What is the
Enlightenment?
(also called the Neoclassical
Period)
It begins with a
rejection. . . .
•Of
•Of
•Of
•Of
•Of
•Of
dogma
superstition
traditional religion
factionalism
(in some cases) monarchy
disorder
The 1600s had a different ideology
--one steeped in supernatural politics.
Alchemy, Angelology, Demonology
The Great Chain of Being
Divine Right of Kings
. . .but that led to
dire political
schisms when a
monarch died
without a clear
heir.
The War of the Roses,
anyone?
The Renaissance saw
many countries
become Protestant,
shattering the fifteenhundred-year-old
spiritual monopoly of
Catholicism.
Renaissance Reformation!
Martin
Luther in
Germany
Jan Hus
In Eastern
Europe
Henry VIII in
Britain
But that dreaded
factionalism lead to
religious wars-some continuing
off-and-on for a
century.
England, Germany, and Holland became Protestants allies.
They fought repeatedly against Catholic France, Spain, and
Italy. Later, Protestant groups turned on each other--with
Anglican persecutions against Jansenists, Anabaptists,
Quakers--and in America, Puritans against Quakers, etc.
. . . And
to heresy
trials
And to the
auto-da-fé
That is the execution of individuals who
dissented from standard scriptural
interpretations--usually by public
burning. The practice began in 1215 in
medieval Catholicism, but Protestants
picked it up in Geneva and London in
the mid-1500s. John Calvin oversaw
the public burnings of Michael Servetus
and other theological dissidents. Martin
Luther moved away from toleration of
Jews early in his career to increasing
anti-semiticism later in his preaching.
And to ever
increasing
numbers of
witch
burnings
Witch trials were actually
higher in number during
the Renaissance reign of
King James I than in any
decade of the medieval
period in Britain.
And the
Inquisition’s
growth.
The Inquisition received
official Church sanction in
1215, but the height of its
activity in Spain and France
actually peaked in the
1500s and 1600s--i.e,
Renaissance times.
Not even Galileo
was safe.
The church arrested Galileo
For heretical ideas such as
heliocentricism. Threatened with
torture, he publicly recanted his
science and lived his last days under
permanent house arrest.
Western Christian biblical references Psalm 93:1, Psalm 96:10, and Chronicles 16:30 include text
stating that "the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved." In the same tradition, Psalm 104:5
says, "[the LORD] set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved." Further, Ecclesiastes 1:5
states that "the sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.” This meant that the
Idea the earth spun on its axis or revolved around the sun was incompatible with literalist readings
of scripture--and many medieval and Renaissance church authorities forbade such teachings.
The printing press dazzled
the early Renaissance . . .
But the overflow of new ideas was also
frightening--leading to national
censorship, book burnings, the index
librorum prohibitorum, pamphlet wars.
Worn out by 200 years of this
bickering, warfare, dissension, and
fanaticism, Europe was ready for a
change by the late 1600s and early
1700s.
“I said, a change, a change,
would do you good.”
--Cheryl Crow, “A Change.”
That change was the
Enlightenment!
What is the Enlightenment
attitude?
(1) A desire for rationality, logic, consistency.
(2) A rejection of emotionalism
(3) A preference for evidence, not faith
(4) Increased interest in science, mathematics,
geometry
(5) An admiration for Greece and Rome and an
abhorrence for everything medieval.
(6) A preference for the artificial over the natural,
technology over wilderness.
What is the
Enlightenment
socially?
(1) A disdain of “messiness” and “chaos” as being
unharmonious.
(2) A preference for democracy.
(3) A preference for civilized, polite discussion of
ideas. Conclusions reached by intelligent debate-not force.
(4) A desire to create social standards based on
reason--not tradition.
(5) An embrace of monotheistic Deism rather than
traditional Trinitarian doctrines.
What is the
Enlightenment
aesthetically?
(1) A desire for geometric shapes, orderly
repetition in mathematical patterns.
(2) A disdain of “messiness” and “chaos” in art and
clothing and hairstyles as being unharmonious.
(3) Greco-Roman architecture
(4) Endless Heroic Couplets
(5) Satire as a means of social critique
See for instance
Enlightenment
gardens.
Here, the “messiness” of the natural world must bow
before pure geometry. In such a garden, the chaos of
nature is tamed to match the orderly design of human
intellect.
Straight lines, 90
degree corners, the
stuff to warm the heart
of an Enlightenment
thinker. Thus, hedge-mazes appear across
Europe.
Even the untidiness of natural hair disturbs Enlightenment society. Thus,
the tradition of the perfectly coiffed wig appears in the age of Washington
and Jefferson and Marie Antoinette. Powdered porcelain make-up and
other cosmetics become fashionable and artificial “beauty” patches (bits
of black cloth with adhesive) are used to create artificial moles or freckles
(or to hide natural ones.) It is an age of absolute artifice.
The Enlightenment is so devoted to
Greco-Roman logic and philosophy it is
thus also called the “Neoclassic Period.” A
similar taste appears in their architecture,
their plays and drama. . . .
Take a look at the Arch of Emperor
Constantine, built c. 312-315 CE.
Then look at the French Arc de Triomph du
Carrousel. Note any similarities?
Top Left:
the Parthenon of the
Acropolis, built
c. 447-438 BCE.
Bottom left:
Ragensberg Replica,
Planned in the 1790s
And built 1830 CE.
We also see it in their
obsessive and
rigorous attitudes to
standardizing language:
The French Academy
Of Language
Samuel Johnson working
on his dictionary of 1755.
…and artificial grammar rules
based on Latin , or Greek,
Shall versus Will?
or even rules of algebra!
“It is I,” or “It is me”?
Count Nouns versus
Non-Count Nouns?
Double negatives?
Reflexive pronouns?
Split infinitives?
Standardizing spelling
based on etymology?
“Incomparables” versus
positives and
superlatives?
How do these tendencies
affect the Enlightenment’s
literature?
In poetry: heroic
couplets and “perfect”
metrical patterns and a
return to classical
Greco-Roman epics. Cf.
Pope’s The Rape of the
Lock.
In both poetry and prose, a focus
on satire--the use of mockery to
point out social stupidities.