English Literature of the 18th Century English literature

English Literature of the 18th Century

English literature

This presentation is focused on English literature rather than being limited merely to the literature of England, so that it includes writers from Scotland, the whole of Ireland, and Wales. However, until the early 19th century, it deals with the literature written in English in Britain and Ireland.

 The 18th century saw the first British novels in the works of Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson and Henry Fielding, while the late 18th and early 19th centuries were the period of the Romantic poets, such as Wordsworth, Coleridge, Lord Byron, Shelley and Keats.

 The 18th century saw the first British novels in the works of Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson and Henry Fielding, while the late 18th and early 19th centuries were the period of the Romantic poets, such as Wordsworth, Coleridge, Lord Byron, Shelley and Keats.

Daniel Defoe
Samuel Richardson
Henry Fielding
Lord Byron

Augustan literature

The term Augustan literature derives from authors of the 1720s and 1730s themselves, who responded to a term that George I of England preferred for himself. While George I meant the title to reflect his might, they instead saw in it a reflection of Ancient Rome's transition from rough and ready literature to highly political and highly polished literature. 

Augustan literature (1700–1750)

During the 18th century literature reflected the worldview of the Age of Enlightenment (or Age of Reason): a rational and scientific approach to religious, social, political, and economic issues that promoted a secular view of the world and a general sense of progress and perfectibility. Led by the philosophers who were inspired by the discoveries of the previous century by people like Isaac Newton and the writings of Descartes, John Locke and Francis Bacon.

Isaac Newton
Descartes
John Locke
Francis Bacon

Age of sensibility: 1750–1798

This period is also sometimes described as the "Age of Johnson". Samuel Johnson (1709–1784), often referred to as Dr Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. Johnson has been described as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history". He is also the subject of "the most famous single work of biographical art in the whole of literature": James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson (1791). His early works include the poems "London" and "his most impressive poem", The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749)

Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)