the 17th and 18th(neoclassical) century 1625-1798
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The 17th and 18th(Neoclassical) Century 1625-1798. Mrs. Cumberland. A Turbulent Time: Historical Background. In 1649, the English shocked the world by beheading their king and abolishing the monarchy. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
The 17th and 18th(Neoclassical)
Century1625-1798
Mrs. Cumberland
A Turbulent Time: Historical Background
• In 1649, the English shocked the world by beheading their king and abolishing the monarchy.
• In the decades before the civil wars tore England apart, revolutions in science and religion had already unsettled people’s worldview.
Changes• The new astronomy had
exiled the Earth from the center of the universe to the vastness of infinite space.
• New religious creeds had altered or abolished the traditions of centuries.– John Donne wrote, with
his newfound insecurity, “Tis all in pieces, all coherence gone.”
Monarch is Back • By the 1700s, though, a monarch was
back on the throne, and a new, competitive society had sprung up, with a looser social structure and greater freedom in religion and politics.
Charles I and Parliament• Crowned in 1625• Clashed with Parliament
over money• King Charles needed
money for his wars, and Parliament refused to fund them.
Loans? No Loans?• The king then extorted
loans from his wealthy subjects and pressed the poor into service as soldiers and sailors.
• Parliament tried to prevent such abuses of power, so Charles eventually dissolved Parliament and would not call it into session for 11yrs.
Religious Controversy
• He insisted the clergymen “conform,” or observe all the ceremonies of the Anglican Church.
• Puritans- Calvanists who wished to purify the Church of its Catholic traditions- were enraged by some of these requirements.
Torture• Puritans believed that each group of
worshipers, moved by the members’ divinely granted consciences, had the right to choose its own minister- an idea dangerously close to democracy. For these and other ideas, “dissenters” were persecuted and tortured as criminals.
The Civil War• Charles’s problem grew worse after he was
forced to fight Scottish rebels outraged by his insistence on religious conformity.
• Desperate for money, he summoned a hostile Parliament– Parliament condemned Charles I as a tyrant in
1642– Civil war broke out– In 1645, Parliament’s forces, led by Oliver
Cromwell, defeated the royalist army and captured Charles
Cromwell Rules• Radical Puritans: dominated Parliament• Tried and convicted the king for treason• Charles I was beheaded on January 30,
1649– Cromwell led the new government, called
the English Commonwealth• He dissolved Parliament in 1653 and named
himself Lord Protector• He ruled as a dictator until 1658 when he died
Outlawing• Civil war had not led to the free society that
many who had fought against the king expected.– Hopes, economic hardship = unrest– The Commonwealth fueled discontent by outlawing
• Gambling• Horse racing• Newspapers• Fancy clothes• Public dancing• The theater
The Restoration• By Cromwell’s death, England had had
enough taxation, violence, and disorder.
• In 1658, Parliament offered the crown to the exiled son of Charles I, who became Charles II in 1660.– The monarch was restored
• In sharp contrast to the drab Puritan leaders, Charles II and his court copied the plush fashions of Paris
• Charles– Avid patron of the arts and science– Invited Italian composers and Dutch
painters to live and work in London.
European Political ThinkersThinker Major Ideas QuotationThomas Hobbes
Leviathan
(1651)
People are driven by selfishness and greed. To avoid chaos, they give up their freedom to a government that will ensure order. Such a government must be strong and able to suppress rebellion
“The condition of man [in the state of nature]… is a condition of war of everyone against everyone.”
European Political ThinkersThinker Major Ideas QuotationJohn Locke
Two Treaties of Government
(1690)
People have a natural right to life, liberty, and property. Rulers have a responsibility to protect those rights. People have the right to change a government that fails to do so.
“Men being… by nature all free, equal, and independent, no one can be put out of this estate and subjected to the political power of another without his own consent.”
European Political ThinkersThinker Major Ideas Quotation
Baron de Montesquieu
The Spirit of the Laws
(1748)
The powers of government should be separated into executive, legislative, and judicial branches, to prevent any one group from gaining too much power.
“In order to have… liberty, it is necessary that government be set up so that one man need not be afraid of another.”
