Which type of poem was most popular during the mid-eighteenth century, at the height of the neoclassical era?

Many critics believe that most the eighteenth-century was not a great age for English poetry. They suggest that the verse is second rate or inferior when compared to the verse of other eras. The poetry of this time, however has a distinct identity. It offers distinctive styles, themes, and theories. "On the whole, the literature of this period is chiefly a literature of wit, concerned with civilization and social relationships, and consequently, it is critical and in some degree moral or satiric" (Monk 1778).

Many different styles of poetry were used during this time period. Much eighteenth-century poetry is described as neoclassical. This was the major style used throughout the century. Writers used particular vocabulary, phrase formations, technical terms, and archaisms. John Dryden popularized this style in his late seventeenth-century poetry. Eighteenth-century poetry has an ". . . anomalous style . . . in which descriptive words, especially adjectives, verbs turned into adjectives, and long periodic passages of description predominate; action is at a minimum; wit and irony disappear" (Quintana 16). Other poetic styles made use of blank-verse, humanistic themes, odes, allegorical imagery, and descriptive styles.



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