the age of enlightenment 1687 1790 lecture

Iambic pentameter

http://youtu.be/I5lsuyUNu_4

18 line stanza (verse)

Written in iambic pentameter Lines of poetry that can be divided into 5 metric feet with

alternately unstressed and stressed syllables.

Rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg

Shall I /compare/ thee to/ a sum/mer's day?

Thou art/ more lov/ely and/ more temp/erate:

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer's lease hath all too short a date.Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;And every fair from fair some time declines,By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd;But thy eternal summer shall not fadeNor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;Nor shall Death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”

1687- 1790

The Age of Reason

Many political changes

Parliament – supreme auhtority

Economy

Age of criticism

Independent thought

England had colonies around the world.

The political parties in England arose – The Tories and the Wigs

Science and philosophy became clearly differentiated.

Emphasis on reason and common sense

Respect, tolerance and democracy were new words.

Literature was the new medium

Realism

Realistic, but not necessarily true

Samuel Johnson

Essayist, poet, critic, talker

A Dictionary of the English language

Famous aphorisms

Time, with all its celerity (hastighet), moves slowly to him whose whole employment is to watch its flight.

”Disorders of intellect … happen much more than superficial observers will easily believe. Perhaps, if we speak with rigorous exactness, no human mind is in its right state”

1. What is an aphorism?

2. What do the aphorisms above really mean?

3. It is generally said that many of Doctor Johnson’s aphorisms are both timeless and humorous. Do you agree or not? Why?

aphorism [(af-uh-riz-uhm)]

A concise and often witty statement of wisdom or opinion

(http://www.answers.com/topic/aphorism 2008-02-11)

most famous for Gulliver's travels - a satire that criticized colonialism

Also criticized the Catholic Church

Not much is known

Many different occupations

Political writer

most famous for Robinson Crusoe

http://youtu.be/EY-DI19GzAg

Embodies ideals of the Enlightenment A strong individual, full of optimism and hope for a bright future Survivies on a desert island only through his own intelligence and

skills.

STUDY:

Read the extract and discuss the study questions in groups.

Read the extract from Emma in your textbook and do exercise 89.

Read the extract from Frankenstein and do First reaction Understanding the story Discussion