A Glorious Revolution• Charles II’s successor: James II
– Devout Catholic.– Parliament invited Mary, the Protestant daughter
of James II, to rule England jointly with her husband, William of Orange.
– Rather than fight, James escaped to France• The people of England hailed the event as the “Glorious
Revolution of 1688” because not a drop of blood had been shed.
1689 Bill of Rights• William and Mary agreed to Parliaments
Bill of Rights
• This bill guaranteed Parliament the right to approve all taxes and forbade the monarch to suspend the law.
• England thus attained a limited, or constitutional, monarchy.
Tories and Whigs• In ensuing decades, two political
factions crystallized in Parliament: the conservative, aristocratic Tories and the Whigs, drawn largely from Britain’s growing merchant class.– A cabinet of ministers drawn from
Parliament, and eventually unified under the leadership of a prime minister, began to rule the country.
An Agricultural Revolution• By the late 1600s, new farm tools made
it possible for farms to produce much more food.– Population surged upward– Many people left the countryside– Growing towns
• Became factory hands who ran the machines of the early Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Age• British inventions after 1750 made the
spinning and weaving of cloth much more efficient.– The steam engine was perfected and adapted to
run a power loom– Factories were built to produce vast quantities of
cotton cloth– Merchants sold goods all over the world– As late as 1790s: most were still earning a living
as farmers
The Enlightenment• The scientific revolution that made
industry possible stemmed from a larger development in thought known as the Enlightenment.– Through reason and observation of nature,
human beings could discover the order underlying all things
The Enlightenment• Sir Isaac Newton:
study of gravity
The Enlightenment• Men, women, and children toiled at
machines for 12-14 hr/day• Poor people crowded the towns and
cities• By the late 1700s “progress”= misery• Writers and intellectuals began to lose
faith in the ability of human reason to solve every problem
Technology and Society Connections
• Efficiency and agriculture and industry had deep social consequences
• Rich landowners pushed ahead with enclosure, by which they took over and fenced off the common land formerly shared by peasant villagers.
• Farm output rose• Profits rose because
large fields needed fewer people to work them
• Small farmers were forced off their land because they could not compete with large landholders
• The jobless or landless farm workers migrate to the cities.
Literature of the PeriodThe Schools of Jonson
and Donne
17th and 18th Century
Ben Jonson ( 1572-1637)• Strove for the perfection and harmony
he found in his beloved classical authors, turning away from the ornate style of Elizabethan times to create his own modern, strong voice.
• He wrote poems, plays, and masques (court entertainments)
Ben Jonson• Took seriously the role of the poet• He believed, in fact, that no other profession
could compare to it.• Poets, he wrote, encourage “young men to all
good disciplines, inflame grown men to all great virtues and keep old men in their best and supreme state– “A person could not be a good poet without being
a good man,” he asserted
Jonson Influences• His critical opinion exercised a powerful
influence on other poets of the time.– Robert Herrick ( 1591-1674)– Sir John Suckling (1609-1642)– Richard Lovelace (1618-1657)
The Products of Jonson
Robert Herrick
Sir John Suckling
Richard Lovelace
John Donne ( 1572-1631)
John Donne• Pioneered a new, witty, cerebral style
later known as Metaphysical Poetry– Characterized by:
• Unusual degree of intellectualism• Subtle arguments that raid the worlds of
science, law, and philosophy for surprising but strangely accurate comparisons.
Examples of such…• “A Valediction of Weeping”
– Compares his tears, which reflect his lover’s face, to coins that are stamped with her image
• “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”– Compares parted lovers to the two legs of
a drawing compass
Followers of Donne:
• George Herbert ( 1593-1633)• Andrew Marvell ( 1621-1678)
The Followers
• George Herbert– His mother was a friend
of Donne’s– His life parallels Donne’s– Felt tension between
worldly ambition and religious devotion
– Became an Anglican deacon
– Best poems are religious lyrics collected in “The Temple”
• Andrew Marvell– Best lyrics blend the
brilliance of Donne and the classical finish of Jonson
– Offer observations on nature, love, and God that, at first, seem urbane and perhaps conventional, but on closer inspection prove profound.
