英国文学史4.pptVIP

Culture: 1. Reason rather than superstition dominated. 2. English literature was influenced by French enlighteners and ancient Roman writers. 3. Neo-classicism was the leading literary trend in early 18th century. 2. Neo-classicism: a revival in the 17th and 18th centuries of classical standards of order, balance, and harmony in literature. John Dryden and Alexander Pope were major exponents of the neo-classical school. (2) 1740s-1750s, the realistic novels of Richardson, Fielding and Smollett, of whom the last two made rather fierce attacks on the existing social conditions but still maintain