The Main Periods of the 18th and 19th Centuries

1_The English Neo-Classical Period (18th Century)

Introduction:
Neo-classicism dominated English literature from the Restoration in 1660 until the end of the 18th century,where the Lyrical Ballads (1798) by Wordsworth and Coleridge was published to indicate emergence of Romanticism.The Neoclassic period can be divided into three parts:
The Restoration Age
The Augustan Age
The Age of Johnson

1.The Restoration Age (1660-1700)

In which Milton, Bunyan, and John Dryden were the dominant influences.In Restoration England, Dryden's great Essay of Dramatic Poesie (1668) presented the opposing claims of the "ancients" and the "moderns" and discussed tragicomedy, rhyme, and the unities. In his many prefaces Dryden defined such genres as satire, epic, and fable (a short story, typically with animals as characters, conveying a moral). 2.The Augustan Age (1700-1750)

In which Alexander Pope was the central critic and poetic figure, while Defoe, Richardson, Fielding, and Smollett were dominant over the novel.Pope's "Essay on Criticism" (1711) is a critical statement of neoclassical principles.The English Neoclassical movement derived from the classical and contemporary French models.It included some ideas about art and literature.