Lit Cafe: The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century

The Restoration and Eighteenth Century
1660-1798

The Restoration: Dryden, John; Pepys, Samuel
The Age of Pope: Defoe, Daniel; Swift, Jonathan; Addison, Joseph; Steele, Richard; Pope, Alexander
The Age of Johnson: Johnson, Samuel; Boswell, James; Gray, Thomas; Burns, Robert; Blake, William; Fielding, Henry

The Restoration

Dryden, John 1633-1703

John Dryden was born in Aldwinkle, Northamptondhire, England and was educated at Cambridge. In 1657, Dryden went to London and began writing plays and satires for the English court. In 1665, Dryden published his first successful play, The Indian Emperor. A year later, Dryden turned the table around and began writing in blank verse. This led him to the creation of his greatest play, All For Love (1678). After becoming Poet Laureate (1668) and historiographer royal (1670), Dryden produced a series of satires. His most successful was Absalom and Achitopel (1681). The same decade also withheld Religio laici (1682), The Hind and The Panther (1687), and William III (1688). Before his death at the age of 69, Dryden also wrote a few critical works.

Pepys, Samuel 1633-1703

Samuel Pepys was born in London, England and was educated at Cambridge. After going to university, Pepys joined the naval service and quickly moved up the ranks which soon brought him to the position as a secretary to the Admiralty (1672). After being accused of taking part in the Popish Plot (1679), Pepys was imprisoned and lost his position in office. In 1684, Pepys was reappointed to his position, and in that same year he also was appointed the president of the Royal Society. Pepys was never a major writer but from January 1, 1660, to May 31, 1669, he held a diary. His philosophy on everyday subjects and his paragraphs on the Great Plague (1665-1666), The Great Fire of London (1666), and the arrival of the Dutch fleet (1665-1667), have made his diary intriguing to many. Due to the diary being written in cipher, the diary was not decoded until 1825. Pepys died at the age of 76.

The Age of Pope

Defoe, Daniel    1660-1731

Daniel Defoe was born in London and studied at a dissident institute. In 1688, Defoe joined William III´s army and began writing satires supporting the King. After being imprisoned because of his play The Shortest Way with the Dissenters (1702), Defoe began working on The Review (1704). Later in his career, Defoe changed his writing to fiction with Robinson Crusoe (1719-1720), A Journal of the Plague Year (1722), Moll Flanders (1722), and Roxana (1724). Defoe died at the age of 71.

Swift, Jonathan    1667-1745

Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin, Ireland into an Anglo-Irish family. Before his birth, Swift´s father died and Swift was left to be taken care of by his Irish uncles. His mother moved to England who he later followed after his six years of education at Trinity College. In England, Swift began to attend Oxford University. With the end of his education, Swift started working for Sir William Temple, an astounding English statesman. In 1704, Swift published his first major satirical work, A Tale of a Tub. Six years later, Swift became the editor of a journal produced by the Conservative Party. In 1714 with the fall of the Tories, Swift accepted a job as Dean of St. Patrick´s in Dublin. During the 1920´s Swift and his friend Alexander Pope and John Gay formed a group of Conservative satirists known as the Scriblerians. In the following years of his life, Swift wrote many novels including Gulliver´s Travels (1726) and A Modest Proposal (1729). Swift died battling ill health at the age of 78.

Addison, Joseph    1672-1719

Joseph Addison was born in Milston, Wiltshire, England and was educated at Oxford. Addison began his writing career with a poetical address to Dryden. Aside from writing, Addison went heavily into politics. In 1708, he was elected into parliament for Malmesbury. Addison became acquainted with Richard Steele and together the duo founded the Spectator (1711). Addison´s other works included Rosamond (1706), and his ignition of the Freeholder, a political newspaper. Addison died at the age of 47.

Steele, Richard    1672-1729

Richard Steele was born in Dublin, Ireland and was educated at Oxford. Straight out of university, Steele joined the Army but soon left it for a career in writing. After writing three distinguished comedies, Steele became the editor of the London Gazette. From 1709-1711, Steele published much of his work in his own creation, the Tatler, and the Spectator, co-founded with Joseph Addison. Before his death at the age of 57, Steele was knighted by George I and was appointed the position of supervisor of Drury Lane Theatre.

Pope, Alexander    1688-1744

Alexander Pope was born in England to a father who was a linen draper. In a Protestant world, Pope who was a Roman Catholic was banned to live in London , and was refused citizenship and an education. Because of this, Pope was mostly educated at home. Due to tuberculosis, Pope suffered from physical deformity damage to his health. Pope´s skill in writing was shown in public at a very young age when he published Pastorals in 1709. Two years later, Pope published An Essay on Criticism which was the foundation to his fame. Other works included The Rape of Lock (1714), Windsor Forest (1713), An Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady and Epistle from Eloisa to Abelard (1717). Apart from writing his own works, Pope also translated Homer´s The Iliad (1715-1720) and The Odyssey (1725-1726). Later in his life, Pope created more famous works like An Essay on Man (1733-1734) and Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot (1735). Another great achievement that Pope reached was his evolvement in the Scriblerus Club with John Gay and Jonathan Swift, a club devoted to the Tories. At the age of 56, Alexander Pope passed away.

