 Hello, dear learners. Welcome to today's program. I'm Dr. Pallavi Gugoy of Krishna Kanta Handik State Open University. Today, I shall take up a unit from the course English, Social and Cultural History, Rock 3 Literature, Medieval to New Classical. The unit is titled The New Classical Age, Features of the New Classical Age. Starting with a table of contents where I shall present the learning objectives followed by the introduction, features of the New Classical Age, a few questions to check your progress and the references. Come to your learning objectives. After going through this unit, you'll be able to discuss the general tendencies of the New Classical Age. To provide you with a brief introduction, based on the account mentioned in the previous video, the following list of ideas and characteristics that were shared by the authors such as John Dryden, Alexander Pope, Joseph Addison, Jonathan Swift, Dr. Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, and Edmund Burke, between 1660 and the late 1700s, may serve as an introductory idea of some of the prominent literary features of the New Classical Age. To discuss some of the features of the New Classical Age, highlighting the first feature, the authors mentioned exhibited a strong sense of traditionalism against radical innovation, which was evident from their great respect for writers of ancient Greece and Rome. The classical writers were thought to have achieved excellence and established enduring models of literary works in all the major literary genres, hence the term New Classic was used. It is from this high estimate of the literary achievements of classical antiquity that the term Classic came to be applied to any later literary work that is believed to have achieved excellence and set a standard. The next feature is literature was conceived to be primarily an art that is a set of skills which though it requires innate talents must be perfected by long study and practice and consists mainly in the deliberate adaptation of known and tested means to the achievement of foreseen ends on the audience of readers. The New Classic ideal, founded especially in Horace's Roman Arts Poetica for century BC, is the craftsman's ideal demanding finesse, correction and attention to details. So the representative New Classical writer commonly strived for correctness, stylistic decorum and established rules of art. The next feature is human beings as an integral part of a social organization regarded as the primary subject matter of literature. Poetry was held to be an imitation of human life. In a common phrase quote or quote a mirror held up to nature and by the human actions it imitates and artistic forms it gives to the imitation poetry is designed to yield both instruction and aesthetic pleasure to the people who read it. Not arts for art's sake but arts for humanity's sake became a central ideal of New Classism. The next feature is both in the subject matter and the appeal of art emphasis was placed on what human beings possess in common, representative characteristics and widely shared experiences, thoughts, feelings and tastes. True with Pope said in a much quoted passage of his essay on criticism is quote unquote what oft was thought but never so well expressed. That is the primary aim of poetry that is to give new and consummate expression to their great common places of human wisdom whose prevalence and durability are the best warrant of their importance and truth. The next feature is the New Classical writers viewed human beings as limited agents who ought to set themselves only accessible goals. Many of the great satiric and didactic works of the period vehemently attacked human pride or presumption beyond the natural limits of the species and enforce the lesson of the golden mean that is the avoidance of extremes and of humanity's need to submit to its restricted position in the cosmic order and order sometimes envisioned as a natural hierarchy or great chain of being you can read more about it. The poets admired extremely the great genres of epic and tragedy that showcased human beings limitations in the scheme of things. Now we come to our questions to check your progress starting with question number one whom did the major New Classical writers have a high regard or respect for? Question number two why was literature highly considered as art by the new classicists? Question number three state the central idea of new classicism. Question number four what was the primary aim of new classicism? Question number five briefly define the concept of the great chain of being you are recommended to go through the M English SLM titled English social and cultural history for a detailed study. Thank you dear learners.