Trushali Dodiya's Blog: The Neo classical age

Thinking activity

This blog is based on thinking activity given by Kavisha ma'am regarding Neo classical age.

Introduction:-

New classicism was a movement interested in reviving Greek and Roman literature, art, architecture, philosophy and theatre in the 18th century.

Literary Noe classicismin English literature is noted for attempts to imitate the style of the Romans and Greeks literature. Writing from this period is noted for its accuracy and order, as well as its direct and clear structure. New classical period literature lasted from 1660 to 1798. This time period can be divided into three parts;

Restoration period (1660-1700)
The Augustan period (1700-1750)
The age of Johnson (1750-1798)

So we can say that all three period have their reasons, why particular period in literature of Neo classical age has different name.

The Restoration period:- There was Restoration of king Charles I to English throne and monarchy was restored to order.
The Augustan period:- Writers of this age was imitating the Greek and Roman traditions in their writings and adopting similar genres, as such as epic or pastoral. Alexander Pope's 1711 long poem, "An essay on criticism" is a great example of it.
The age of Johnson:- This is the last stage of the Neo classical age in literature. The age was dominated in writing by Samuel Johnson and that's why this period is named as age of Johnson. Few years after his death, Neo classical age ends with publication of "Lyrical Ballads" by Wordsworth.

The Neo classical age is also known by various names. Like,

The Neo-classical age
The Augustan age
Age of Pope
Age of Enlightenment
Age of prose and reasons
Age of Transition
Age of satire

All these are known for particular aspect of the age.

Similarities and differences between the contemporary political sphere of India and the new classical age of England.

1. Political background of the Neo classical age; condition of women:-

New classicism movement is reaction against Puritanism. In 1660 monarchy was restored and Charles II become king. Charles return it to England from France and brought with him many things an ideas. In The reign of Charles II, the terms Whig and Tory first become current: by the year 1700 they were in everybody is mouth. By the revolution of 1688 Charles second and William of orange come to thrown. It marks and of the long struggle for political freedom in England. There after the English man spent his tremendous energy which is four bears had largely spent in fighting for freedom in endless political discussions and enough for to improve his government.

If we compare The Neo classical age with present Indian politics, we would find mane similarities.

• In Neo classical age,there was two parties Whig and Tory. Whigs party stood for the pre-eminence of personal freedom and the Tory views of royal divine right. Alike we have BJP and Congress. But here one thing is different and that is both parties are talking about one thing and that is "Vikas" (development).

• Both parties are constantly fighting with each other. And the heated arguments are about opposite party has done nothing fruitful in terms of development. But we can see both are one and alike.

• According to William J. Long,

"In the midst of heated argument it needed only a word or a poem of victory to tell a patriotic people that under there many differences they were all alike Englishman."

In Indian context, we are also getting a kind of assurance by our political leaders that under very much differences we all are alike, we all are indians.

• Political writings were essential part of the Neo classical period that we can also see in modern political sphere.

Nearly every writer of the first half of the century in new classical age was used and rewarded by Whigs and Tories for satirising and for advancing the special political interest.

In current Indian scenario we can see that political parties are praising the writers and the people who are supporting them or opposing other parties and it is the harsh reality That who ever tries to go against particular party is completely destroyed or defamed by them, doesn't matter which kind of work they are doing. One party is very harshly criticizing other parties in every possible way. For example,

In these newspaper cut, Zuber is accused for finding out truth behind viral news. So this we can compare with Neo classical age and it's political writing.

• There was rise of education and so that people started to apply reason for particular thing. But that education was somewhat limited to aristocratic and upper class. In India we are now getting education but because of lack of knowledge, people are unable to find a correct path or choice. Nowadays, GST is applied to even food, but we are still unable to think of it. So many newspaper and media are highlighting all these things. So many news are getting published, people are also circulating messages of it. For example,

So, we are now free in physical form, but still we are not free mentally. Now we all are getting basic education, which is far better than Neo classical age. There was limited education to upper class. So literary works and write ups were not reaching to common people.

So these differences I could find between Neo classical and contemporary political sphere.

If we look at it in women's context, we come to know that during Neo classical era, there were complete marginalization of women, it can be in term of literature or human rights in male dominated society. In India we are have reservations for women in every field. They are getting equality. But in a limited way. We are always told our rights as the society wants from us. Liberty in a narrow sense. We are still suffering from patriarchy.

I want to take recent example of our new president Draupadi Murmu, she is a woman. In India, as we have patriarchal society, we translated president to "Rastrapati".

