Assignments Link of MA Semester 1 to 4

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Here are links to my Assignments. These are clickable links. By clicking you can reach a particular blog of Assignment. 

Assignment link of MA Sem.1 to 3.

Semester 1 

Date of Submission: 7th November 2022

22392 Paper no.101 Literature of the Elizabethan and Restoration Periods

Thematic study of 'Absalom and Achitophel'

22393 Paper no.102 Literature of the Neo-Classical Period

Thematic study of ‘The Rape of the Lock'

22394 Paper no.103 Literature of the Romantics

Wordsworth and Coleridge as a Romantic Poet

22395 Paper no.104 Literature of the Victorians

Thomas Hardy and Thematic Study of ‘Jude the Obscure’

22396 Paper no.105A History of English Literature from 1350 to 1900

Neo-Classical Age and Its Characteristics

 

Semester 2

Date of Submission: 31st March 2023

22399 Paper no.106: The 20th Century Literature: 1900 to World War II

Analysis of W. B. Yeats’s Poem ‘The Second Coming’

22400 Paper no.107: The 20th Century Lit.: From WWII to the End of the Century  

'The Myth of Sisyphus' and Existentialism

22401 Paper no.108: The American Literature

Transcendentalism as a Literary Movement

22402 Paper no.109: Literary Theory & Criticism and Indian Aesthetics

The Archetypal Criticism by Northrop Frye

22403 Paper no.110A: History of English Lit.- From 1900 to 2000

Artistic Movement: Dadaism and Surrealism

Semester 3

Date of Submission: 27 November 2023

22406 Paper no.201: Indian English Literature- Pre-Independence

'A study of the character and characteristics of R. K. Narayan's short stories'

22407 Paper no.202: Indian English Literature- Post-Independence

Dynamics of Narrative Styles in 'Midnight's Children'

22408 Paper no.203: The Postcolonial Studies

Unveiling Patriarchal Oppression: Antoinette's Struggle in "Wide Sargasso Sea"

22409 Paper no.204: Contemporary Western Theories and Film Rushdie

A Journey into Educational Innovation with Literature and Film

22410 Paper no.205A: Cultural Studies

Cultural Studies: An Exploratory Overview

Semester 4

Date of Submission: 25 April 2024

22413 Paper no.206: The African Literature

Exploring Postmodern and Postcolonial Elements in Ngugi Wa Thiong'o's 'Petals of Blood'

22414 Paper no.207: Contemporary Literatures in English

Migration in the novel ‘Gun Island’

22415 Paper no.208: Comparative Literature & Translation Studies

Analysis of the Article “Translation and Literary History: An Indian View” by Ganesh Devy

22416 Paper no.209: Research Methodology

The Craft of Impactful Research Writing: A Comprehensive Guide

22417 Paper no.210A: Research Project Writing: Dissertation Writing

Ecological Narratives in Indian Cinema: Interpreting Sherni, Kadvi Hawa and Irada Through an Eco-Critical Lens

Assignment 102: Thematic study of ‘The Rape of the Lock'

This Blog is an Assignment of Paper no.102 Literature of the Neo Classical Periods. In this assignment I am dealing with the topic  Thematic study of ‘The Rape of the Lock'.

Information:

• Name : Rajeshvariba H. Rana 
• Roll No. : 18
• Enrollment No. : 4069206420220023
• Semester : 1st
• Paper No. :  102
• Paper Code : 22393
• Paper Name : Literature of the Neo-Classical Periods 
• Topic : Thematic study of ‘The Rape of the Lock'
• Submitted to : Smt.S.B.Gardi,Department of English,MKBU                        
• E-mail : rhrana148@gmail.com 

Thematic study of 'The Rape of the Lock'

Alexander Pope :

Alexander Pope was born on May 21, 1688 to a wealthy Catholic linen merchant family.

The poet and translator Alexander Pope was born in London in 1688. He was mostly educated at Catholic schools, until 1700 when the family was forced by anti-Catholic sentiment to settle in Berkshire, outside London, and the young Pope resumed his education privately.

Pope is also remembered as the first full-time professional English writer, having supported himself largely on subscription fees for his popular translations of Homer and his edition of the works of William Shakespeare. Although a major cultural figure of the 18th century, Pope fell out of favour in the Romantic era as the Neoclassical appetite for form was replaced by a vogue for sincerity and authenticity. He was mostly self-taught, his education supplemented by study with private tutors or priests. Pope was bright, precocious, and determined and, by his teens, was writing accomplished verse. He soon became friends with Whig writers Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, editors of the Spectator, who published his essays and poems, and the appearance of The Rape of the Lock made him famous in wider circles.

He suffered from poor health, including Pott’s disease, which severely stunted his growth and shortened his life.

 

'The Rape of the Lock' :

The Rape of the Lock (1712, 1714), a mock-epic poem telling the story of a society woman who has a lock of hair stolen by a suitor. Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock is a poem of five cantos, written in rhyming couplets.

"The Rape of the Lock" was first published anonymously in 1712 before it was reworked and republished in 1714 by Alexander Pope. It is a mock-epic or mock-heroic poem.

The title of the poem tells exactly what happens in the poem: Belinda, one of the main characters, has one of her locks of hair stolen by the Baron. In the context of the story, the word "rape" draws its definition from the Latin root of the word, "radio," which means "to snatch" or "to seize." In the 18th century, however, "rape" could still mean sexual assault, which Pope was aware of and used to exaggerate the event in order to ridicule the people involved. Alexander Pope The Rape of the Lock, in particular, satirizes both the obsession with physical appearance and trivial matters by the people of 18th century England.

Satire :

Poetic satire might very properly be regarded as didactic poetry, for the object it has in view is the reformation of men and manners, and to this end the satirist takes the liberty of boldly censuring vice and vicious characters.

"The true end of satire is the amendment of vice by correction," says Dryden. And most people agree that satire is a "criticism of life, an exposure of human weaknesses, follies, absurdities and shortcomings." The satirist uses humour, wit, mockery, ridicule, innuendo and irony to achieve his goal, i.e., his moral end. His moral purpose gives him the standard or ideal with which he ridicules the deviations of society.

The Rape of the Lock is a satire on the aristocratic strata of the 18th-century society. In the very opening lines, the poet laughs at "little" men engaging in tasks so "bold", and at gentle ladies who are capable of such "mighty rage’’.

"In Tasks so bold can Little Men engage,

And in soft Bosoms dwell such mighty Rage?"

The contrast between "tasks so bold" and "little men" and another between "soft bosoms" and "mighty rage" is very wittily constructed and cuts clown to size these vain people of Pope's time.

