Augustan poetry

Style of 18th century British poetry In English literature, Augustan poetry is a branch of Augustan literature, and refers to the poetry of the 18th century, specifically the first half of the century. The term comes most originally from a term that George I had used for himself. He saw himself as an Augustus. Therefore, the British poets picked up that term as a way of referring to their endeavours, for it fitted in another respect: 18th-century English poetry was political, satirical, and marked by the central philosophical problem of whether the individual or society took precedence as the subject of the verse. Overview In the British literary period known as the 'Augustan era,' poets were more conversant with each other's writings than were the contemporary novelists (see Augustan prose). They wrote in counterpoint, directly expanding each other's works, and using satire to heighten their oppositional voices. In the early part of the century, there was a great struggle over the nature and role of the pastoral, primarily between Ambrose Philips and Alexander Pope, and then between their followers, but such a controversy was only possible because of two simultaneous literary move