In this news we can see that she is addressed as "Rashtrapatni", there arises a chaotic situation. It shows the patriarchal mindsets of India.

If we look at it in terms of literature, we may find that there was complete marginalization of women writers. Their works were not getting that much acknowledgement compare to male writers. The 18th century is also known for the emergence of Feminism. From that time, we are still on the way to get culmination for women's right, right for equality.

But by the time women are becoming more and more conscious about their personal liberty, they are still having a kind of struggle to establish their identity. So it is not that much easy to establish equality in male dominant mindset.

2. Note on 18th century women writers.

Women have made significant contributions to literature since the earliest written texts. In 7th century, Sappho, a Greek poet started to write her lyrical poetry. But in English literature till 17th century we have only a few women writers, but after 17th century women writer comes for front in literature. Aphra Behn, Mary Wollstonecraft, Sarah Fielding, Elizabeth Griffith, Charlotte Lennox, Jane Barker, Mrs. Ann Radcliffe and many other women started to write including in professional way. But female professionalism was not encouraged to much.

But at the same time we can see consistent marginalization of women writers in literary canon. That time many women's were writing but their contribution was not acknowledged that much. Even in history books there are very few references of women's writing and their contribution in literature. Only three references I could find from Edward Albert's "The History of English literature" and that is about Lady Mary Wortley Montagu as a minor prose writer (203), Lady Winchilsea as a poet(216) and Mrs, Ann Radcliffe as a novelist (264). It shows that womens writings were not acknowledged by the people and writers of The 18th century.

Many women writers emerged to legitimizing of women's voice. Aphra Behn is the best example of it as she always had to defend their choice of theme. The tradition of women writing has been much ignored and even destroyed her literary career due to the inferior position women have held in male-dominated societies. The best example of it is Eliza Haywood, because savage attacks by pope against her in Dunciad in 1728, almost destroyed her career, as a result of it Haywood wrote very little after 1728. By the example we can understand situation of women. writers. There is lots of examples of gender bias in women's writing.

There were the rise of virtuous professional women writers after 1740 by Katherine Philip, Penelope Aubin, Elizabeth Rowe which are much praised by Johnson. After the half of the 18th century there was increased acceptance, respectability and readership of women writers. First we will have a look at the starting point of English women writing.

Aphra Behn:-

Aphra Behn was an English playwright, poet, prose writer and translator from the Restoration era. As one of the first English women to earn her living by her writing, she broke cultural barriers and served as a literary role model for later generations of women authors. Virginia Woolf, declared that,

"All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn."

Her major works include,

The Forc’d Marriage (1670)
The Amorous Prince(1671)
Abdelazer (1676)
The Rover (two parts published in 1677 and 1681)
Emperor of the Moon (1687)
epistolary novel Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister (1684–87)
The Fair Jilt (1688)
The Lover in Fashion (1688)

She was first successful women writer. She always defend their choice of theme. We can also see cheapness in her works written in comedy of Manner.

Here are some examples of The Neo classical women writers.

Mary Wollstonecraft:-

She was an English writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. She got married to P. B. Shelley, so She was later known as Mary Shelly. She outlined her beliefs in "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman" (1792), considered a classic of feminism.

Her two major works are,

★"A Vindication of the Rights of Woman", The work pressed for educational reforms and had a last thing impact on future women thinkers and writers.

★"Maria, or the wrongs of women"- assetted that women had strong sexual desires and it was degrading and immoral to pretend otherwise.

★Frankenstein (1818)

She also worked as a translator with Joseph Johnson, a publisher of radical texts. Her translations are,

Thoughts on the education of daughters (1787)
Regular contributor to analytical review 1788

The life of Wollstonecraft has been the subject of several biographies, beginning with her husband’s "Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman".

Eliza Haywood:-

She was an English writer, actress and publisher. An increase in interest and recognition of Haywood's literary works began in the 1980s. Described as "prolific even by the standards of a prolific age", Haywood wrote and published over 70 works in her lifetime, including fiction, drama, translations, poetry, conduct literature and periodicals.[1] Haywood today is studied primarily as one of the 18th-century founders of the novel in English.

She is known for her prolific output Love in Excess (1719) which four additions she wrote in 4 years. You also wrote 10 novels in a year 1725.

Jane Barker:-

Jane Barker (1652–1732) was a popular English fiction writer, poet, and a staunch Jacobite. She went into self-imposed exile when James II fled England during the Glorious Revolution in 1688.

Works:-