Pope's Personal and Impersonal Satires. Satire predominates in the works of the Pope. Even a cursory glance at his poetry reveals that the major part of it consists of satire or is satiric in spirit. The Rape of the Lock, The Dunciad, Moral Essays, Satires and Epistles of Horace Imitated are the best of his satires.

The Pope wrote many satires against individuals, which were deadly and sharp and they are marked by bitterness and malice.

"The Rape of the Lock" As An Impersonal Satire. The satire in The Rape of the Lock is directed not against any individual, but against the follies and vanities in general of fashionable men and women. Pope started writing this poem with the object of reconciling two quarrelling families but as the poem progressed, the poet forgot his original intention, and satirised female follies and vanities. Belinda is not Arabella Fermor; she is the type of the fashionable ladies of the time, and in her, the follies and frivolities of the whole sex are satirized.

Even the concept of friendship has been attacked. Friends are hollow and fickle. Belinda's friend Thalestris is as shallow as the age in which she lives. As soon as the reputation of Belinda is gone, she doesn't like to be called her friend, because it will be a disgrace to be known as her friend henceforth.

Thus, the poem is a delicate, playful, humorous, original, witty satire on the upper-class society of the eighteenth century. Though genial and gentle, it is at times deadly. It does not condemn like Swift; it exposes the follies with a light ridicule.

"The Rape of The Lock" as a Satire upon Feminine Frivolity. The poem is, in fact, a satire upon feminine frivolity. It continues the strain of mockery against hoops and patches and their wearers, which supplied Addison and his colleagues with the materials of so many Spectators. Even in Addison there is something which rather jars upon us. His persiflage is full of humour and kindness but underlying it there is a tone of superiority to women which is sometimes offensive; it is taken for granted that woman is a fool, or at least should be flattered if any man condescends to talk sense to her. With the Pope, this tone becomes harsher, and the merciless satirist begins to show himself. In truth, the Pope can be inevitably pungent but he can never be simply playful. Addison was too condescending with his pretty pupils; but under Pope's courtesy there lurks contempt, and his smile has a disagreeable likeness to a sneer. If Addison's manner sometimes suggests the brilliant wit, Pope's contempt has a keener edge from his resentment against fine ladies blinded to his genius by his personal deformity.

Religion :

This is not to say in any way that the Bible was monolithic. Pope's England, on the contrary, was one of religious contradictions and surprisingly diverse complexity, though not of course to the degree we associate diversity with today. The Bible, to some extent, came to absorb and encompass these tensions, to provide a point of reference across the ideological spectrum. And yet, the Bible was also uniquely Protestant.

The rallying cry of sola scriptura is an explicit rejection of Catholic dogma. By elevating the Bible's authoritative role. Protestant theology comes to view itself, in the words of Nicholas Boyle, "as the negation of Roman Catholicism."

British kingdom that was also now acting as dean over the church, theological matters took on a decidedly political character. Anglican divines during the period took to articulating a distinctive Protestantism that stressed sobriety in matters religious, anchoring their understanding of the world in the literature of the scriptures.

Temporary Nature of Beauty :

Beauty’s short-lived nature reinforces Pope’s critical project in The Rape of the Lock. His poem attempts to discourage society from placing excessive value on external appearances, especially since such things grow fainter over time. Clarissa’s lecture in particular questions the value that society places on appearances. She notes that men worship female beauty without assessing moral character. Pope demonstrates that this is essentially a house without foundation: because “frail beauty must decay,” women must have other qualities to sustain them. Though Clarissa is complicit in the general merriment and pettiness that Pope censuresin the poem, her expressed ethics with regard to appearances serve his social critique. 

If society cannot enjoy the beauty of others then they lose part of the impact that art and experience can provide. Fashion and makeup are physical forms of self expression that many fail to appreciate as unique characteristics of an individual because of societal beliefs. Pope goes to show that since all humans are born physically unique, in stigmatizing that uniqueness to fit societal beliefs, one would degrade important personality traits. Especially regarding Pope’s physical ailments, in negating one’s beauty, one would degrade the foundation of most of their views and morals.

Upper Class :

The idleness and ignorance of the upper classes is integral to Pope’s analysis of contemporary society in The Rape of the Lock. His satire focuses largely on the bad habit of the upper classes and gentry, who he depicts as interested only in trivial matters, such as flirting, gossip, and card games. In reality an excuse for flirting and gambling, the card game represents the young aristocrats’ only opportunity to gain heroic recognition. This is not, of course, true heroism, but rather a skill that serves no purpose in the outside world. Chief among the upper classes’ other pastimes is gossip, but Pope limits their conversation to the insular world of the aristocratic lifestyle. They care most about “who gave the ball, or paid the visit last,” the irrelevant structures of upper-class socializing.

 

Role of Gender :

He portrays Belinda, the poem’s protagonist, alternately as an epic hero preparing for battle. The poem thus describes Belinda in specifically male terms: heroism, battle, anger. Other women in the poem similarly demonstrate masculine characteristics. Thalestris displays her prowess on the battlefield while Clarissa provides a weapon to Baron. By contrast, the men act with feminine delicacy, fainting during the battle.

Sexuality :

Pope frequently focuses on female sexuality and the place of women in society throughout the corpus of his poetry, and it was a popular topic in the early eighteenth century.

The rules of eighteenth-century society dictate that a woman attract a suitable husband while preserving her chastity and virtuous reputation. Pope renders this double-standard dramatically in his depiction of Belinda’s hair, which attracts male admirers, and its petticoat counterpart, which acts as a barrier to protect her virginity. 

A woman who compromised her virtue either by deed or reputation usually lost her place in respectable society. Pope examines the loss of

reputation in the poem’s sexual allegory, example, the “rape” of the lock. By figuring the severing of Belinda’ hair as a sexual violation, Pope delves into implications of sexual transgression. After the Baron steals her curl, Belinda exiles herself from the party, retiring to a bedchamber to mourn her loss. Pope thus dramatizes the retreat from society that a sexually-compromised woman would eventually experience.

like longing for supremacy, Belinda demonstrates male anxieties about female power, especially as it might be used to entrap men.

Conclusion :

The poem is a reflection of this artificial and hollow life, painted with a humorous and delicate satire. It paints the idle life of the pleasure-seeking young men and women. It introduces us to a world of frivolity and fashion, which was busy with its pleasures. These pleasures were petty and frivolous - dressing, flirting, card playing, driving in Hyde Park, visiting theatres, writing love-letters, and so on and so forth. Their whole day's program seems to be nothing but a waste.

