#Neoclassical_Age

#Neoclassical_Age
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Neoclassical is a term used to describe the writing of late 17th to 18th century authors like
Alexander Pope, John Dryden, and others. This style of writing referred to a new form of the
classics inspired by form, function, and theme of originals from Greek and Roman
literature. This style took an attitude toward human nature and ideas, logic, structure of order,
and other artistic realms which would enable the author to replicate those originals from
Greek and Roman literature. Regular meter, carefully controlled rhyme, and masterful use of
difficult rhetorical and figurative devices, often imitating those found in Greek and Latin
poetry, characterized this work. This era of neoclassical literature was predominant until late
in the 18th century. At that time the romantic era was ushered in with the works of William
Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and others of that time period.

The main features of poetry in the neoclassical age were:

ε a) Neoclassical poetry sprung from intellect, not from writers’ whims and imaginations.
ζ b) It was a more moralising, educational type of poetry as opposed to the romantic poetry
of the Renaissance Period (14th to 17th century). The neoclassical period was
predominantly in the 18th and early 19th century.
ε c) Neoclassicism had three stages: Restoration Period (1660-1700), Augustan Age (1700-
1750), and the Age of Johnson (1750-1798).
ζ d) Its main feature was rationalism (reason as the primary foundation and test of
knowledge).
ε e) Neoclassical poets wrote poetry without calling on feelings and imagination to help
them create their literary works.
ζ f) Plato was a significant source for writers of the neoclassical era.
ε g) Neoclassical poets, having high regard for classical rules, tried to adhere to these
classical rules of poetry in their writings.
ζ h) The neoclassical movement as a whole, which included its poetry, stemmed from the
classical and contemporary French model.
ε i) Neoclassical poetry and other works embodied a response against the hopeful,
enthusiastic, view of man typical to the Renaissance period.
ζ j) Poets of the neoclassical era, many who were well-educated, made use of scholarly
allusions in their work. They often made allusions to the classical writers such as Homer.
ε k) Being realists to a great degree, neoclassical poets endeavored to present what they
believed was a true, real picture of the society in which they lived, worked, and played. This
was in contrast to a romanticized view of society around them.