28 Facts About Restoration literature

1.

Restoration literature is the English literature written during the historical period commonly referred to as the English Restoration, which corresponds to the last years of Stuart reign in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.

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2.

Dates for Restoration literature are a matter of convention, and they differ markedly from genre to genre.

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3.

In general, scholars use the term "Restoration" to denote the literature that began and flourished under Charles II, whether that literature was the laudatory ode that gained a new life with restored aristocracy, the eschatological literature that showed an increasing despair among Puritans, or the literature of rapid communication and trade that followed in the wake of England's mercantile empire.

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4.

When Charles II became king in 1660, the sense of novelty in Restoration literature was tempered by a sense of suddenly participating in European Restoration literature in a way that England had not before.

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5.

Restoration is an unusual historical period, as its literature is bounded by a specific political event: the restoration of the Stuart monarchy.

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6.

Therefore, a top-down view of the literary history of the Restoration literature has more validity than that of most literary epochs.

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7.

The prefaces to Gondibert show the struggle for a formal epic structure, as well as how the early Restoration saw themselves in relation to Classical literature.

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8.

Restoration literature attempted the Jacobean pastoral along the lines of Walter Raleigh and Philip Sidney, but his greatest successes and fame came from his attempts at apologetics for the restored court and the Established Church.

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9.

Restoration literature has a mock topographical poem, several mock odes, and mock pastorals.

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10.

Restoration literature's had no more relation to peers than Dryden, and possibly quite a bit less.

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11.

Restoration literature's was certainly a spy for Charles II in the Second Anglo-Dutch War, but found her services unrewarded and turned to writing to support herself.

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12.

Restoration literature had no schooling at all and worked as a domestic servant, first as a footman and then, probably, in the pantry.

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13.

Restoration literature attempted to write odes for money, but his great success came with Love Given O'er, or A Satyr Upon.

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14.

Restoration literature followed the success of Love Given O'er with a series of misogynistic poems, all of which have specific, graphic, and witty denunciations of female behaviour.

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15.

Similarly, as periodical Restoration literature began to assert itself as a political force, a number of now anonymous poets produced topical, specifically occasional verse.

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16.

However, such poetry was a vital part of the vigorous Restoration literature scene, and it was an age of energetic and voluminous satire.

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17.

Prose in the Restoration literature period is dominated by Christian religious writing, but the Restoration literature saw the beginnings of two genres that would dominate later periods: fiction and journalism.

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18.

Restoration literature saw the publication of a number of significant pieces of political and philosophical writing that had been spurred by the actions of the Interregnum.

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19.

Restoration literature expressed grave suspicions of adjectives, nebulous terminology, and all language that might be subjective.

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20.

Restoration literature praised a spare, clean, and precise vocabulary for science and explanations that are as comprehensible as possible.

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21.

Restoration literature brought the Ancients and Moderns quarrel into English with his Reflections on Ancient and Modern Learning.

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22.

Restoration literature was the time when John Locke wrote many of his philosophical works.

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23.

Restoration literature moderated most of the more strident sectarian writing, but radicalism persisted after the Restoration literature.

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24.

Restoration literature published the first periodical designed for women "The Ladies' Mercury".

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25.

Restoration literature translated Erasmus in 1680, Quevedo in 1668, and, most famously and importantly, Aesop's Fables in 1692 and 1699.

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26.

Similarly, Gildon, who was an occasional friend of Restoration literature authors, produced biographies with wholesale inventions in them.

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27.

Traditionally, Restoration literature plays have been studied by genre rather than chronology, more or less as if they were all contemporary, but scholars today insist on the rapid evolvement of drama in the period and on the importance of social and political factors affecting it.

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28.

In tragedy, the leading style in the early Restoration literature period was the male-dominated heroic drama, exemplified by John Dryden's The Conquest of Granada and Aureng-Zebe which celebrated powerful, aggressively masculine heroes and their pursuit of glory both as rulers and conquerors, and as lovers.

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