The Edges of Augustanism pp 9-13 | Cite as
The Critical Heritage
Abstract
Thomas Ken, born in 1637, was a contemporary of Traherne (b.1637) and Dryden (b.1631). This generation, coming to age just before the Restoration, is situated at a strategic moment in English cultural history. The old habits of intellectual liberty and aesthetic licence have yet to be controlled and refined under the new dispensation of Anglican and Neoclassical settlement. While Dryden heroically welcomed the new dispensation, contributing largely to its definition, and while Traherne sublimated the old freedoms and fancies into a striking, if anachronistic, personal vision, Ken did a bit of both. Ken is equally at home writing a Caroline devotional lyric or turning his hand to Restoration Hudibrastic satire. One edge of Augustanism can thus be examined in his work.
Keywords
English Poetry Personal Vision Poetical Work Qualified Appreciation Prose StylePreview
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References
- T. S. Eliot, Selected Essays (London: Faber and Faber, 1934), p. 293.Google Scholar
- Bowles, Life of Ken (1830), II, 290–300. Quoted in Plumptre, II, 232–3.Google Scholar
- John Keble, “Sacred Poetry,” The Quarterly Review, XXXII–(1825), 217.Google Scholar