Pope thus constructs a poem that mocks the extravagant affectations of eighteenth - century society and of epic heroes and heroines . Pope satirises Belinda's emotionality and obsession with her appearance , but makes it clear that the characters of epic poetry share these same qualities . He also discloses anxieties about gender roles and the questionable masculinity of epic heroes . Ultimately , Pope achieves a satiric portrayal of the trivial and superficial concerns of men and women , whether in ancient or contemporary times .

[Words 1963, Image 02]

Work cited :

Hernandez, Alex Eric. “Commodity and Religion in Pope’s ‘The Rape of the Lock.’” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, vol. 48, no. 3, 2008, pp. 569–84. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40071349. Accessed 6 Nov. 2022. 

Valeria. The Rape of the Lock Research Paper by Valeria Pereira. 31 July 2020, https://journeys.dartmouth.edu/valeriappereiraquintero24/2020/07/31/the-rape-of-the-lock-research-paper-by-valeria-pereira/. 

Assignment 103: Wordsworth and Coleridge as a Romantic Poet

This Blog is an Assignment of Paper no.103 Literature of the Romantics.In this assignment I am dealing with the topic  Wordsworth and Coleridge as a Romantic Poet.

Information :

• Name : Rajeshvariba H. Rana 
• Roll No. : 18
• Enrollment No. : 4069206420220023
• Semester : 1st
• Paper No. :  103
• Paper Code : 22394
• Paper Name : Literature of the Romantics
• Topic : Wordsworth and Coleridge as a Romantic Poet 
• Submitted to : Smt.S.B.Gardi,Department of English,MKBU                        
• E-mail : rhrana148@gmail.com 

Wordsworth and Coleridge as Romantic Poets

Romanticism was born in England in 1798, in the poetry of Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey. With their joint publication in 1798 titled Lyrical Ballads, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge started the Romantic period in English Literature.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) :

Wordsworth is considered the father of Romantic poetry. His poetry was inspired by the beautiful and lonesome English countryside where he lived quietly in a lake district. He was first taught how to read and write by his mother, Mary, before going off to a low quality school near him. Later, he was transferred to a school of repute and later after his mother’s death in 1778, attended Hawks head Grammar School, and then Cambridge.

His first attempt at literary work was in 1787 when he published his first poem, a sonnet, in The European Magazine. Wordsworth had access to his father’s library when he was growing up, and he had a younger sister who later became famous called Dorothy Wordsworth, a poet and diarist. 

Wordsworth in his work, preferred what he called “a new type of verse…one really used by men.” Simple language formed an important part of the features of Romanticism. In so doing, he avoided the poetic diction of the Enlightenment poets.

Wordsworth is one of the proponents of Romanticism in poetry. This includes considering individual feelings, internal experiences, nature and religion of the poet. Wordsworth advocated that poetry should be articulated in a simple language that can easily be understood by men. As an example, he wrote poems using an ordinary language yet his poetry is good. He made poets break away from established rules of poetry and instead follow their inner feelings and experiences in order to speak for the ordinary people.

Wordsworth’s regards poetry as a natural spill over of powerful feelings. This means bringing out to the environment what is internally felt by the poet. His poems on nature have less emphasis on nature, but rather concentrate on the feelings of the poet as he thinks about nature. In a sample of his descriptive poems, he emphasises that feelings give more meaning to actions and not actions to feelings, thereby, implying that feelings determine actions. Aristotle does not agree with this statement as can be seen from the example he gave about the plot and character. According to Aristotle, “the plot was more important than character.” But with Wordsworth, he could have proposed that character was more important than plot because he emphasises that the feelings of a poet is the one that matters.

Wordsworth even established some of the key traits and ideologies of Romanticism in his Preface to Lyrical Ballads. The Romantic markers, like free expression of emotion and writing about ordinary life and nature, are established there.

Wordsworth gives poetry a new philosophical meaning unlike it was in the 18th century. He warned against threats of urbanisation and industrialization because it made people develop ignoring attitudes after unusual events. He felt the idea of people going to cities was unnatural and that it suppressed the soul. He argues that minds of people who go to the cities become dull and they often need violent stimulants to bring back their low psyches which Wordsworth refers to as spiritual deadness. He sees people in the city walking and they are quite insensitive and cut off.

Difference between Worthworth and Coleridge as a Romantic poet :

Wordsworth declares that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings; it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity. Coleridge opposes and objects to it. He says that Wordsworth is in this respect on the wrong track. He believes that poetry is the product of powerful emotions and imagination.

Most of Wordsworth's well-known poems are reflections on nature and country life. He does have some more political offerings as well, though. Coleridge's poetry, like his most famous long work The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, has a bit more gothic edge than we see in Wordsworth's poetry. However, both men were proponents of individual expression and valued emotion over reason. Both men were supporters of the French Revolution and its emphasis on individual liberty and the end of monarchy. Both men influenced and defined some of the parameters of the Romantic movement while also remaining informed of the political contexts of their era.

Coleridge wrote poems for Lyrical Ballads that focused more on the supernatural, but Wordsworth also incorporated supernatural elements of folklore into some of his poems. Likewise, Coleridge wove a deep reverence for nature into some of his supernatural poems, such as "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Both helped move English poetry in a new direction, away from the neoclassical and toward simpler, more personal forms.

Wordsworth's statement that he furnished the subject is of course not to be questioned. Rather, as in the case of his state  regarding his contributions to The Ancent Mariner, it is to be taken as revealing far less than might be claimed for him. It is true that in the long discussion prefixed to The Three Graves in The Friend and in Sibyl line Leaves Coleridge says nothing of any obligation to Wordsworth, but it is also true that he makes only the slightest admission of his obligations to Wordsworth in planning and composing The Ancient Mariner. Coleridge sometimes was reluctant to acknowledge his indebtedness to others. He does, however, explain his reasons for choosing the story for  poetic treatment, namely, " from finding in it a striking proof of the possible effect on the imagination, from an idea violently.  

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) :

Coleridge is remembered not only as a poet but also as a critic and a philosopher. He lived in a period where science, religion and politics were at variance. As a scholar, he aimed at bringing them into unity.Biographia Literaria is a remarkable work of Coleridge’s literary criticism. In this work he has anticipated the modern philosophical and psychological criticism of the arts. He also defined the nature of Wordsworth’s poetry.

S.T. Coleridge is one of the remarkable poets of the Romantic period. He was a most intimate friend of Wordsworth and their influence on one another was most productive. In Coleridge we find the rare combination of the dreamer and the profound scholar.

S.T. Coleridge is one of the remarkable poets of the Romantic period. He was a most intimate friend of Wordsworth and their influence on one another was most productive. In Coleridge we find the rare combination of the dreamer and the profound scholar.

