THE AUGUSTAN AGE IN ENGLISH LITERATURE: ALEXANDER POPE’S SATIRICAL STYLE AND SOCIAL CRITICISM
Keywords:
Augustan Age, Alexander Pope, Satire, Mock-Epic, Heroic Couplet, Social Criticism, Vanity, Order.Abstract
This article is devoted to the Augustan Age (the first half of the eighteenth
century) in English literature and to the social criticism and satirical style of its
central poet, Alexander Pope. Augustan literature sought to reflect ideals of reason,
order, and civic virtue. Pope, the most influential poet of this period, perfected the
“Heroic Couplet” and used satire to expose the vanity, superficiality, and moral
corruption of his society. In The Rape of the Lock, he mocks the aristocratic class
for giving excessive importance to trivial matters, creating one of the finest examples
of the mock-epic genre. Through his works, Pope defends the principles of order and
rationality while offering moral instruction against the artificiality and frivolity of
his age.
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