The Age of Johnson

Johnson, Samuel    1709-1784

Samuel Johnson was born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England and was educated at Lichfield and Oxford. After working as a teacher, Johnson moved to London and became a journalist (1737). After working for eight years on his Dictionary of the English Language, Johnson began working on The Rambler (1750). Nine years later he published Abyssinia, Rasselas. In 1773, Johnson went to Scotland with James Boswell. Later he wrote Lives of the Poets (1779-1781). Johnson died at the age of 75.

Boswell, James    1740-1795

James Boswell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and was educated at Edinburgh High School and University. In 1760, Boswell moved to London where he first met Samuel Johnson. Together, they journeyed to Scotland, which was later published by Boswell in Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides (1785). Before his death at the age of 55, Boswell published his greatest work, the Life of Samuel Johnson (1791). Posthumously, Boswell´s diary, which he began at the age of 18, was published in the 20th century.

Gray, Thomas    1716-1771

Thomas Gray was born in London, England and was the only surviving child in a family of eight. His mother saved enough money to send him through Eton and Cambridge by keeping shop. Following a continental tour with a former classmate, Horace Walpole, Gray settled in at Cambridge, where he was a scholar of classical literature and poet in residence. He deeply enjoyed the quiet life of a Cambridge professor but an undergraduate´s practical joke unnerved him to such an extent that he moved to one of Cambridge´s other colleges.

Unlike Gray´s placid life, his poetry is impassioned and intriguing. Like other poets of his day, he turned to the country life for inspiration, drawing on the honesty and homely emotion of humble people. He also revived the use of the first person singular, which was considered literary barbarism at the time. His use of Celtic and Norse folk lore is considered a foreshadowing of themes that would be further developed during the Romantic movement. Gray, however, is best appreciated on his own themes. A painstaking writer, Gray produced few works. His best known poem, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, took him nine years to complete, but, many believe his quality in this poem outweighs the volume of his writings.

Burns, Robert 1759-1796

Robert Burns was born in Alloway, South Ayrshire, the son of a indigent farmer. At the age of 35, Burns´ father died and he was left in charge of the farm. With many issues adding up in his mind including a relationship, his farm disintegrating, and poverty, poetry came easily to Burns. In 1785, Burns began writing such works as The Jolly Beggars. In 1786, Burns published Kilmarnock, a collection of his poems which became quite successful. Before his death, Burns also published Tam o´ Shanter´ and moved to Dumfries. Burns died at the age of 37.

Blake, William 1757-1827

William Blake was born in London England. Perhaps one of the greatest literary figures of the world, Blake is not known only for his spiritual and prophetic writings but also for his use of sketches and prints used to enhance the imagery of his poetry. His use of art led to the development of a new printing technique known as illuminated printing, and is still not completely understood.

Blake grew up without receiving any formal education but his father gave him numerous books, and prints of great paintings to enhance his knowledge. By the age of ten, Blake showed an interest in becoming a painter and was enrolled in a drawing school and apprenticed to an engraver shortly thereafter. It was at this time that he began writing poetry. Thus began his second passion which would eventually become one with his love of drawing.

As a youth, Blake had very intense religious experiences. He was said to have reported seeing a tree filled with angels and to have spotted the prophet Ezekiel under a tree in a field. Blake strongly believed that heaven was as real as the world around him. Because of these claims, some believe him to be nothing more that an eccentric while others proclaim him a prophet of not only the Romantic movement but of the revolt against the mechanical tyranny of the modern world. Unrecognised in his own time, Blake was a revolutionary and a theological thinker whose writings would later constitute to the Romantic movement.

Blake´s works all contain religious influence and meaning. Best known are his Songs of Innocence, and Songs of Experience. The former represents the innocence of childhood while the latter symbolises wisdom gained through experience. Not entirely popular during his time, they soon became well known among later Romantic Poets. Like his other works they are deeply rooted in religion. It was this influence that made Blake truly great; through his apocalyptic foretelling and divine beliefs conveyed to the reader through a mastery of art and verse, both extreme but simple. It was, therefore, a combination of Blake´s eccentricity and passion as well as his conveyances of his thoughts that made him renowned as a poet and artist.

Fielding, Henry 1707-1754

Henry Feilding was born in Sharpham Park, Glastonbury, England and was educated at Leyden. At a young age, Fielding began writting theatrical comedies and became the author and the manager of the Little Theatre in the Haymarket at age 29. After publishing the very burlesque Licensing Act (1737), Fielding´s theatre was closed and he later turned to journalism and writing fiction. Feilding published Joseph Andrews (1742), his most famous piece of work. A notable work to follow this was The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling (1749). Before his death at the age of 47, Feilding formed the Bow Street Runners within the English police force.

The Ages

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