CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CLASSICAL SCHOOL OF POETRY

In the eighteenth century English poets took a task of studying ancient authors
especially Horace. The study was to find out how poetry should be written. Having discovered
the rules of composition, they insisted following such rules rather than individual genius or
inspiration. In order to understand the works of the Augustans and their latter followers and their
various reactions against their influence, it was important to analyze the salient features of
classical school of poetry.

Classical poetry was the product of the intelligence playing upon the surface of
life. There was no importance given to emotion and imagination. It was commonly didactic and
satiric. It was poetry of argument and criticism of politics and personalities. It was exclusively a
“town poetry” made out of the interest of the society, neglecting the common aspects of life and
it showed no real love of nature, landscape or country things and people. Having its distrust of
the emotions, it lacked ‘romance’ dimension. On the other hand it encouraged reason and good
sense. They were unsympathetic as a result, towards the older masters of literature like Chaucer,
Spenser and even Shakespeare. Especially they were hostile to everything that belongs to the
middle Ages. The critical antagonism towards romantic literature and art could be witnessed in
their writings.

The extreme devotion to form and a love of superficial polish resulted to the
establishment of a highly artificial and conventional style. Even for the common subjects they
used grandiloquent phrases and pompous circumlocutions, in order to get plain and direct
expressions. Thus simplicity and naturalness disappeared in the writings. Their writings were
filled with gaudiness and inane phraseology which was later protested by Wordsworth. This style
was also adopted in the translations. For instance, while translating, “God rest his soul”, they
used, “Eternal blessings on his shade attend”. By doing so, they were in the perception that they
had converted the vulgar colloquialism into a beautiful poetry.

Classical poetry stuck firmly in the closed couplet as the only possible form for
serious work in poetry. The epigrammatic terseness in this form was found suitable to the kind of
poetry that was then popular. Later the use of classical couplet in poetry become monotonous
and it was found too narrow and inflexible for strong imagination.