This document provides an overview of 18th century English literature and writers. It summarizes the historical and literary background of the time period from 1700-1790, known as the Augustan era after the Roman emperor Augustus. Some of the major writers during this time included Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, John Gay, Samuel Johnson, and Oliver Goldsmith. The document then outlines the works and contributions of numerous poets, playwrights, novelists, and essayists from the 18th century.

1. (1700-90)

2. Historical Background –
The term “Augustan” was derived from the name of the
Roman emperor Augustus Caesar . Three of the
greatest writer Virgil, Horace and Ovid living around
this time. The writers were anxious motto give
expression to decay personal feelings. It became the
property of much larger classes and more divese class
of merchant gentry and professional man. 18th century
literature is replete with a sense of pride in England as
a land of stability and liberty.

3. Literary Background –
 Literature reflected the life of the times; the
intellectual climate of the period veired more towards
the development of the prose gew while poetry
became satirical . John Locke’s published his essay
Concerning Human Understanding in 1690,
Alexander Pope’s essay on Man’ was published in 1734.

4. Writer Works
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) Death of Dr. Swift (1731), Cadenus
and Vanessa(1723)
John Gay(1685-1732) The Rural Sports(1713),The
Shepherd’s Week(1714), The What
d’ Ye Call It (1715)
Alexander Pope (1688- 1744) Windsor Forest (1713), The Rape
of the lock (1712)
Dr. Samuel Johnson(1709-84) London(1738), The Vanity of
Human Wishes (1749)
James Thomson(1700-49) Winter (1726), The
Seasons(1730), Liberty(1735-36)
John Dyer (1699-1757) Grongar Hill(1726)

5. Mid- 18th Century Poetry
Writer Works
Thomas Gray (1716-71) Ode (1747),Elegy(1751)
William Collins(1721-59) Persian Eclogues(1742)
Christopher Smart (1722-71) A song of David(1763)
Oliver Goldsmith(1728-74) The traveller(1764),The Deserted
Village (1770)

6. 18th century prose
Writer Works
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) The Battle of Books(1704), A Tale of a
Tub(1704), Gulliver’s Travels(1726)
Joseph Addison (1672-1719) The Vision of Mirza , and Public Credit
(prose)and Cato(1713), The Drummer
(1715)[drama].
Daniel Defoe (1659(?)-1731) The Review (1704), The Shortest was with
the Dissenters (1702)
John Arbuthnot (1667-1735) Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus (1709),
The History of John Bull(1712), The Art of
Political lying(1712)
Lord Bolingbroke(1678-1751) The latter on the spirit of
Patriotism(1736),The Idea of a Patriot
King(1738)
George Berkeley(1685-1735) The Principle of Human Knowledge,
Three Dialogues between Hylas and
Philonous(1713)

7. 18th Century Non- Fiction Prose
Writer Works
Oliver Goldsmith(1728-74) The Citizen of the World(1759),
The Vicar of Wakefield(1766)
Edward Gibbon(1737-94) A History of Switzerland(1770),
Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire(1776)
James Boswell(1740-95) The Life of Samuel Johnson(1791)
Edmund Burke (1729-97) The Vindication of Natural
Society(1756), Reflection on the
Revolution in France(1790), On
American Taxation(1774)
William Paley(1743-1805) Principle of Moral and Political
Philosophy (1785), A View of the
Evidences of Christianity(1794)

8. Later 18th Century Prose
Writer Works
William Cowper(1731-1800) The Task(1785), Homer(1791)
George Crabbe(1754-1832) The Village(1783), The Parish
Register (1807), Tales in Verse (1812)
Mary Leapor’s (1722-46) An Essay on Women(1751)
Joanna Bailley(1762-1851) Metrical Legends(1821)

9. 18th Century Dramatist
Writer Works
Henry Fielding (1707-54) Love in Seneral Masques(1728), The
Temple Bean(1730), The Modern
Husband(1732) and The Universal
Gallant(1735).
Richard Cumberland(1732-1811) The Brothers(1769), The West
Indian(1771)
Colley Ciber(1671-1757) Love’s Last Shijto or The Fool in
Fashion(1696), The Careless
Husband(1728), The Lady Last stake(1707)
Richard Steele(1672-1729) The Funeral(1701),The Lying Lover(1703),
The Tender Husband(1705)
Oliver Goldsmith(1728-74) The Good natur’d Man(1768),She Stoops
to Conquer(1773)

10. Women Dramatist, Novelist and
Poet of the 18th Century
Writer Works
Mary Leapors (1722-
46)
An Essay on Women(1751)
Mrs. Susonnah(1669-
1723)
The Busie Body(1709), The Gomestes(1705),
The Basset Table(1705)
Sarah Fielding( 1710-68) The Adventures of David Simple(1744) and
The Governess or The Little Female
Academy(1749)
Ann Radcliffe(1764-1823) The Mysteries of Udolpho(1794)
Marie Shelley (1797-1851) Fronkestine
Emily Bronte(1818-1848) Wuthering Heights (1847)