English poetry

The history of English poetry stretches from the middle of the 7th century to the present day. Over this period, English poets have written some of the most enduring poems in European culture, and the language and its poetry have spread around the globe. Consequently, the term English poetry is unavoidably ambiguous. It can mean poetry written in England (and, by extension, the United Kingdom), or poetry written in English.

The Restoration and 18th century

It is perhaps ironic that Paradise Lost, a story of fallen pride, was the first major poem to appear in England after the Restoration. The court of Charles II had, in its years in France, learned a worldliness and sophistication that marked it as distinctively different from the monarchies that preceded the Republic. Even if Charles had wanted to reassert the divine right of kingship, the Protestantism and taste for power of the intervening years would have rendered it impossible.

Related Topics:
Charles II - France

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Satire

It is hardly surprising that the world of fashion and scepticism that emerged encouraged the art of satire. All the major poets of the period, Samuel Butler, John Dryden, Alexander Pope and Samuel Johnson, and the Irish poet Jonathan Swift, wrote satirical verse. What is perhaps more surprising is that their satire was written in defence of public order and the established church and government.

Related Topics:
Scepticism - Satire - Samuel Butler - John Dryden - Alexander Pope - Samuel Johnson - Jonathan Swift

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18th century classicism

The 18th century is sometimes called the Augustan age, and contemporary admiration for the classical world extended to the poetry of the time. Not only did the poets aim for a polished high style in emulation of the Roman ideal, they also translated and imitated Greek and Latin verse. Dryden translated all the known works of Virgil, and Pope produced versions of the two Homeric epics. Horace and Juvenal were also widely translated and imitated, Horace most famously by John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester and Juvenal by Samuel Johnson's Vanity of Human Wishes.

Related Topics:
18th century - Augustan - Latin - Horace - Juvenal - John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester

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Women poets in the 18th century

During the period of the restoration, two women poets of note emerged. These were Katherine Phillips and Aphra Behn. In addition to these two, a number of other women had plays performed on the London stage. Nevertheless, women poets were still relatively scarce and only two of them published collections during the first decade of the new century. By the 1790s, that number had grown to over thirty. It is evident that women poets had become more acceptable and this change is generally dated to the 1730s. Among the most successful of these women were Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea, Elizabeth Thomas, Lady Mary Wortley Montague, Mary Leapor, Susanna Blamire and Hannah More.

Related Topics:
Katherine Phillips - Aphra Behn - Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea - Elizabeth Thomas - Mary Wortley Montague - Mary Leapor - Susanna Blamire - Hannah More

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The late 18th century

Towards the end of the 18th century, poetry began to move away from the strict Augustan ideals and a new emphasis on sentiment and the feelings of the poet. This trend can perhaps be most clearly seen in the handling of nature, with a move away from poems about formal gardens and landscapes by urban poets and towards poems about nature as lived in. The leading exponents of this new trend include Thomas Gray, William Cowper, George Crabbe, Christopher Smart and Robert Burns as well as the Irish poet Oliver Goldsmith. These poets can be seen as paving the way for the Romantic movement.

Related Topics:
Thomas Gray - William Cowper - George Crabbe - Christopher Smart - Robert Burns - Oliver Goldsmith - Romantic movement

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