The only purpose of romantic poetry is to give charm and pleasure; therefore, lyricism was the only thing on which the romantic poets used to focus. Resultantly, the poems become perfect in rhythm, sound and cadence. Romantic poets are masters in creating harmony in words due to lyricism in their poetry. The lyricism in the poetry of S.T.Coleridge is a piece of evidence that he is a romantic poet.

Coleridge creates a bridge between mind and soul. The human psyche (mind) and emotions are interlinked but there is a lot of difference in their paths. One follows the path of logic and reasoning whereas the other has feelings. Due to these differences, both are entirely distinct from each other. These differences create mental and emotional strain; harmony between the two can give a person pleasure and peace of mind.

Coleridge as a critic found musical effects characteristic of good poetry . Describing the " symptoms of poetic power " in the Biographia Literaria , Coleridge says that " the sense of musical delight , with the power of producing it , is a gift of imagination . " He cites Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis as an example in which " the first and most obvious excellence is the perfect sweetness of the versification " and there is " delight in richness and sweetness. Coleridge's concept of the form of creative thought had both personal and intellectual origins .

Almost all the features of romantic poetry are there in the poems of poet S.T. Coleridge. His poetry is not the poetry of reasoning. There is morality in some of his poems even though he does not want to reform the world. Like other romantic poets, he does poetry for the sake of poetry. Conversely, some critics think that there are some elements of the French Revolution in the poetry of Coleridge.

The most romantic poems of the poet S.T.Coleridge are:

The Rime of Ancient Mariner

Kubla Khan

The Relationship between Nature and the Mind in Coleridge’s and Wordsworth’s Poetry :

The topic of nature and how it was treated in poetry is one of the most discussed questions when talking about the period of Romanticism. William Wordsworth,Samuel Taylor were contemporaries and many critics say that both share many parallels in their lives as Romantic poets as well as in their private lives; others claim that the two men destroyed each other as writers. They were the founders of a newfound sensibility in writing, because they turned away from the traditional style of poetry. Instead, especially Wordsworth, introduced a poetic expression that was much more based on simplicity and conventionality using the language of nature. This is meant as a language, which is understandable by everybody because it is closer to the common language at that time, but also meant nature as a motif in poetry. Without these two authors it would be hard to understand and comprehend the period of Romanticism.

Romantics focused their works upon the following ideas:

Value of feeling over reason.

Highlighting both nature and imagination.

Characteristics of Romantic Poetry :

It is necessary to know more about romantic poetry to understand Coleridge as one of the poets of romanticism. Must have ingredients of romantic poetry that are obvious from the poems of romantic poets are,

• Illustration of emotions and feelings
• Discussion on nature
• Escapism
• Love for past
• Quest for beauty
• Freedom of mind
• Limitless thoughts
• Imagination and exaggeration
• Lyricism
• Supernaturalism
• Reference to landscapes
• Gloomy mods and melancholic themes

Conclusion:

The poetry of the Romantic Revival is in direct contrast to that of Neoclassical. In the 18th century, poetry was governed by set rules and regulations. There were well-prepared lines of poetic composition.

            The first thing that we notice in the poetry Romantic age is the break from the slavery of rules and regulations. The poets of the Romantic Age wrote poetry in freestyle without following any rules and regulations.

[Words 1746, Image 02]

Works cited

Gilpin, George H. “Coleridge and the Spiral of Poetic Thought.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, vol. 12, no. 4, 1972, pp. 639–52. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/449957. 

Kirsch, Adam. “Wordsworth's Strange Fits of Passion.” The New Yorker, 27 Nov. 2005, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2005/12/05/strange-fits-of-passion. 

W, Strunk. “Modern Language Notes - JSTOR.” Jstor , The Johns Hopkins University Press, Nov. 1914, https://www.jstor.org/stable/2916171. 

Assignment 105A:Neo-Classical Age and It’s Characteristics

This Blog is an Assignment of Paper no.105(A)  History of English Literature from 1350 to 1900. In this assignment I am dealing with the topic Neo-Classical Age and It’s Characteristics.

Information:

• Name : Rajeshvariba H. Rana 
• Roll No. : 18
• Enrollment No. : 4069206420220023
• Semester : 1st
• Paper No. :  105(A)
• Paper Code : 22396
• Paper Name : History of English Literature from 1350 to 1900
• Topic : Neo-Classical Age and It’s Characteristics 
• Submitted to: Smt.S.B.Gardi,Department of English,MKBU                        
• E-mail : rhrana148@gmail.com 

Neo-Classical Age and It’s Characteristics

Neoclassicism in English literature refers to a movement which flourished between 1660 and 1798. The term refers to a style that is based on, but different from, the classic structures of the Roman and Greek writers of old. 

1700-1750: The Age of Pope

1700-1745:Augustan Age/ Neoclassical Period 

1745-1783: The Age of Sensibility 

1740-1800: The Age of Transition 

Neoclassicism began after the Renaissance. Whereas the Renaissance focused on lifting the individual and making people larger than life and limitless in their potential, neoclassicism placed the individual in the context of society. The individual became flawed, and passion needed to be curved by reason.

When the Stuart line was restored to the throne of England in 1660, the event marked the beginning of an extended period of controversy and formulation intellectual and literary, as well as political. The enthronement of Charles II was, in fact, a literary turning point as distinctly as it was a military and political marker. Most obviously, it inaugurated several decades of prodigal composition.

It is this phase of literary history that has come to be called Neo - Classicism .

started in 1660 when the Stuarts returned to the throne and the Enlightenment was in full swing. When the neoclassical period was the predominant style, artists like Daniel Defoe and Samuel Johnson flourished.

The publication of Wordsworth's Lyrical Ballads in 1798, however, marked the end of the neoclassical time period. These poems ended Neoclassicism and began the Romantic Age. Whereas Neoclassicism looked to the beauty of order, Romanticism later emphasised the individual and put more weight on the imaginative and personal.

Neoclassical literature was written between 1660 and 1798. This time period is broken down into three parts: the Restoration period, the Augustan period, and the Age of Johnson.

The Restoration Period :

The name comes from the restoration of the monarchy after the return of Charles II after Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth. The Restoration Period lasted from 1660-1700. Writers of this age, Dryden and Milton, endeavoured to use sublime, grand and impressive style, scholarly allusions, and mythology to curb the intense use of imagination.

Neoclassical Era :

Neoclassicism was a child of the Age of Reason (the Enlightenment), when philosophers believed that we would be able to control our destinies by learning from and following the laws of nature (the United States was founded on Enlightenment philosophy). Scientific inquiry attracted more attention. 

