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The RestorationIntroduction to the Literary Period
Key Concept: Order and Reason
Key Concept: Social Classes
Key Concept: Values and Beliefs
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History of the Times
• Five years later, London suffers an outbreak of plague, and the Great Fire ravages city in 1666.
• In 1660, after twenty years of civil war and Puritan dictatorship, England is ready for stability and the return of Charles II.
Key Concept: Order and Reason
• The Glorious Revolution of 1688 enables William and Mary to take the throne without bloodshed.
• Parliament becomes more powerful; a two-party system emerges. The Age of Reason ushers in era of scientific and rational thought.
• Neoclassical writers revive standards of order found in classical literature of ancient Rome.
• The emphasis on cleverness, or wit, is intended for the upper classes.
Literature of the Times• Restoration literature is influenced
by French classical ideas.
• Journalism emerges as a new form of writing.
Key Concept: Order and Reason
• Writers Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift use satire in their works.
• Industrialization created overcrowded slums and wretched working conditions.
• The poor lived in sewage-strewn streets or rat-filled tenements. Children had to work.
History of the Times
• The hereditary nobility at the top of the system indulged in elegance and excess.
• The social order of Restoration England was based on the class system.
Key Concept: Social Classes
• Physicians served only the rich. Seventy-four percent of children died before age 5.
• On the stage, the comedy of manners appealed to men and women of fashion.
Literature of the Times
• The most successful literary form was the drama. Lavish theater dramas reflected the sophistication of Charles’s court.
• After the return of Charles II, English writers were receptive to French wit and literary taste.
Key Concept: Social Classes
• The novel finds an audience in the middle class.
• Protestants who remained outside the Anglican church were known as Dissenters.
• As the state religion, the Anglican church dominated religious life.
Literature of the Times
• Prominent writers of this period were Roman Catholics and Dissenters.
• Many were denied public office and university education despite ample talents.
Key Concept: Values and Beliefs
The End