Augustan drama can refer to the dramas of Ancient Rome during the reign of Caesar Augustus, but it most commonly refers to the plays of Great Britain in the early 18th century, a subset of 18th-century Augustan literature. King George I referred to himself as "Augustus," and the poets of the era took this reference as a propos, as the literature of Rome during Augustus moved from historical and didactic poetry to the poetry of highly finished and sophisticated epics and satire. In poetry, it was an age of satire and public verse, and in prose, it was an age of the developing novel. In drama, by contrast, it was an age that was in transition, that was caught between the highly witty and sexually playful Restoration comedy, the pathetic she-tragedy of the turn of the century, and any later plots of middle class anxiety. Ancient Rome was a civilization that existed in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East between 753 BC and its downfall in AD 476. ... Bust of Augustus Caesar Imperator Caesar Augustus (Latin: IMP·CAESAR·DIVI·F·AVGVSTVS)¹ (23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), known earlier in his life as Gaius Octavius. ... Augustan literature is a style of English literature whose origins correspond roughly with the reigns of Queen Anne, King George I, and George II. In contemporary critical parlance, it refers to the literature of 1700 upto approximately 1760 (or, for some, 1789). ... George I King of Great Britain and Ireland George I (George Ludwig von Guelph-dEste) (28 May 1660–11 June 1727) was Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) from 23 January 1698, and King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 1 August 1714, until his death. ... EPIC might be an acronym or abbreviation for: Electronic Privacy Information Center Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing Enhanced Programmable ircII Client El Paso Intelligence Center End Poverty In California European Privatisation and Investment Corporation Sometimes it is also used to refer to Epic Games game development company. ... Satire is a literary technique of writing or art which principally ridicules its subject (for example, individuals, organizations, or states) often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change. ... A novel is an extended work of written, narrative, prose fiction, usually in story form; the writer of a novel is a novelist. ... Refinement meets burlesque in Restoration comedy. ... The term she-tragedy refers to a popular vogue in the late 17th and early 18th centuries for tragic plays focused on the sufferings of an innocent and virtuous woman. ...

There were few dominant figures of the Augustan stage. Instead, a number of playwrights worked steadily to find subject matter that would appeal to a new audience, and the playhouses themselves began to dispense with playwrights altogether. When the public tired of mass-produced, low-content plays, the Whig ministry stepped in and began official censorship. This article is about the British Whig party. ... Censorship is the systematic use of group power to broadly control freedom of speech and expression, largely in regard to secretive matters. ...

The middle class tragedy

The "Augustan era" is difficult to define chronologically in prose and poetry, but it is very easy to date its end in drama. The Augustan era's drama ended definitively in 1737, with the Licensing Act. Prior to 1737, the English stage was changing rapidly from Restoration comedy and Restoration drama and their noble subjects to the quickly developing melodrama. Events 12 February — The San Carlo, the oldest working opera house in Europe, is inaugurated. ... The Licensing Act or Theatrical Licensing Act of 1737 was a landmark act of censorship of the British stage. ... Refinement meets burlesque in Restoration comedy. ... Refinement meets burlesque in Restoration comedy. ... Poster for The Perils of Pauline (1914). ...

George Lillo and Richard Steele wrote the trend-setting plays of the early Augustan period. Lillo's plays consciously turned from heroes and kings toward shopkeepers and apprentices. They emphasized drama on a household scale, rather than a national scale, and the hamartia and agon in his tragedies are the common flaws of yielding to temptation and the commission of Christian sin. The plots are resolved with Christian forgiveness and repentence. Steele's The Conscious Lovers (1722) hinges upon his young hero avoiding fighting a duel. These plays set up a new set of values for the stage. Instead of amusing the audience or inspiring the audience, they sought to instruct the audience and ennoble it. Further, the plays were popular precisely because they seemed to reflect the audience's own lives and concerns. George Lillo (1693 - 1739) was a British playwright and tragedian. ... There is also the boxing referee Richard Steele Sir Richard Steele (1672 - September 1, 1729) was an Irish writer and politician, remembered, along with his friend, Joseph Addison, as co-founder of The Spectator magazine. ... Tragic Flaw is derived from the Greek word hamartia which is also translated in religious works (i. ... In classical Greek drama, the agon refers to the formal convention according to which the struggle between the characters should be scripted in order to supply the basis of the action. ... Events Abraham De Moivre states De Moivres theorem connecting trigonometric functions and complex numbers Publication of the first book of Bachs Well-Tempered Clavier Fall of Persias Safavid dynasty during a bloody revolt of the Afghani people. ... A duel or duel of honour is a form of armed combat in which two individuals participate. ...