– His best known poem, “To His Coy Mistress” is one of the best lyrics in English literature.
The Puritan Writers• Perhaps the greatest poet of the 17th
century was a Puritan, not a Cavalier: John Milton
• The Puritan movement also produced the best-selling prose writer of the century, John Bunyan– Only the Bible sold more copies than
Bunyan’s religious narrative, “The Pilgrim’s Progress.”
John Milton ( 1608-1674)• Learned disciple of
Greek and Latin authors
• Studied the Old Testament in Hebrew
Milton• Born to a prosperous
middle-class family• Studied at Cambridge• Wrote political
pamphlets for the Puritan cause when the battle between Charles I and Parliament was in the midst.– Areopagitica ( Milton’s
pamphlet): a ringing call for freedom of the press
• Supported the Commonewealth and Protectorate and defended the execution of Charles I.
• Milton lost hope of forming a just society on earth when Cromwell’s rule turned to dictatorship
Timeline 1625- 1798
British Events/ World Events
British Events/ World Events
• 1627 Sir Francis Bacon publishes The New Atlantis
• 1628 Willam Harvey explains blood circulation
• 1633 John Donne’s Songs and Sonnets published
• 1635 Public mail service established
• 1637 John Milton publishes Lycidas
• 1600 Japan: Kabuki theater developed
• 1614 North America: Dutch found New Amsterdam
Events
British Events/World Events
• 1640 Charles I summons Long Parliament
• 1642 English Civil War begins• 1646 John Suckling publishes
Fragmenta Aurea• 1647 George Fox founds
Society of Friends ( Quakers)• 1649 Charles I beheaded;
Puritans close theaters; Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector
• 1650 Early newspaper ads appear; Full-blown wigs come into fashion
• 1640 India: English settlement established in Madras
• 1640 North America: Bay Psalm Book published in Massachusetts
• 1643 France: Louis XIV becomes king
• 1650 North America: Anne Bradstreet’s collection of poems is published
• 1651 North America: William Bradford finishes Of Plymouth Plantation
Events
British Events/World Events
• 1658 Oliver Cromwell dies; Puritan government collapses
• 1660 Monarchy restored; theaters reopen
• 1666 Great Fire of London• 1667 John Milton’s Paradise
Lost published• 1668 John Dryden publishes
An Essay of Dramatic Poesy
• 1662 France: Louis XIV begins building palace of Versailles
• 1664 North America: Britain seizes New Netherlands
• 1666 Italy: Stradivari labels first violin
Events
British Events/World Events
• 1685 James II becomes king
• 1688 Glorious Revolution
• 1688 Bill of Rights becomes law
• 1702 First daily newspaper begins publication
• 1680 China: All ports open to foreign trade
• 1685 France: Louis XIV revokes Edict of Nantes, provoking persecution of Protestants
• 1690 India: Calcutta founded by British
• 1703 Russia: Peter the Great begins building St. Petersburg
Events
British Events/World Events
• 1712 Alexander Pope published The Rape of Lock
• 1714 George I becomes king• 1719 Daniel Defoe publishes
Robinson Crusoe• 1726 Jonathan Swift
publishes Gulliver’s Travels
• 1751 Thomas Gray publishes “Elegy in a
Country Churchyard”
• 1715 France: Louis XV succeeds to throne
• 1721 Germany: Bach composes Brandenburg Concertos
• 1727 Brazil: First coffee planted
• 1752 North America: Benjamin Franklin invents lighting rod
Events
British Events/World Events
• 1755 Samuel Jonson publishes Dictionary of the English Language
• 1756 Britain enters Seven Years’ War
• 1793 England goes to war with France
• 1773 North America: Boston Tea Party
• 1775 North America: American Revolution begins
• 1784 France: first school established for the blind
• 1789 France: Revolution begins with storming of the Bastille
Events
Milton• Went blind in 1652 as a
result of his labors• Composed an epic that
would explain why God allows suffering in this world: The epic, Paradise Lost, reflects Milton’s humanistic love of poetry and his Puritan devotion to God.