Page 26 - FEN1(2)C01 LITERATURES IN ENGLISH PAPER I: From Chaucer to the Present
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John Webster The Duchess of Malfi - Act IV

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               Restoration, its literary features.
               Prescribed Text: John Dryden, Alexander's Feast.

               HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF RESTORATION AGE
               The period from 1660 to 1700 is known as  the Restoration
               period or the Age of Dryden. Dryden was the representative
               writer of this period. The restoration of King Charles II in 1660
               marks  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  both  in  the  life  and  the
               literature of England. The King was received with wild joy on
               his  return  from  exile.  The  change  of  government  from
               Commonwealth to Kingship corresponded to a change in the
               mood of the nation. In this period the Renaissance delight in
               this world and the unlimited possibilities of the exploration of
               the  world,  and  the  moral  zeal  and  the  earnestness  of  the
               Puritan period could no more fascinate the people of England.
               There was the disposition to accept such limitations, to exploit
               the  potentialities  of  a  strictly  human  world.  The  historical
               events like the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, the religious
               controversy and the revolution of 1688 deeply influenced the
               social life and the literary movements of the age.
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