Joseph Addison also wrote a play, entitled Cato, in 1713. Cato concerned the Roman statesman. The year of its première is important, for Queen Anne was in serious illness at the time, and both the Tory ministry of the day and the Whig opposition (already being led by Robert Walpole) were concerned about the succession. Both groups were contacting the Old Pretender about bringing the Young Pretender over. Londoners sensed this anxiety, for Anne had no heirs, and all of the natural successors in the Stuart family were Roman Catholic or unavailable. Therefore, the figure of Cato was a transparent symbol of Roman integrity, and the Whigs saw in him a champion of Whig values, while the Tories saw in him an embodiment of Tory sentiments. Both sides cheered the play, even though Addison was himself clearly Whig. John Home's play Douglas (1756) would have a similar fate to Cato in the next generation, after the Licensing Act. Events April 11 - War of the Spanish Succession: Treaty of Utrecht June 23 - French residents of Acadia given one year to declare allegiance to Britain or leave Nova Scotia Canada first Orrery built by George Graham Ongoing events Great Northern War (1700-1721) War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1713... Cato can refer to several different things. ... Prince James Francis Edward Stuart or Stewart (June 10, 1688 - January 1, 1766) was a claimant of the thrones of Scotland and England (September 16, 1701 - January 1, 1766) who is more commonly referred to as The Old Pretender. ... John Home (September 22, 1722 - September 5, 1808) was a Scottish poet and dramatist. ... For people whose family name is Douglas, see List of people by name. ... 1756 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

The problem of "Spectacle"

A print by William Hogarth entitled A Just View of the British Stage from 1724 depicting the managers of Drury Lane (Robert Wilks, Colley Cibber, and Barton Booth) rehearsing a play comprised of nothing but special effects, while they used the scripts for Macbeth, Hamlet, Julius Ceasar and The Way of the World for toilet paper. This battle of effects was a common subject of satire for the literary wits, including Pope in The Dunciad.

As during the Restoration, economics drove the stage in the Augustan period. Under Charles II court patronage meant economic success, and therefore the Restoration stage featured plays that would suit the monarch and/or court. The drama that celebrated kings and told the history of Britain's monarchs was fit fare for the crown and courtiers. Charles II was a philanderer, and so Restoration comedy featured a highly sexualized set of plays. However, after the reign of William and Mary, the court and crown stopped taking a great interest in the playhouse. Theaters had to get their money from the audience of city dwellers, therefore, and consequently plays that reflected city anxieties and celebrated the lives of citizens drew and were staged. William Hogarth William Hogarth (November 10, 1697 – October 26, 1764) was a major British painter, engraver, pictorial satirist, and editorial cartoonist who has been credited as a pioneer in western sequential art. ... Events January 14 - King Philip V of Spain abdicates the throne February 20 - The premiere of Giulio Cesare, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, takes place in London June 23 - Treaty of Constantinople signed. ... This article is about a street in London called Drury Lane. ... Colley Cibber, actor, playwright, Poet Laureate, first British actor-manager, and head Dunce of Alexander Popes Dunciad. ... Barton Booth (1681- May 10, 1733) was one of the most famous dramatic actors of the first part of the 18th century. ... The Dunciad is a landmark literary satire by Alexander Pope published in three different versions at different times. ... Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was the King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 30 January 1649 (de jure) or 29 May 1660 (de facto) until his death. ...

