Neoclassical+American

The Neoclassical Period

The neoclassical period was influenced by the classical period and renaissance. Neo means new, and classicism means oldness. Neoclassic made its way to America from Europe. During the Neoclassical period, people started to self evaluate themselves. Neoclassicism admired order, simplicity, clarity, and reason. This period is inspired by Greek and roman history.

Events During the Neoclassical Period:

People from Europe and England were pouring into America for the opportunity for money. Africans were also being transported to America to be used as slaves. America was getting new ideas for our Government: “All men are created Equal” and Natural Laws.

Classical Music is popular. This is mainly music without words.

People During Neoclassical Period

Isaac Newton

America’s Founding Fathers

- Benjamin Franklin

-Thomas Jefferson - etc.

Writers of the Neoclassic Period

__ Daniel Defoe __ - Defoe was a poet and a novelist. He wrote more factually, for the political, economic, social, and moral improvement, which was part of the neoclassical period.

__ Jonathan Swift __ - He wrote “A Modest Proposal,” and more commonly known for //Gulliver’s Travels.// He mostly wrote about current events. Swift fits into this period because he wrote about the things he knew, using simplicity and reason.

__Thomas Paine-__ Paine’s major work was Common Sense. He, like Benjamin Franklin, wrote about current events.

__ Jonathan Edwards __ - Edwards fits into the neoclassical period because he conveyed the self evaluation characteristics of this period. He got people to change the attitude or heart.

__Benjamin Franklin__- Franklin often analyzed social class and current events. He used humor to get through to people. Social class and current events were often popular topics in the neoclassical period.

// Robinson Crusoe // by Daniel Defoe (published in 1719)
 * Major Works of the Neoclassical American Time Period

The main character, Crusoe, begins a journey across the ocean eventhough his parents did not approve. Crusoe runs into several different problems in his journey: wrecking the ship in a storm, getting taken over by pirates, and forced to become their slave. He escaped the pirates and became friends with the Captain of a ship from Portugal that was heading toward Brazil and when they arrive there, Crusoe becomes a plantation owner. After years of owning his plantation, he travels to Africa to try to free slaves, but everything goes horribly wrong. His ship wrecks and he is the lone survivor of the crash, but he manages to build everything he needs in a nearby cave. Crusoe finds cannibals that visit the island every so often and eat their prisoners. Crusoe finds an escaped prisoner and they kill several of the cannibals and save a few more of the prisoners. They all sail to a port in Spain and Crusoe goes back to England to discover his family is dead.

// Moll Flanders // by Daniel Defoe (published in 1722) Mollflanders.jpg Moll Flanders was raised until her teenage years by foster parents and she falls in love with their servant, but he convinces Moll to marry his younger brother because he did not want to marry her. She marries his brother, but he dies a short time later and leaves Moll and her kids alone. Moll leaves her kids with family and tries to get men to fall in love with her to make her feel safer. Her first husband went bankrupts and her second turned out to be her half brother. She flees America and travels to England where she meets a man who is married, but she continues her relationship with him. They have three kids (only one survives), but the man leaves Moll to be with his wife. She then marries a Roman Catholic, but he breaks off their marriage and tells her she gets all of his money. She has another child and gives it to a countrywoman, and a short time later she marries a banker and stays with him for 5 years, but he died leaving her with her two children. She becomes a thief, is caught and sent to jail where she is convicted and asks for repentence.

// Gulliver’s Travels // by Jonathan Swift (published in 1726)

In //Gulliver’s Travels//, Gulliver proceeds on 4 voyages starting in Lilliput whose inhabitants are tiny. They all seem very nice and happy that Gulliver is there, but then Gulliver realizes they aren’t as kind as he thought. They convict him of treason, even though Gulliver was only trying to help. His travels then bring him to a land full of giants that were very nice, much more so than the Lilliputans. The king of the giants makes a fool of Gulliver and he goes onto his third voyage. He arrives in Laputa where everyone there over thinks everything they do and they do a ton of crazy things. He leaves and starts his fourth voyage. This is to Houyhnhnms that are horses that can reason anything. They stun Gulliver and he stays with them for a few years. He is told he has to leave, but Gulliver doesn’t want to leave to go back with humans.

// Sinners at the Hands of an Angry God // by Jonathan Edwards (published in 1741) This is a sermon written by Jonathon Edwards that emphasizes the fact that hell is a very real place and that if the people continue to go through their lives without God, they will suffer in the fiery depths of hell. He gave this sermon so that the people had a chance to ask God for mercy from their sins and fix everything they are doing wrong.  horace-walpole_1592496c.jpg

// The Castle of Otranto // by Horace Wapole (published in 1764) At the beginning, Manfred’s son, Conrad, was due to marry Isabella, but a short time before the ceremony, Conrad was crushed by a large helmet that fell from the sky. Manfred was worried that this was a signal from the Gods that this was the end of his line in the royal family. He marries Isabella after he divorces his wife Hippolita because she didn’t birth an heir to the throne. Before the wedding, Isabelle escapes with Theodore, a peasant. Manfred was livid and ordered the death of Theodore. Friar Jerome was ordered to kill Theodore, but he soon realizes that Theodore is his son and begs Manfred to let him free. Manfred locks Theodore in a tower when he went searching for Isabella, but Manfred’s daughter Matilda freed him. Theodore finds Isabella and protects her from Manfred and fights a knight who is ironically Isabella’s father. Theodore is revealed as the prince and marries Isabella.

// Hidden Flame // by John Dryden

I FEED a flame within, which so torments me

That it both pains my heart, and yet contents me:

'Tis such a pleasing smart, and I so love it,

That I had rather die than once remove it.

Yet he, for whom I grieve, shall never know it;

My tongue does not betray, nor my eyes show it.

Not a sigh, nor a tear, my pain discloses,

But they fall silently, like dew on roses.

Thus, to prevent my Love from being cruel,

My heart 's the sacrifice, as 'tis the fuel;

And while I suffer this to give him quiet,

My faith rewards my love, though he deny it.

On his eyes will I gaze, and there delight me;

While I conceal my love no frown can fright me.

To be more happy I dare not aspire,

Nor can I fall more low, mounting no higher.


 * __ Style: __** John Dryden uses an A,A B,B rhyme scheme which is a couplet. A __couplet__ is a pair of lines that normally have rhyme and meter in common. He uses 4 lines in every stanza rhyming the first two lines together and the last two lines together.


 * __ Devices: __**The whole poem is an __apostrophe__ because it is referring to “Love” and “he” as the absent person. The poem is addressing someone directly, thus it is an apostrophe.


 * __ Point of view: __**This poem is written from a woman’s perspective because it refers to a man several times throughout the poem. One can assume that it is a woman from this fact, and that the woman is addressing her feelings to the absent male.


 * __ Implied meaning: __** Megan and I believe that the woman in the poem is expressing her love for a man who doesn’t feel the same about her. She is feeding the flame in her heart by being around the man and falling deeper in love with him every time she is around him. She would rather die than have the feeling of love inside her taken away. In the second stanza, she reveals that the man does not know that she loves him. She does not tell him, or look at him like she loves him. She doesn’t let him know that she loves him, but she suffers silently because of it. In the third stanza, she says that her heart is the fuel and it is being sacrificed for the love she feels for the man. She has faith that keeps her going, but the man keeps her denying it. In the fourth stanza, she reiterates that she is hiding her love for the man, even though she looks in his eyes and seeks for his love toward her. She is not happy because she does not have the love of the man, but her love is so strong toward him that it will not change. She will not get any sadder, yet not any happier.