College Essay, Research Paper
andide ? Francois-Marie Arouet De Voltaire (1694-1778)
Black Comedy. Politically imprisoned. Son of a minor treasury official in Paris. Studied law and then spent 11 months in Bastille writing about the aristocracy. Three years in exile in England. Stayed with Frederick the Great of Prussia. Lived in Swiss and France. Also wrote Philosophical Dictionary. Candide mocks order of fiction, order of philosophic optimists. Keeps readers of balance. Demands we come to terms with the horrors that surround us. PROBLEM = human complacency. Hard to have order if have corrupt humans.
Gulliver?s Travels ? Jonathan Swift ? (1767-1745) makes others uncomfortable. Makes us aware of own moral inadequacies. Born in Dublin to English parents. Went to England to be a secretary. Met Esther Johnson, close throughout life. Political journalism earlier. Wrote for the oppressed Irish. Mentally Insane. Gulliver travels to 4 lands. 1st ? Liliputt, mocks pettiness of English. 2nd Brobdingnag Giants, perniscous race. 3rd ? ghosts. Stresses lies of historians with Sturdlebugs. Grow old and live forever in pure senility. Book 4 ? mocks problems with reason as a guide to human conduct. Reader must decide how to judge – change ? society. This is an important part of Satire. (Wrote a modest Proposal ? where attacks Enlgish and Irish a like. Mocks English humanity, Irish Passivisity,) Has on Tomb ?Where fierce indignation no longer tears the heart?. Oxford and Trinity.
Alexander Pope ? Essay on Man ? (1688-1744) ? subject matters include nature of universal order to social existence. Roman Catholic parents. Born in Glorious revolution. Was restricted by gov. because Catholic. Could not got o school or work publicly. educated at home. Translated homer. First wrote pastorals. Bulk of his verse was Satiric. Wrote Rape of Locke as well. Mocks beauty. Critical of Society. It celebrates too though. Essay on Man ? Humanity in relation to the universe, itself, society, happiness. (almost comparable to ?Paradise Lost?) Defines human tradition in cosmic and social terms. Refers t catholic and protestant theology, platonic and stoic, enforces thought of universal, unchanging human nature. First epistle ? 10 logically connected sections. Says we must limit judgement. We are ignorant to future events. It is an emotional experience.
Persuasion ? Jane Austin ? (1775- 1817) 7th child of the Rector of Steventon. Born in Hampshire, England. Educated at home. Studied middle class. At 21 wrote ?First Impressions?. Moved to Bath. Wrote ?Northanger Abbey?. ?Mansfield Park?. Esther died * moved to S Hampton. Then to Hampshire. IN touch with world through brothers, naval officers. Published anonymously. Prince regent and Sir Walter Scott read her stuff. Was sick when wrote this. Last work ?Sandition? was unifinished. Buried in Winchester Catherdral.1818 first published.