Augustans Questions
Bring on the tough stuff. There's not just one right answer.
- The labeling of this period in English history is fuzzy. Sometimes it's called the "Augustan" age; sometimes it's called "18th Century literature"; sometimes it's called the "Neoclassical" age. What are the benefits and drawbacks of these different labels?
- Why do you think Augustan writers love to write satire so much? What does their emphasis on satire suggest about their view of the uses of literature and writing?
- The Augustan age is generally thought of as following the period of "Restoration" literature, which included writers like John Milton and John Dryden. How do we determine the boundaries between different "ages" of literature? What are the problems with imposing boundaries like this, and what are some of the benefits?
- How and why did advances in print technology change the character of the reading public during the Augustan age? What do you think were the consequences of these changes?
- Augustan writers were known not only known for their poetry and fiction but also for their political writing and journalism. Can political writing and journalism be "literary" in the way that poetry and fiction are? What does the work of Augustan writers suggest about the divide between "literary" and "non-literary" writing?
- Why do you think the English novel developed specifically during the Augustan age? What about this period lent itself to the development of this genre of writing?
- A number of the most famous Augustan writers were social, religious or political outsiders. Alexander Pope, for instance, was Catholic, and Daniel Defoe was a religious nonconformist. How can these writers' "outsider" status help us understand their writing?
- Augustan literature is often described as a literature of order and balance, both in terms of form and content. However, are there aspects of the literature that contradict this view? In what ways does Augustan literature reflect or deal with chaos and disorder?
- How do Augustan writers use classical genres like the epic? What does the Augustans' adaptation of these genres suggest about the relationship between Augustan literature and classical literature? How do Augustan writers revise and develop classical genres?