The primary Neoclassicist belief was that art should express the ideal virtues in life and could improve the viewer by imparting a moralising message. It had the power to civilise, reform, and transform society, as society itself was being transformed by new approaches to government and the rising forces of the Industrial Revolution, driven by scientific discovery and invention.

Neoclassical architecture was based on the principles of simplicity, symmetry, and mathematics, which were seen as virtues of the arts in Ancient Greece and Rome. It also evolved the more recent influences of the equally antiquity-informed 16th century Renaissance Classicism.

The Augustan Period was named after the Roman emperor Augustus. The Augustan Age is also called the Age of Pope. The Pope was the leading poet in this age. The Augustan Age lasted from 1700 to 1750.

Some popular types of literature included:

Parody

Essays

Satire

Letters

Fables

Melodrama, and

Rhyming with couplets

Major Poets :

1. Alexander Pope [1688-1744]

2. Dr Samuel Johnson [1709-1784]

3. Thomas Gray [1716-1771]

4. William Collins [1721-1759]

5. Oliver Goldsmith [1730-1774]

6. William Cowper [1731-1800]

7. George Crabbe [1754-1832]

8. Robert Burns [1759-1796]

9. William Blake [1757-1827]

Major Novelists :

Jonathan Swift [1667-1745]

Daniel Defoe [1660-1731]

Samuel Richardson [1689-1761]

Laurence Sterne [1713-1768]

Henry Fielding [1707-1754]

Tobias Smollett [1721-1771]

Major Prose Writers :

Joseph Addison [1672-1719] 

Richard Steele [1672-1729] 

John Arbuthnot [1667-1735]

Characteristics :

Imitation :

Writers of the Neoclassical period tried to imitate the style of the Romans and Greeks. Thus the combination of the terms 'neo,' which means 'new,' and 'classical,' as in the day of the Roman and Greek classics.

Dryden's translation of Virgil's poetry influenced the great writers of the Augustan age.

Rationalism :

Rationalism is the most essential feature of neoclassical poetry. Neoclassical poets viewed reason as the mainspring of learning, knowledge and inspiration for their poetry. Neoclassical poetry is a reaction against the renaissance style of poetry. It is a unique outcome of intellect, not fancy and imagination. Unlike romantic poetry, which is entirely the result of sentiments of the poet, neoclassical poetry is a simulated, fabricated, and stereotypical type of poetry. In romantic poetry, sentiments play a vital role in the writing of poetry, while in neoclassical poetry; reason and intellect are dominant elements. You might have heard about Coleridge and Wordsworth, who wrote poetry thoroughly at the impulse of their imagination. They didn’t lay emphasis on the reason to compose poetry. The neoclassical poets made an effort to disregard imagination, emotion and feelings, while composing their poetry. That is the reason; their poetry may be branded as artificial and synthetic.

Objectivity :

Objectivity is another important feature of neoclassical poetry. As these poets were completely against subjectivity in poetry, they endeavoured hard to write objective poetry. They avoided giving vent to their feelings; rather they dwelt upon the miseries, hardships and problems of the people around them. That is why; we find very little information about the lives of neoclassical poets in their poetry.

Classical Rules :

The neoclassical poets were undoubtedly great adherents of classical rules. They went all out to revive Classicism in their poetry by following each and every rule of Classicism. Their highest concern was to adhere to the classical rules and employ them in their poetry as much as possible. That is the reason; neoclassical poetry is also labelled as Pseudo Classical Poetry. They respected the classical rules a great deal.

Scholarly Allusions :

The neoclassical poets always loved to make use of scholarly allusions in their poetry. As they were all highly educated and well-versed in various fields of study, they knew a lot about religious, biblical, and classical literature. Allusions helped them to convey their message to their readers effectively and easily. That is why; their poetry is brimming with allusions to classical writers i.e., Virgil, Horace and Homer. They desired to write in the manner of their classical masters.

The acceptance of physical materialism was essential to Neo - Classicism. Though they constantly, often shrilly, denigrated the Materialism of both Ancients ( for example, Democritus, Epicurus, Lucretius ) and Moderns ( Leibnitz, the Cartesians, Hobbes), the Neo - Classicists themselves held to a materialistic view of the universe. They were forced to do so partly because of their insistence on common sense. Their eyes told them that matter existed. To aver, as Bishop Berkeley did, that weight, colour, mass, and motion were " ideas " existing apart from matter was to deny the evidence of one's senses, and no sane man could do that.

Realism :

Realism is the hallmark of neoclassical poetry. The neoclassical poets, unlike romantic poets, were not living in their own world of imagination. They were hard realists and they presented the true picture of their society. They didn’t turn their eyes from the harsh realities of life. They were keen observers and dwelled upon what they experienced with their open eyes in their poetry. These poets were not escapists like romantic poets, who turned their back to the harsh realities of life and tried to escape from them with the help of their imagination. Neoclassical poets were men of action and practically lived in the midst of people. They had a very keen observation of their society. They avoided abstract ideas, imaginative thoughts and idealism in their poetry.

Didacticism :

Neoclassical poets rebelled against the romantic nature of poetry of the Renaissance Period. Romantic poets loved to compose poetry just for the sake of poetry like John Keats. They tried hard to sidestep morality and didacticism in their poetry. Their foremost purpose was to give vent to their feelings. On the other hand, the neoclassical poets laid stress significantly on the didactic purpose of poetry. They endeavoured to fix the teething troubles of humanity through the magical power of poetry. The neoclassical poets were chiefly concerned with the didactic aspects of their poetry. That is the reason; most of the neoclassical poetry is replete with didacticism to a great deal.

Enlightenment :

Writers of the Neoclassical period tried to imitate the style of the Romans and Greeks. Thus the combination of the terms 'neo,' which means 'new,' and 'classical,' as in the day of the Roman and Greek classics.

Therefore, Neoclassicism continued the connection to the classical tradition because it signified moderation and rational thinking but in a new and more politically-charged spirit (“neo” means “new,” or in the case of art, an existing style reiterated with a new twist.

Heroic Couplet :

The neoclassical poets were primarily responsible for the reputation of heroic couplets in the history of English literature. They were the champions of heroic couplet. No poet, in the history of English literature, can compete with the mastery of neoclassical poets in handling heroic couplets. 

They excelled each and every poet in this regard. Chaucer was the first poet, who employed heroic couplet in his poetry. Though many renowned poets of the world tried their hands on heroic couplets.

Poetic Diction :

Poetic diction of neoclassical poetry is completely different from that of romantic poetry. In romantic poetry, the diction is flexible and easy to use, while in neoclassical poetry, it is restrained, concrete and rigid. 

