Restoration & Neoclassical Literature

This lesson covers 138 years of English Literature from the Restoration of King Charles II (1660) to the publication of Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads (1798), which marks the start of Romanticism. The era is unified by an emphasis on reason, order, decorum, and classical models hence "Neoclassical" (new + classical). The period is conventionally divided into three sub periods: Restoration (1660-1700) led by Dryden; Augustan Age (1700-1745) led by Pope and Swift; and Age of Johnson (1745-1798) led by Samuel Johnson. This is also when the English novel emerges as a major literary form (Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, Sterne). About 1-2 questions per BCS Preliminary come from this era — focused on Pope's Rape of the Lock, Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, and Johnson's Dictionary. Mastery of this lesson covers ~2 marks of the 15- mark Literature pool.