Examine the factors which contributed to the rise of Neo-Classicism in English literature.

Examine the factors which contributed to the rise of Neo-Classicism in English literature.

After Ben Jonson literary activity in England suffered a serious setback. Between Jonson and Dryden there is hardly any critic worth the name. The energy of the people was spent up in the religious and political controversies of the day, controversies which culminated in the civil war and the beheading of the English king. Literature and literary criticism are peace time activities, and times of tension and conflict are inimical to art and culture. With the Restoration of Charles II to the throne in 1660 peace was established in the country, and once again the climate was favourable for pro­ductive activity. The Renaissance impulse, which had resulted in such a rich flowering of literature in the Elizabethan era, had already exhausted itself out. Now the sensuous and romantic Italian influence was replaced by the French influence. Thus began the era of Neo-classicism which was to reign supreme in England for the next over hundred years. At the beginning of this era stands John Dryden and at the end of it there is Dr. Samuel Johnson. In its first phase, i.e. during the Restoration age (1660—1700) which is presided over by John Dryden, Neo-classicism is liberal and moderate; in its second phase, i.e. dur­ing first six or seven decades of the 18th century it becomes more and more narrow, slavish, and stringent. Pope, Addison and then Dr. Johnson are the leading critics of this second phase. 

This school of criticism is called variously as New-classical, Pseudo-classical, Augustan, or loosely, even the classical school of criticism. It is called 'Augustan' because the writers of this time considered that their age was as brilliant and glorious in literature as the Age of King Augustus Caesar of Rome, an age which produced such brilliant figures, as Horace, Virgil, Longinus and Quintilian. George Sherburne in his Literary History of England defines Neo-classicism as, “a veneration for the Roman classics, thought, and way of life”, and Atkins defines it as the classic system of France evolved during the reign of Louis XIV, an adaptation, rather than an exact copy of original Greek classics. In other words, Neo-classicism implies a respect for the rules and principles of Aristotle and other Greek and Roman critics as interpreted and modified first by the Italian critics, and then by the French critics of the reign of Louis XIV. It is also known as Pseudo-classicism for Aristotle was often misinterpreted and much that he had never said was grafted upon him. Thus the unities of time and place which he had hardly mentioned were derived from him and made into essential ‘rules' for dramatic writing. There were also significant departures from him as, for example, when the Neo-classics preferred epic to tragedy. Sir Philip Sidney also had great respect for Aristotle and other French critics, but he never practised what he preached. Ben Jonson both preached and practised classicism but he too did not follow the rules slavishly. He believed in using his own eyes and ears. Truth lies open all around and one needs only eyes to see it. Both of them admired Greek literature but that was all. It was only during the late 17th and early 18th centuries that Neo classicism came to have a complete hold over the English mind and spirit...........................................

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