The neoclassical poets were fond of using a different language for poetry. They thought that there should be a dividing line between the language of prose and poetry. They laid emphasis on specific styles for poetry. They were of the view that decorum, specific style and mannerism are the vital elements of poetry. 

Alexander Pope was very conscious about the language of his poetry. He says in Essay on Criticism:

"Expression is the dress of thought, and still

Appears more decent as more suitable.

A vile Conceit in pompous words express'd

Is like a clown in regal purple dress'd

For diff'rent styles with diff'rent subjects sort,

As sev'ral garbs with country, town, and court."

End of The Age :

The publication of Wordsworth's Lyrical Ballads in 1798, however, marked the end of the neoclassical time period. These poems ended Neoclassicism and began the Romantic Age. Whereas Neoclassicism looked to the beauty of order, Romanticism later emphasised the individual and put more weight on the imaginative and personal.

[Words 1749, Image 02]

Assignment 104: Thomas Hardy and Thematic Study of ‘Jude the Obscure’

This Blog is an Assignment of Paper no.104 Literature of the Victorians. In this assignment I am dealing with the topic Thomas Hardy and Thematic Study of ‘Jude the Obscure’.

Information:

• Name : Rajeshvariba H. Rana 
• Roll No. : 18
• Enrollment No. : 4069206420220023
• Semester : 1st
• Paper No. :  104
• Paper Code : 22395
• Paper Name : Literature of the Victorians
• Topic : Thomas Hardy and Thematic Study of  ‘Jude the Obscure’
• Submitted to : Smt.S.B.Gardi,Department of       English,MKBU                        
• E-mail : rhrana148@gmail.com 

Thomas Hardy and Thematic Study of ‘Jude the Obscure’

Thomas Hardy: 

Thomas Hardy is best known for his novels, all of which were published in the mid- to late-19th century.

Hardy strongly believed in the incoherence of the empirical world. In his major fiction Hardy illustrated his personal philosophy of chance, a belief that chance, a blind force of Nature, can change man's destiny. Chance is for Hardy everything for which man has no control.

Hardy was not a philosopher, but certainly a philosophical novelist. His novels are in essence ethical reflections on both the universe and the social world.

The Universe is always present in his fiction. Hardy developed his ethical view of the universe in general, and of Victorian society in particular, in his early novels, Under the Greenwood Tree, A Pair of Blue Eyes, and in the major novels, The Return of the Native, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure, as well as in his epic drama The Dynasts. Hardy's characters serve as metaphors for his tragic vision of the human condition.

To try to find answers from the man himself is an exercise in frustration. Hardy had a private and a public self, and one can only suspect which self is revealed at a particular moment. "Whatever was within him that gave him the dark cast. To his mind, he kept it well hidden, expressing it only as a philosophical pessimism. He was always polite and ironic. mask before the world, and never, as some writers have done, let it drop so that the real man might be seen and understood. " Even his " official biography" is elusive, for it was written by Hardy and typed under his supervision by his second wife, whose name appears as author. As Richard Carpenter has noted, "It is more interesting for what it conceals than for what it says." Descriptions of Hardy's personality contribute least of all to an elucidation of his intention.(Schwartz)

The scheme of Jude the Obscure was outlined in 1890 from notes made in 1887, some of the circumstances having been suggested by the death of a woman in the former year. The narrative was begun in 1892, written in full length from August 1893 onward into the next year , and was in the hands of the publisher by the end of 1894. Harper's Magazine began serialisation in November 1894, under the title "The Simple tons, "and continued with monthly instalments from January to November 1895, under the title " Heart Insurgent ."(Schwartz)

Specifically in the novel, Hardy depicts characters who raise questions about such things as religious beliefs, social classes, the conventions of marriage, and elite educational institutions and who feel in the absence of the old certainties that the universe may be governed by a mysterious, possibly malign power.

Hardy's Representation of Courage to Face the Harsh Reality in Light of Darwinism :

"Darwinism thinks that those who survive in the world are the fittest and those who fail to adapt themselves to the environment will perish. They believe that man has evolved from the lower forms of life and humans are special not because God created them but because they have successfully adapted to the changing environment. Conditions and have passed on their survival - making characteristics genetically".(Lu and Zhang)

In the novel Jude the Obscure, Darwin's theory of revolution is indeed widely applied in the description of the conflict between character and environment. And the theory of natural selection and survival of the fittest has a profound effect on the characters. The evolutionary storm that Darwin blew up in the Victorian age in Britain swept like a fresh wind through natural science and literature, bringing in its wake a new climate of intellectual and academic freedom that has grown with the passing years.

The themes of the novel are the struggle of the Victorian working class, religion and nonconformity, marriage and sexuality, and education.

Religion:

As a Christian allegory , Jude is a terrible indictment of Christianity and , particularly , Christianity as manifested in Victorian society . The Christian sacrifice is re - enacted in the society which some of its people thought the finest fruit of that sacrifice , and which now ignores or abets the death of Christ . Hardy is also trying to show how that sacrifice achieved nothing . The animal and unaspiring persist eternally , and it is to these that Christianity has geared itself. (Holland)

The references to the Bible , and more specifically to the book of Jude , are thus used negatively : Hardy brings out the idea of religious and ethical struggle in his here in order to refute society's pietistic stance. (Gray)

Religious hypocrisy is an important theme in the novel, in which men become priests simply because it is a comfortable career choice, not a vocation. There is a distinct absence of genuine religious feeling or experience in the novel; people use religion simply as a way to enforce society's rules and norms. Religion makes hypocrites of people because it forces them to despise and reject their natural urges (such as the desire for sex) and to violate natural morality: to leave partners who no longer suit them or make them miserable and to refrain from marrying unsuitable partners to establish paternity.

Marriage :

To see how the structure works, and specifically to see how marriage functions, let us return to the basic opposition between "civil law" and "law of nature."

But Hardy is interested not only in showing such casual floutings of the marriage laws, which in themselves may seem isolated and accidental occurrences dependent upon individual willful acts. Instead of simply showing how the act of marriage can be infelicitous, his real goal is to show that even when it is apparently felicitous - that is, when the recognized conventions governing the act of marriage have been properly invoked and performed - marriage is doomed to failure, because it promises to deliver something it can not. This he demonstrates through the two main marriages in the novel.(Goetz)

The marriage between Sue and Phillotson is more complicated. Phillotson represents an enlightened view when he lets Sue go to live with her soulmate, an action for which he is punished by a hypocritical society. Society cares much more about the letter than the spirit of the law ("the letter killeth") and upholds a superficial morality that negates people's deepest feelings. But the problem of marriage in Hardy's novel is intractable; even though Phillotson is willing to take Sue back as his wife, his complicity in her martyrdom is sure to destroy her. Going along with Sue helps him get back his livelihood and status in an unforgiving society.

