Скачать или смотреть Neo-classical Literature: Reason, Satire, and Social Reform

This video material offers an extensive overview of the Neo-classical Age in English literature (late 17th to 18th century), detailing the period’s focus on reason, order, and classical ideals. It first examines the era's socio-cultural tensions, contrasting the aristocratic world satirised in Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock with the pragmatic, bourgeois values championed in Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. The text then discusses how satire became the defining literary genre of the age, serving as a corrective tool to expose deviations from reason and morality through works like Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal. Furthermore, the source analyses the shifting landscape of drama, noting the conflict between the highly moralising Sentimental Comedy and the witty Anti-Sentimental Comedy. Finally, it highlights the foundational contribution of Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, who pioneered the periodical essay and modern journalism, thereby establishing public discourse and moral standards for the rising middle class.