Those Augustans were totally into using irony, humor and exaggeration to ridicule and expose people's (and society's) vices. In fact, satire is one of the defining characteristics of Augustan liter...

The Augustans weren't just into being satirical—they were also into being witty. Look no further if what you love is clever turns of phrase, literary inventiveness, and all-out 100% smart-mouther...

So, the Augustans were obsessed with antiquity. No, we're not talking about cute coffee tables in your neighborhood antique shop; we're talking about ancient Greece and Rome. The Augustans loved th...

The Augustans were really into playing around with classical genres like the ode and the epic. Sometimes, they added a surprise twist to them—like how they turned the epic into the mock epic.When...

The Augustans didn't just copy classical writers—they also invented new genres. Like the novel, folks.That's right: we can officially date the beginning of the English novel to the time of the Au...

The Augustans sure weren't afraid to get political.In fact, politics was one of their favorite themes. After all, if being snarky is your shtick, what better topic could there be than politics? The...

The Augustans sure didn't keep their thoughts about religion to themselves. Back in the day, people who didn't subscribe to the doctrines of the Church of England were called Nonconformists, and Da...

Church, monarchy, politics: it was all mixed up back during the Augustan age. The dominant church of the time in England was—you guessed it—the Church of England, a.k.a. the Anglican Church. Th...

During the Augustan age, print technology developed by leaps and bounds. Up until then, books and printed materials were generally only accessible to the aristocracy and to highly educated and spec...

Because of the printing boom during the Augustan age, the number of periodicals and journals mushroomed. Everywhere, someone or other was starting a new journal. People developed an appetite for ne...