The Augustan Movement Analysis
The Augustan era in English poetry is noted for its fondness for wit, culture, and
conventional forms and values. Named for the Augustan period the English
Augustans both translated and modeled their own verse after poets. This period
is marked by the end of the Restoration era at its beginning, approximately
1690, until around 1744. The Augustans were eventually overshadowed by the
growth of English Romanticism. Practitioners of Augustan models included John
Dryden, John Gay, Jonathan Swift, and Samuel Johnson. These poets are famous for their long verse narratives or mock epics. Prime examples include The Rape of
the Lock by Pope and MacFlecknoe by Dryden. These poems take features found in classical epics and apply them to minor subjects. Dryden was a master of the couplet (lines of iambic pentameter that rhyme in pairs, as in the quotation above).
conventional forms and values. Named for the Augustan period the English
Augustans both translated and modeled their own verse after poets. This period
is marked by the end of the Restoration era at its beginning, approximately
1690, until around 1744. The Augustans were eventually overshadowed by the
growth of English Romanticism. Practitioners of Augustan models included John
Dryden, John Gay, Jonathan Swift, and Samuel Johnson. These poets are famous for their long verse narratives or mock epics. Prime examples include The Rape of
the Lock by Pope and MacFlecknoe by Dryden. These poems take features found in classical epics and apply them to minor subjects. Dryden was a master of the couplet (lines of iambic pentameter that rhyme in pairs, as in the quotation above).