In other words, Sue believes that women should be allowed to undo marriages that are clearly mistakes. She's also sure that lots of women feel this way, only they don't say so and Sue does. Unfortunately for Sue, she lives in the late nineteenth century, and the rules of her social environment won't let her live as she wants. Her insight into the ways that marriage will change over the twentieth century is almost dead on even though she are speaking in 1896, before the twentieth century even begins.

On the other hand, the real marriage of Jude and Sue causes people to persecute and ostracise them because the couple does not have a legal contract. The relentless hounding of the nonconformist couple results in them losing their livelihoods and relatively pleasant home in Aldbrickham. Their return to Christminster as paupers leads to the tragic destruction of their family.

Jude and Sue are in love but cannot marry because they are already married to other people. They live together and have children, but after their tragic deaths, they feel convicted of returning to their first spouses; Jude eventually dies, while Sue continues her loveless marriage.

Victorian Society:

Jude cannot gain entry into the university because he has not had access to schools that teach Greek and Latin, and his efforts at self-study are not enough for him to catch up.The brutality of an impenetrable class system haunts Jude, who has the misfortune to be born into the working class.

Jude, though born into the working class, has big hopes of social and class mobility. He dreams of the kind of education and the kind of social and financial success from which those of his class are too often barred. But Jude's impoverished background is not so easily shaken.

An orphan raised by his aunt, Jude learns that his classical academic pursuits have all been for nothing: he's studied the wrong things. His head is stuffed with useless and probably incorrect information, and, what's worse for the scholars of Christminster, he has neither the resources nor the 'breeding' to become a scholar. He's, quite simply, not the right class and, all too often in Victorian England, the class in which you're born is the class in which you remain.

Conversely, the truly loving relationship between Sue and Jude is destroyed because it exists outside of marriage which is not accepted in society. The social condemnation and ostracism they incur ravage what might otherwise have been a very happy family. Sue, Jude, and their children are brutalised, and made hungry and homeless, through the scorn levelled against them.

Conclusion:

“Of course no text, however hard it tries, stands free within its frame. But Jude the obscure rejoices in its enlargement.” -John Goode

Hardy’s treatment of the problems does not simply address the issues of Victorian era but is applicable to a larger extent to modern society. Hardy succeeds in giving his message, instead of being severely criticised by his contemporary writers and critics, for proposing the free approach towards life.

Jude the Obscure can be treated as one of Hardy’s contribution to the marriage question that deals marriage as a concerned problem in contemporary society.

At last I say these three themes of 'Jude the Obscure' are connected with each other in that time and also in contemporary time.

[Words 1683, Image 02]

Works cited :

Goetz, William R. “The Felicity and Infelicity of Marriage in Jude the Obscure.” Nineteenth-Century Fiction, vol. 38, no. 2, 1983, pp. 189–213. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3044789. Accessed 5 Nov. 2022. 

Gray, Carol Grever. “Essay: JUDE AND THE ‘NEW’ MORALITY.” Newsletter of the Conference on Christianity and Literature, vol. 19, no. 2, 1970, pp. 14–20. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26331905. Accessed 5 Nov. 2022. 

Holland, Norman. “‘Jude the Obscure’: Hardy’s Symbolic Indictment of Christianity.” Nineteenth-Century Fiction, vol. 9, no. 1, 1954, pp. 50–60. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3044291. Accessed 5 Nov. 2022. 

Lu, Guorong, and Zhehui Zhang. “On the Theme of Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure.” English Language and Literature Studies, 20 Aug. 2019, https://doi.org/10.5539/ells.v9n3p15. 

Schwartz, Barry N. “Jude the Obscure in the Age of Anxiety.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900, vol. 10, no. 4, 1970, pp. 793–804. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/449715. Accessed 5 Nov. 2022. 

Assignment-101 Thematic study of 'Absalom and Achitophel'

Thematic Study of ‘Absalom and Achitophel’

This Blog is an Assignment of Paper no. 101 Literature of the Elizabethan and Restoration Periods. In this assignment I am dealing with the topic  Thematic study of 'Absalom and Achitophel '.

Information:

Name : Rajeshvariba H. Rana 

Roll No. : 18

Enrollment No. : 4069206420220023

Semester : 1st

Paper No. :  101

Paper Code : 22392

Paper Name : Literature of the Elizabethan and Restoration Periods

Topic : Thematic study of ‘Absalom and Achitophel’

Submitted to: Smt.S.B.Gardi,Department of English,MKBU                        

E-mail : rhrana148@gmail.com 

Thematic Study of ‘Absalom and Achitophel’

John Dryden :

Dryden the poet is best known today as a satirist, although he wrote only two great original satires: Mac Flecknoe (1682) and The Medall (1682). His most famous poem, Absalom and Achitophel (1681) contains several brilliant satiric portraits.

Born in Northamptonshire, England, on August 9, 1631, John Dryden came from a landowning family with connections to Parliament and the Church of England. He studied as a King’s Scholar at the prestigious Westminster School of London, where he later sent two of his own children. There, Dryden was trained in the art of rhetorical argument, which remained a strong influence on the poet's writing and critical thought throughout his life.

John Dryden is rightly considered as “the father of English Criticism”. He was the first to teach the English people to determine the merit of composition upon principles. With Dryden, a new era of criticism began. Before Dryden, there were only occasional utterances on critical art.

Religion- Biblical effect :

In the process of adjusting the political events and the biblical narrative to each other, Dryden only partially renders the biblical text, as he acknowledges in "To the Reader".

By referencing only the biblical characters to maintain his allegory, Dryden accomplished his purpose, which was to comment on the folly of the political clash between the Protestant Whigs and Catholic Tories. Reflecting his traditional middling position that tended toward compromise in the fairness with which he treated both factions, Dryden included positive passages about characters on both sides of the issue. Nevertheless he supported the Royalist cause. By 1681 the Royalists seemed to take the upper hand in the clash after Charles executed a tactical move to relocate Parliament to Oxford, where he would have more power over its members in isolation from London’s rebellious forces. The people eventually lost faith in the pro-Monmouth group, and Charles remained absolute ruler, never again convening Parliament, until his sudden death from kidney infection in 1685. Ironically while on his deathbed Charles secretly called a priest to minister to him. He converted to Catholicism and received the last rites, and his Catholic brother, the duke of York, became James II of England.

