Understanding 18th Century British Literature
Main Idea To truly understand the literature produced in the eighteenth century England one must understand the influence of the English social class, how class affects English society, and how society affected English literature. English Society Entering into the eighteenth-century, England's most significant characteristic was the change in power from the upper class and the new middle class. The leading contributor to this change came from the large increase of people that could read and write. Social classes were no longer separated by only the high society being able to read and write, but now more common people became literate. This new middle class would prove to be an essential time for literature, as the middle class emerged with a hunger for literature, and with the growth of middle-class people could afford to educa te themselves and obtain different books and other literature besides just the standard bible. The influence that social class had over eighteenth-cent