (the Age of Pope) (1700-1745) - The Age of Sensibility (the Age of Johnson) (1745-1785) literary periods are convenient for the sake of scholarship – they are not hard and fast rules Some important writers: John Dryden Alexander Pope Joseph Addison Jonathan Swift Samuel Johnson Edmund Burke Jonathan Swift 1667-1745 Samuel Johnson 1709-1784 Neoclassicism Neoclassicism –the period is bounded by the “Restoration” of Charles II as the British monarch and (roughly) the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 (the beginning of the Romantic Period)some features of the period (at least its early years) include:strong interest in tradition (thus the “neo,” meaning new) - distrust of radical innovationgreat respect for classical writers (those of Ancient Greece and Rome) = the idea of “enduring literary models”literature was one of the arts – as an “art” it required the practice and study of a set of skills and the involvement of the artist in the forms and styles of the “classical” era (contrast this to the Romantic ideal of the lone poet, the “natural,” solitary genius....)the Roman poet Horace produced his Ars Poetica (first century B.C.) - consisting of nearly 30 guiding maxims for aspiring poets Tasso (Italian Renaissance poet – 1544-1595) annotated this copy of Horace’s work. Tasso wrote and revised treatises on poetics throughout his career. text (Ars Poetica) within text (commentary by Cristoforo Landino, Florence, 1482) within text (annotations by Tasso) “HOMER is universally allowd to have had the greatest Invention of any Writer whatever.” Alexander Pope (1688-1744), Preface to his Translation of Homers Iliad (1715) “As in the most regular Gardens, however Art may carry the greatest Appearance, there is not a Plant or Flower but is the Gift