Thus, there were quite a few plays that were, in fact, not literary that were staged more often than the literary plays. John Rich and Colley Cibber duelled over special theatrical effects. They put on plays that were actually just spectacles, where the text of the play was almost an afterthought. Dragons, whirlwinds, thunder, ocean waves, and even actual elephants were on stage. Battles, explosions, and horses were put on the boards. Rich specialized in pantomime and was famous as the character "Lun" in harlequin presentations. The plays put on in this manner are not generally preserved or studied, but their monopoly on the theaters infuriated established literary authors. John Rich (1682 - 1761) was an important theater manager in 18th century London. ... Colley Cibber, actor, playwright, Poet Laureate, first British actor-manager, and head Dunce of Alexander Popes Dunciad. ... Pantomime may refer to two different types of performing arts. ... Harlequin may refer to: Penis ...

Additionally, opera made its way to England during this period. Inasmuch as opera combined singing with acting, it was a mixed genre, and this violated all the strictures of neo-classicism. Further, high melodies would cover the singers' expressions of grief or joy, thus breaking "decorum." To add insult to injury, the casts and celebrated stars were foreigners, and, as with Farinelli, castrati. The satirists saw in opera the non plus ultra of invidiousness. As Pope put it in Dunciad B: The foyer of Charles Garniers Opéra, Paris, opened 1875 Opera is an art form consisting of a dramatic stage performance set to music. ... Neoclassicism (sometimes rendered as Neo-Classicism or Neo-classicism) is the name given to quite distinct movements in the visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture. ... Farinelli (January 24, 1705-July 15, 1782), whose real name was Carlo Broschi, was one of the most famous Italian soprano castrato singers of the 18th century. ... A castrato is a male soprano, mezzo_soprano, or alto voice produced by castration of the singer before puberty. ...

"Joy to Chaos! let Division reign:

Chromatic tortures soon shall drive them [the muses] hence,

Break all their nerves, and fritter all their sense:

One Trill shall harmonize joy, grief, and rage,

Wake the dull Church, and lull the ranting Stage;

To the same notes thy sons shall hum, or snore,

And all thy yawning daughters cry, encore." (IV 55-60)

The re-emergence of satirical drama, and the Act

John Gay parodied the opera with his satirical Beggar's Opera (1728) and offered up a parody of Robert Walpole's actions during the South Sea Bubble. Superficially, the play is about a man named Macheath who keeps being imprisoned by a thief named Peachum and who escapes prison over and over again because the daughter of the jailor, Lucy Lockitt, is in love with him. This is an obvious parallel with the case of Jonathan Wild (Peachum) and Jack Sheppard (Macheath). However, it was also the tale of Robert Walpole (Peachum) and the South Sea directors (Macheath). The play was a hit, and its songs were printed up and sold. However, when Gay wrote a follow up called Polly, Walpole had the play suppressed before performance. Events Astronomical aberration discovered by the astronomer James Bradley Swedish academy of sciences founded at Uppsala Births January 9 - Thomas Warton, English poet (d. ... Hogarthian image of the South Sea Bubble by Edward Matthew Ward, Tate Gallery More well known than The South Sea Company is perhaps the South Sea Bubble (1711 - September 1720) which is the name given to the economic bubble that occurred through overheated speculation in the company shares during 1720. ... Jonathan Wild in the condemned cell at Newgate Prison Jonathan Wild (1683–May 24, 1725) was perhaps the most famous criminal of London — and possibly Great Britain — during the 18th century, both because of his own actions and the uses novelists, playwrights, and political satirists made of them. ... Jack Sheppard (1702-16 November 1724) was a notorious English robber, burglar and thief of early 18th century London. ...

Frontispiece to Fielding's Tom Thumb, a play satirizing plays (and Robert Walpole).

Playwrights were therefore in straits. On the one hand, the playhouses were doing without plays by turning out hack-written pantomimes. On the other hand, when a satirical play appeared, the Whig ministry would suppress it. This antagonism was picked up by Henry Fielding, who was not afraid to fight Walpole. His Tom Thumb (1730) was a satire on all of the tragedies written before him, with quotations from all the worst plays patched together for absurdity, and the plot concerned the eponymous tiny man attempting to run things. It was, in other words, an attack on Robert Walpole and the way that he was referred to as "the Great Man." Here, the Great Man is made obviously deficient by being a midget. Walpole responded, and Fielding's revision of the play was in print only. It was written by "Scribblerus Secundus," its title page announced, and it was the Tragedy of Tragedies, which functioned as a clearly Swiftian parodic satire. Anti-Walpolean sentiment also showed in increasingly political plays, and the theaters began to stage them. A particular play of unknown authorship entitled A Vision of the Golden Rump was cited when Parliament passed the Licensing Act of 1737. (The "rump" in question is Parliament, on the one hand, and buttocks on the other.) Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (26 August 1676–18 March 1745), normally known as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British Whig statesman who is generally regarded as having been the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. ...

The Licensing Act required all plays to go to a censor before staging, and only those plays passed by the censor were allowed to be performed. The first play to be banned by the new Act was Gustavus Vasa, by Henry Brooke. Samuel Johnson wrote a Swiftian parodic satire of the licensers, entitled A Complete Vindication of the Licensers of the English Stage. The satire was, of course, not a vindication at all, but rather a reductio ad absurdum of the position for censorship. Had the licensers not exercised their authority in a partisan manner, the Act might not have chilled the stage so dramatically, but the public was well aware of the bannings and censorship, and consequently any play that did pass the licensers was regarded with suspicion by the public. Therefore, the playhouses had little choice but to present old plays and pantomime and plays that had no conceivable political content. In other words, William Shakespeare's reputation grew enormously as his plays saw a quadrupling of performances, and sentimental comedy and melodrama were the only choices. This page is about the 18th century writer. ... Samuel Johnson circa 1772, painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds. ... Censorship is the systematic use of group power to broadly control freedom of speech and expression, largely in regard to secretive matters. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

Effects of the Licensing Act

Othello "strikes" Desdemona in Othello from the 1744 Thomas Hanmer deluxe edition of William Shakespeare. Hamner's was one of the "improved" editions that was roundly hissed by textual critics.

In comedy, one effect of the Licensing Act was that playwrights began to develop a comedy of sentiment. This comedy was critically labelled as "high" comedy, in that it was amusing, rather than actually funny, and brought about its entertainment by elevating the sentiments of the viewer. The plots also relied upon characters being in or out of sympathy with each other. Very late in the Augustan period, Oliver Goldsmith attempted to resist the tide of sentimental comedy with She Stoops to Conquer (1773), and Richard Brinsley Sheridan would mount several satirical plays after Walpole's death, but to a large degree the damage had been done and would last for a century. Both of these playwrights were taking advantage of a loosening of the censorship and popular weariness with "refined" comedy. Goldsmith's play re-introduces the country bumpkin character who outwits the sophisticated would-be rakes (the madcap) who are engaged in a plot to marry well. Sheridan, on the other hand, very consciously turned back to the comedies of the Restoration for his model but carefully toned down the dangers of the sexual plots. Othello and Desdemona in Venice by Théodore Chassériau (1819–1856) Othello: The Moor of Venice is a tragedy by Shakespeare written around 1603. ... // Events The third French and Indian War, known as King Georges War, breaks out at Port Royal, Nova Scotia Ongoing events War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748) Births May 19 - Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, queen of George III of Great Britain (d. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... She Stoops to Conquer is a comedy by Oliver Goldsmith, first performed in 1773. ... 1773 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Richard Brinsley Sheridan Richard Brinsley Sheridan (October 30, 1751 – July 7, 1816) was an Irish playwright and politician. ...

