for john mureith

ENG 251 THE AGE OF REASON

Eighteenth Century

MAJOR LITERARY FORMS

essays, autobiography, satire, pamphlets, documents, poetry, sketches

THEMATIC CHARACTERISTICS

1. Influenced by European philosophers:

Sir Isaac Newton Isaac Newton was the greatest English mathematician of his generation. He laid the foundation for

differential and integral calculus. His work on optics and gravitation make him one of the greatest scientists

the world has known.

John Locke Much of John Locke's work is characterized by opposition to authoritarianism. This opposition is both on

the level of the individual person and on the level of institutions such as government and church. For the

individual, Locke wants each of us to use reason to search after truth rather than simply accept the opinion

of authorities or be subject to superstition. On the level of institutions, it becomes important to distinguish

the legitimate from the illegitimate functions of institutions and to make the corresponding distinction for

the uses of force by these institutions. The positive side of Locke's anti-authoritarianism is that he believes

that using reason to try to grasp the truth and determining the legitimate functions of institutions will

optimize human flourishing for the individual and society both in respect to its material and spiritual

welfare. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke/

Rene Descartes After an expanded statement of the method of doubt, he argued that even the most dire skepticism is

overcome by the certainty of one's own existence as a thinking thing. From this beginning, he believed it

possible to use our clear and distinct ideas to demonstrate the existence of god, to establish the reliability of

our reason generally despite the possibility of error, to deduce the essence of body, and to prove that

material things do exist. On these grounds, Descartes defended a strict dualism, according to which the

mind and body are wholly distinct, even though it seems evident that they interact.

http://www.philosophypages.com/ph/desc.htm

2. Interest in Deism—God governing through natural laws (see handout on Deism)

3. God humanity and nature existing in harmony

4. Reason , reflection, investigation, prudence, common sense

as guides to understanding divine design

5. Emphasis on the present world and conditions here

6. The natural rights of human beings

7. Political rights of the colonies, arguments for separation from England

8. Defining an "American"

9. Contrast and comparisons of Europeans and Americans

STYLISTIC CHARACTERISTICS

English form and style—American sensibility

Many pamphlets and manifestos, highly rhetorical rather than lyrical

Practical, political, and persuasive

Clarity and precision in prose

Poetry emphasizing form and meter

Importance of wit

Propaganda for the American Revolution

Evocation of a national sense

Topical subject matter

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF NEOCLASSIC WRITING

Used heroic couplet (two rhyming lines in iambic pentameter expressing a thought)

Cultivated poetic diction

Generalized about the situation and abstract in philosophy

Strove for perfection of form—regularity, clarity, standard

Conformed to law and order—Pope's "Whatever is, is right."

Stressed intellect, reason, common sense

Emphasized satire and criticism

Emphasized society and its institutions

Interested in city life

Interested in the contemporary world but also interested in the Greek and Roman

classical works

Examples of classical architecture from Rome and Greece:

The Colesseum in Rome

The Parthenon in Athens Examples of neoclassical architecture in the United States:

The Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D. C.

Mount Vernon, home of George Washington

The White House in Washington, D. C.

The Capitol in Washington, D. C.

Example of neoclassical gardens: