What do you understand by Neo-classicism? What are the factors which gave rise to the "Neo-Classical School of Poetry”? Who are it’s chief practitioners?

What do you understand by Neo-classicism? What are the factors which gave rise to the "Neo-Classical School of  Poetry”? Who are it’s chief practitioners?

 Ans. The period in English literary history extending from 1660 to 1789 and covering the ages of Dryden, Pope and Dr. Johnson is variously called the Classical Age—or the Neo-classical Age—or the Pseudo-Classical Age.

The Age is called Classical Age at least in three senses. Firstly, the term is used for writers and for literatures that stand in a class by themselves. It is used in general for the works of the highest rank in any literature. Thus the Age of King Augustus is called the Classical Age of Latin literature, the Age of Dante, the Classical Age of Italy, the reign of King Louis XIV, the Classical Age of France and the Age of Dryden and Pope, the Classical Age of England.

Secondly, the age was Classical because the writers of the period claimed that the classical writers of ancient Greece and Rome were their models and they were imitating the ancient classical writers. They gave importance on beauty of form and definiteness of expression which were the leading traits of their model. They rebelled against the wild excesses of the Elizabethans and the fantastic extravagances of the metaphysical poets. The 'classics' regarded the Old English writers with contempt and indifference. They were guided by reason, good sense and wit; they wanted order and balance and every kind of excess and irregularity was abhorrent to them.

Thirdly, the classical writers emphasized that poetry should follow   rules 'correctly'—the rules which had been laid down by such classical masters as Horace and Aristotle, and which had been interpreted for them by the French writers. The general tendency of literature was to look at life critically, to emphasize the intellect rather than imagination, the form of, rather than the content of a sentence. They had a great regard for 'correctness' and for the avoidance of extremes. They tried to repress their emotion and enthusiasm and to be 'correct' and elegant in their methods and expressions.

But in reality, they were not 'classics', but 'Pseudo-classics' or "Neoclassics" or false classics. The hallmark of the ancient classical literature is a harmonious balance between form and substance. But this balance is disturbed in the Age of Pope and Dryden. The writers of this age only cared for form, not for the weight of matter, they cared only for manner, for artistic finish and polish, but not for genuine poetic inspiration. Thus the exaltation of form over feeling, reason over imagination and 'correctness' over poetic rapture makes their poetry cold, uninspiring and pseudo classical.

The 'Neo-classical School of Poetry' had its rise in the Age of Dryden and pope and it continued to dominate literature up to the very end of the century. This age is also called the Augustan Age, because it is the golden Age of Classicism in English literature just as the age of Augustus had been the golden age in Latin literature.

There are number of factors which gave rise to the particular type of  poetry. During the Age of Dryden and Pope, we find a sudden breaking away from the old standards. The break with the past is almost absolute. The literature of this age is a converse of the previous Elizabethan Age.

Lacking the genius of the Elizabethans, the authors of the time turned the great classical writers, in particular to the Latin writers, for guidance and inspiration. This habit was quite noticeable during the Age of Dryden and deepened and hardened during the Age of Pope.

John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Daniel Defoe, Jonathan Swift, Dr. Samuel Johnson, Joseph Addison, Henry Fielding, Tobias Smollet, Lawrence Sterne, James Boswell, Edmund Burke are the chief practioners of classicism. Classicism is found to dominate all literary forms—poetry,   prose and drama. The celebrated literary men of the neo-classical age in English literature endeavored to perfect their literary art according to the literary models and standards, set up by the classical Greek and Latin authors of repute in particular.