Dryden’s choice of the Bible as allegory proved appropriate for his era. Most educated individuals agreed that the Bible could be used as a type of gloss to reveal truths civic, as well as religious. No one else, however, had seen the artistic possibilities in the way Dryden did. The parallel story, as Earl Miner explains, granted a sense of action that the poetry itself lacked. The rhyming couplets in Dryden’s lines framed only three incidents from the story of David’s retention of rule. In the first, Achitophel tempts Absalom to overthrow his father. In the second, the two together tempt the Jews to participate in a revolt. And in the third, David makes a moving speech to his reunited subjects, concluding with the lines, “For lawful power is still superior found; / When long driven back, at length it stands the ground.” In this couplet, Dryden expressed the belief, which a struggle with his own religious allegiance eventually confirmed, that the tradition of the Catholic Church gave it a strength his culture badly needed.

Power and Ambition:

Power and ambition drive the plot of John Dryden’s poem “Absalom and Achitophel.” King David of Israel has all the power in theory, but in practice, he has little ambition. According to Achitophel, the King’s deceitful counsellor, David is lacking “manly force,” and he gives in too easily to the people. The King is “mild” and hesitant to draw blood, and Achitophel, in his own ambition for increasing power, sees David as weak. “But when should people strive to break their bonds,” Achitophel says to David’s son Absalom, “If not when kings are negligent or weak?” The Jews of Israel “well know their power,” Achitophel maintains, and it is the perfect time to assert that power and overthrow David’s rule. Absalom, too, is ambitious and gains power through war, and, after Achitophel’s influence, Absalom has ambition to ascend his father’s throne. With the portrayal of power and ambition in “Absalom and Achitophel,” Dryden ultimately argues that while some ambition of power is good and even admirable, attempting to take power that rightfully belongs to the King is a deadly sin.

Although Absalom’s ambitions of power are reasonable at first, he, too, grows greedy and eventually sets his sights on overstepping the King through dishonest means.

Dryden will later compare Achitophel’s words to snake venom, making a strong connection to the temptation by Satan in the Garden of Eden. He uses equally strong words for the son, Absalom, “that unfeathered, two legged thing, a son” who “In friendship false, implacable in hate, Resolv’d to ruin or to rule the state.”

Dryden also wants his audience to understand that the monarch’s pampered existence includes fearsome responsibilities.

David, who from the first is said to behave "after Heaven's own heart " in begetting his  own offspring, is consistently referred to by other Israelites, not by the priests, as exemplifying godly - not just kingly - behaviour. In attempting to make himself seem reasonable and devoted to the state's welfare, Achitophel craftily grants divine approval of David's position and power as king as the starting point of his own attempt to convince Absalom to rebel. The political function and controversial flavour of the passage, how ever, have not been properly emphasised.

Satire :

In making David the subject of his parallel history, " Dryden presents the prototype for monarchy in Israel , a monarchy represented as both divinely sanctioned and humanly problematic.

This satirised admiration of David is the sign of the status quo of benevolent licentiousness; it also isolates David from some kinds of criticism. In these lines, Dryden side steps intervention by priests, the group whose members by definition interpret and manage everyone's relation to the supreme, divine power.

A second and related advantage of Dryden's system for the purposes of the title's satire is that it establishes David as the public exemplar, albeit a satirised one, of the proper relation to God, a point Dryden reinforces throughout the poem.

Through the use of satire and allegory in “Absalom and Achitophel,” Dryden ultimately argues that the Popish Plot and the Exclusion Crisis were devious ploys to divert the rightful order of succession and prevent James II from ascending the throne. According to Dryden, the poet is neither a teacher nor a bare imitator – like a photographer – but a creator, one who, with life or Nature as his raw material, creates new things altogether resembling the original. According to him, poetry is a work of art rather than mere imitation.

The Erosion of the Value and Power of Poetry :

One of the unintended themes of Dryden’s poem is how it has become one of the supreme illustrations of how much the perceived value of poetry has decreased in contemporary times. When the published poem hit the streets, Dryden created a bull market for poetry’s value. Samuel Johnson, who would go on to become one of England’s literary legends alongside Dryden, would not be born for almost three decades after this period in British history, during which time his father was a bookseller. Johnson would later recount how his father told him that he could not keep copies of Dryden’s poem on his shelves. Everyone in London was familiar with the actual political crisis taking place, and half of them were eager to read Dryden’s satirical allegory. The storied reaction to Dryden’s poem about a current political scandal, couched as a biblical parody, seems utterly inconceivable for modern society. Today, a gossipy non-fiction bestseller weaved from anonymous sources can impact political scandals just as easily, but very few of those books will also go on to become an established highlight of the literary history of an entire language.

 

Divine right of King :

During the Renaissance, education passed more from the clutches of the priest into the hand of the prince. In other words it became more secular. It was also due to the growth of the nation - stale and powerful monarchs who united the country under their rule. Thus, under the control of the monarch, education began to devise and preach the infallibility of its masters. It also invented and supported fantastic theories like the Divine Right Theory and that the king can do no wrong’ etc.

Dryden habitually makes this identification in his writings from 1679 to 1683. In Absalom and Achitophel, therefore, Dryden is counting on the power of the phrases ``officer in trust" and "resuming covenant" to revive memories of the reasons given by the Rump for abolishing the monarchy, or of Sir John Bradshawe's speeches.

With the advent of the industrial revolution education took a different tum and had to please the new masters. It now no longer remained the privilege of the baron class but was thrown open to the new rich merchant class of society. Yet education was still confined to the few elite. This religious education taught the poor man to be meek and to earn his bread with the sweat of his brow, while the priests and the landlords lived in luxury and fought duels for the slightest offence.

Conclusion :

Absalom and Achitophel ( 1681 ) has received considerable attention in recent years , but little of this attention takes fully into account the poem's political arguments on behalf of Charles II.

John Dryden's famous Restoration satire Absalom and Achitophel (1681) is one of the key seventeenth-century texts that demand a political reading; it engages its readers in the political debates and idioms of its own time while also calling for a more general reflection on the connections between literature and society.

[Words 1635, Image 02]

Works cited:

Berensmeyer, Ingo. “Nature, Law and Kingship in John Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel.” Literature and Society, Cambridge Scholars Press, 18 Mar. 2017, https://www.academia.edu/31919055/Nature_Law_and_Kingship_in_John_Drydens_Absalom_and_Achitophel. 

Conlon, Michael J. “The Passage on Government in Dryden’s ‘Absalom and Achitophel.’” The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, vol. 78, no. 1, 1979, pp. 17–32. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27708426. Accessed 6 Nov. 2022. 

Krook, Anne K. “Satire and the Constitution of Theocracy in ‘Absalom and Achitophel.’” Studies in Philology, vol. 91, no. 3, 1994, pp. 339–58. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4174493. Accessed 6 Nov. 2022.