Page 85 - DENG402_HISTORY_OF_ENGLISH_LITERATURE

History of English Literature

Notes Another poet who may also be considered as the precursor of the Romantic Revival was Thomas
Chatterton (1752-70), the Bristol boy, whose The Rowley Poems, written in pseudo-Chaucerian
English made a strong appeal of medievalism.

Did u know? The publication of Bishop Percy’s Reliques of Ancient Poetry in 1765 also
made great contribution to the romantic mood reviving interest in ballad
literature.

11.2 Prose of the Age of Johnson

In the Age of Johnson the tradition established by prose writers of the earlier part of the eighteenth
century Addison, Steele and Swift was carried further. The eighteenth century is called the age of
aristocracy. This aristocracy was no less in the sphere of the intellect than in that of politics and
society. The intellectual and literary class formed itself into a group, which observed certain rules
of behaviour, speech and writing. In the field of prose the leaders of this group established a
literary style which was founded on the principles of logical and lucid thought. It was opposed to
what was slipshod, inaccurate, and trivial. It avoided all impetuous enthusiasm and maintained an
attitude of aloofness and detachment that contributed much to its mood of cynical humour. The
great prose writers, the pillars of the Age of Johnson, who represented in themselves, the highest
achievements of English prose, were Johnson, Burke and Gibbon.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) was the literary dictator of his age, though he was not its greatest
writer. He was a man who struggled heroically against poverty and ill-health; who was ready to
take up cudgels against anyone however high he might be placed, but who was very kind and
helpful to the poor and the wretched. He was an intellectual giant, and a man of sterling character,
on account of all these qualities he was honoured and loved by all, and in his poor house gathered
the foremost artists, scholars, actors, and literary men of London, who looked upon him as their
leader.
Johnson’s best-known works are his Dictionary and Lives of Poets. He contributed a number of
articles in the periodicals, The Rambler, The Idler and Rasselas. In them his style is ponderous
and verbose, but in Lives of Poets, which are very readable critical biographies of English poets,
his style is simple and at time charming. Though in the preceding generations Dryden, Addison,
Steele and Swift wrote elegant, lucid and effective prose, none of them set up any definite
standard to be followed by others. What was necessary in the generation when Johnson wrote,
was some commanding authority that might set standard of prose style, lay down definite rules
and compel others to follow them. This is what was actually done by Johnson. He set a model of
prose style which had rhythm, balance and lucidity, and which could be imitiated with profit. In
doing so he preserved the English prose style from degenerating into triviality and feebleness,
which would have been the inevitable result of slavishly imitating the prose style of great
writers like Addison by ordinary writers who had not the secret of Addison’s genius. The model
was set by Johnson.
Though Johnson’s own style is often condemned as ponderous and verbose, he could write in an
easy and direct style when he chose. This is clear from Lives of Poets where the formal dignity of
his manner and the ceremonial stateliness of his phraseology are mixed with touches of playful
humour and stinging sarcasm couched in very simple and lucid prose. The chief characteristic of
Johnson’s prose-style is that it grew out of his conversational habit, and therefore it is always clear,
forceful and frank. We may not some time agree to the views he expresses in the Lives, but we
cannot but be impressed by his boldness, his wit, wide range and brilliancy of his style.
Burke (1729-1797) was the most important member of Johnson’s circle. He was a member of the
Parliament for thirty years and as such he made his mark as the most forceful and effective orator
of his times. A man of vast knowledge, he was the greatest political philosopher that ever spoke in
the English Parliament.

78 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY