Literature from the Neoclassical Period (1660-1789) explored cultural values through an emotional, yet restrained, lens inspired by ancient Greek and Roman art and culture. Key authors of this time like Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, and Voltaire used satire to critique society and politics within strict conventions of decorum, balance, and reason. Nature was seen as a rational, ordered system that literature could describe and help humans understand their place within.

2. Movements in Literature

3. Neoclassical Period (1660-1789)

4. Neoclassicism:Aesthetic attitudes and principles based on the culture, art and literature of ancient Greece and Rome, and characterized by emphasis on form, simplicity, proportion, and restrained emotion.

5. Ancient Architecture

7. Classical References

8. The Death of Socrates 1787

11. Fashion

13. English poet Alexander Pope is known for the brilliant verse and stinging satire he wrote during the early and mid-18th century. Pope emulated the classical style of the poets of antiquity and further developed the poetic form known as the heroic couplet. He first earned fame with the work An Essay on Criticism (1711), in which he wrote the now famous line, "To err is human, to forgive divine.“

14. Jonathan Swift aimed his witty, imaginative, and often bitter satire at such subjects as politics, literature, and human society. Gulliver's Travels (1726), his masterpiece, is commonly considered a children's story, but it was originally intended as a satire on humankind.

15. Jean-Baptiste Molière (1622-1673), France's greatest comic dramatist, who produced, directed, and acted in the plays he wrote. Many of his comedies addressed serious themes and pointed the way to modern drama and experimental theater.

16. François Marie Arouet Voltaire (1694-1778), The French writer and philosopher, is considered one of the central figures of the Age of Enlightenment of the 1700s, a period which emphasized the power of human reason, science, and respect for humanity. Voltaire believed that literature should serve as a vehicle for social change. His biting satires and philosophical writings demonstrated his aversion to Christianity, intolerance, and tyranny. The expression captured in this portrait of Voltaire in 1718 hints at the sharp sense of humor with which he won the favor of 18th-century French society.

17. Madamoiselle Riviere 1805

20. Richard Mique's Temple of Love, circa 1775. Versailles, France