As mentioned above, another effect of the Licensing Act was to send the playhouses to old plays. Since any play written before 1737 could be staged without permission, theatres sought out Shakespeare, in particular. Shakespeare's stature had been rising throughout the 18th century, and textual criticism, particularly of Shakespeare, had resulted in reliable texts (see Shakespeare's reputation for details). Further, many of the expurgated and "improved" versions of Shakespeare were falling from favor. Actors such as David Garrick made their entire reputations by playing Shakespeare. The Licensing Act may be the single greatest factor in the rise of "Bardolatry." However, other, less sparkling, plays were also revived, including multiple versions of Lady Jane Grey and The Earl of Essex (including one by Henry Brooke that had been written before the Act). Each of these could be used as a tacit commentary on the politics of the contemporary court and as a political gesture. Textual criticism is a branch of philology that examines the extant manuscript copies of an ancient or medieval literary work to produce a text that is as close as possible to the original. ... William Shakespeare, the man who of all Modern, and perhaps Ancient Poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul (John Dryden, 1668), our myriad-minded Shakespeare (S. T. Coleridge, 1817), up for grabs (Terry Hawkes, 1992). ... Categories: Actor stubs | 1717 births | 1779 deaths | English actors | Lichfield ... William Shakespeare, the man who of all Modern, and perhaps Ancient Poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul ( John Dryden, 1668), our myriad-minded Shakespeare ( S. T. Coleridge, 1817), up for grabs (Terry Hawkes, 1992). ... This page is about the 18th century writer. ...

David Garrick, a celebrity actor, starring as Richard III in Shakespeare's play six years after the Licensing Act.

Finally, authors with strong political or philosophical points to make would no longer turn to the stage as their first hope of making a living. Prior to 1737, plays were de rigeur for authors who were not journalists. This had to do with the economics of booksellers. A bookseller would purchase a book from an author, whether that book was Gulliver's Travels or Collected Sermons, and would calculate his chances of making money off of sales. He would pay the author according to the money he expected to make. (For example, Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield was famously sold to pay a single rent installment.) That would be the only money an author would see from the book, and therefore he or she would need to produce a new version, new book, or a serial publication of the next work to have hopes of more income. On the other hand, a playwright received the house take of the third night of a play. This could be a very large amount of money, and it would be renewed with each season (depending upon arrangements). Thus, John Gay grew wealthy with The Beggar's Opera. After the Licensing Act closed off hopes for serious authors on the stage, the novel was the next logical path. Therefore, the Licensing Act had the unintended effect of increasing, rather than decreasing, the power of dissenting authors, as it put a stop to anti-Walpolean sentiments and anti-ministry arguments on the stage (which could only reach audience members in London) and sent these messages to the novel form (where they would remain in print, pass from hand to hand, and spread throughout the kingdom), instead. Categories: Actor stubs | 1717 births | 1779 deaths | English actors | Lichfield ... Richard III may refer to: King Richard III of England Richard III, a play by William Shakespeare about the king Richard III may also refer to motion pictures based on the Shakespeare play: Richard III, 1995 (UK/USA), starring Ian McKellen Richard III, 1986 (Soviet Union) Richard III, 1980 (France... Choosing the Wedding Gown by William Mulready, an illustration of Ch. ...

See also

• English literature
• Restoration drama
• Augustan literature
  • Augustan poetry
  • Augustan prose

The term English literature refers to literature written in the English language, or literature composed in English by writers who are not necessarily from England. ... Refinement meets burlesque in Restoration comedy. ... Augustan literature is a style of English literature whose origins correspond roughly with the reigns of Queen Anne, King George I, and George II. In contemporary critical parlance, it refers to the literature of 1700 upto approximately 1760 (or, for some, 1789). ... Augustan poetry is named for Caesar Augustus. ...

References

• Davis, Caroline. "Publishing in the Eighteenth Century: Popular Print Genres". Retrieved June 22, 2005.
• D'Urfey, Tom. Wit and Mirth: or Pills to Purge Melancholy. 6 vol. London: Jacob Tonson, 1719-1720.
• Greene, Donald. The Age of Exuberance: Backgrounds to Eighteenth-Century Literature, 1660-1785. New York: McGraw Hill Companies, 1970.
• Ward, A.W., A.R. Waller, W. P. Trent, J. Erskine, S.P. Sherman, and C. Van Doren. The Cambridge history of English and American literature: An encyclopedia in eighteen volumes. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1921.
• Watt, Ian. The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson and Fielding. Los Angeles: U California Press, 1957.