Explain the term ‘Augustan’. Why is
the neo-classical age called ‘Augustan’?
Answer: The term ‘Augustan’ comes from the reign of the Roman
emperor born Gaius Octavius Thurinas, who became Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (27BC
– 14AD).
The term is applied to a section of English literature
written in a period which, theoretically, imitated and embodied the ideals of
the Augustan period – allegedly a golden age of Classical Rome.
Those ideals included civic responsibility, decorum, and
self-discipline. It is important to
distinguish between ideal and practice.
The period which produced Augustan literature produced
neo-Classical styles of architecture, furnishing, and literature.
Augustan ideals of literary style were formality,
balance, clarity, and seriousness.
Satirical and political as well as other forms of writing were able to
flourish in the reign of Augustus, and they did again during the English
Augustan period. The models of the later
period were in particular Cicero, Horace and Virgil.
The Augustan period in literature can be roughly dated from the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714) to the death of Jonathan Swift in 1745. In particular, George I, the Elector of Hanover, Georg Ludwig (reigned 1714-27), was often represented in statuary and paintings in the guise of Augustus, a useful piece of political propaganda that might help to endear to the populace a king who spoke almost no English and never ceased to prefer Saxony.
