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    Neoclassical Criticism

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    Manul Gupta
    This document discusses Neoclassical criticism in English literature between 1660-1798. It focuses on John Dryden and Samuel Johnson, two influential figures during this period. The Neoclassical period imitated the styles of Greek and Roman literature. Drama was the dominant literary form. John Dryden made important contributions to literary criticism through establishing rules of drama, modernizing the British stage, and theories on diction, rhyme, and the creative process.

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    Neoclassical Criticism

    Uploaded by

    Manul Gupta
    248 views13 pages
    This document discusses Neoclassical criticism in English literature between 1660-1798. It focuses on John Dryden and Samuel Johnson, two influential figures during this period. The Neoclassical period imitated the styles of Greek and Roman literature. Drama was the dominant literary form. John Dryden made important contributions to literary criticism through establishing rules of drama, modernizing the British stage, and theories on diction, rhyme, and the creative process.

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    Neoclassical School of Literary Criticism

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    This document discusses Neoclassical criticism in English literature between 1660-1798. It focuses on John Dryden and Samuel Johnson, two influential figures during this period. The Neoclassical period imitated the styles of Greek and Roman literature. Drama was the dominant literary form. John Dryden made important contributions to literary criticism through establishing rules of drama, modernizing the British stage, and theories on diction, rhyme, and the creative process.

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    248 views13 pages

    Neoclassical Criticism

    Uploaded by

    Manul Gupta
    This document discusses Neoclassical criticism in English literature between 1660-1798. It focuses on John Dryden and Samuel Johnson, two influential figures during this period. The Neoclassical period imitated the styles of Greek and Roman literature. Drama was the dominant literary form. John Dryden made important contributions to literary criticism through establishing rules of drama, modernizing the British stage, and theories on diction, rhyme, and the creative process.

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    of 13

    Neoclassical Criticism

    John Dryden and Samuel Johnson


    Neoclassical period in English literature

     Between 1660-1798
    (Restoration period, Augustan Period, Age of Johnson)

     Imitated the style of the Greeks and the Romans

     Drama - most dominant form of literature


    Restoration period – brief history

     Restoration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNPxkYW36M4

     Shakespearean stage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqRccjKub2A

    Quick summary:
     Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans (Parliament-ruled)– close of theatres in 1642
     Reopening of theatres after Charles II returned to England from France (return
    of monarchy)– 1660

    Relationship between political shifts and literature!


    Quiz

     What were the comedies about?


     What were some of the new developments?
     What practice continues even today?
     What did the British stage borrow? And from whom?
     What did the pit have?
     Who sat in the boxes?
     How did the audience change towards the end of the 17th century?
    JOHN DRYDEN
    (1631 to 1700)

    Poet, literary
    critic, translator
    and playwright
    Dryden’s contribution to literary criticism

     Rules of drama
     Modernizing of British stage theatre
     Diction and rhyme
    Role of fancy/imagination/wit

     The role of “fancy” (imagination) (also called wit):


    In the preface to his poem Annus Mirabilis (1667), Dryden gave an account of the phases of
    the creative process, which we can profitably compare with the inventio , disposition
    (organization) and elocutio of classical rhetoric.
    To compose an epic poem, he says, a poet needs wit. "Wit" in the eighteenth century did not
    suggest the gift of the quick repartee, it stood for the creative faculty of the human mind, the
    ability to see the resemblances between different objects.
    Dryden defines wit as imagination, as the ability to find the right memory or the right metaphor
    we are looking for
    Creative Process

    Creative process
    Invention:
    finding an idea

    Fancy:
    moulding the thought
    (judgment)

    Elocution:
    adorning the thought in
    appropriate sounding words
    Modern ideas about Drama

     But true imitation must be original and improve the models. Dryden believed that poetry
    has a historical development, and he wishes "that poetry may not go backward, when all
    other arts and sciences are advancing." We may profit from the models and the
    experience of the ancients and try to go beyond them.
     The neoclassical era is not particularly sensitive to originality and invention, but
    nevertheless Dryden believes that other things being equal, originality is to be preferred to
    good imitation, and is a greater proof of genius.
    Diction and Rhyme

     Rhyme was for Dryden something more than a mere ornament. It is a way of consciously
    controlling the process of composition: because of the superior attention it requires, rhyme
    demands a greater consciousness on the part of the poet, and less abandonment to the
    inspiration of his fancy.
     For tragedy, blank verse (a British style) was better
    Reception of rhyme

     Dryden defended the use of rhyme. He believes that the end of a play is not so much to
    give a faithful imitation of human life as to give a heightened image of reality. Rhyme
    works in that way: it guides the attention and gives greater tightness to speeches. Besides,
    Dryden says, blank verse is not "natural," either.
     Dramatic verisimilitude deceives us because we desire to be deceived, and that we know
    all the time that we are being deceived.
    Dramatic Unities

     Unity of time – the period of time presented in the play


     Unity of place – the setting presented
     Unity of action – plot (connection between beginning, middle and
    end

    (The unities aim at verisimilitude; the space and time of representation must be as close as
    possible to those of the feigned action. Any distortion must be supposed to fall between the
    acts, plots have to begin "in medias res", narration must be restricted to events simultaneous
    with the action if possible, etc.)
    Description of drama

     “a just and lively image of human nature, representing its passions and humours, and the
    changes of fortune to which it is subject, for the delight and instruction of mankind.”
    - Of Dramatic Poesy

     Later: delight is the chief, if not the only end of poesy; instruction can be admitted but in
    the second place, for poesy only instructs as it delights,

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