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18th Century English Literary Culture

English coffeehouses in the 17th-18th centuries were public social places where men discussed politics, gossip, science, and literature. They served as alternative spaces to universities for intellectual discussion during the Enlightenment. Political groups and writers frequently used coffeehouses as meeting places to discuss and judge new plays and poems. The coffeehouse helped theater culture develop and introduced new types of literature to society through discussions between established and newcomer writers.

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Madakari Nayaka
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298 views6 pages

18th Century English Literary Culture

English coffeehouses in the 17th-18th centuries were public social places where men discussed politics, gossip, science, and literature. They served as alternative spaces to universities for intellectual discussion during the Enlightenment. Political groups and writers frequently used coffeehouses as meeting places to discuss and judge new plays and poems. The coffeehouse helped theater culture develop and introduced new types of literature to society through discussions between established and newcomer writers.

Uploaded by

Madakari Nayaka
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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18th century English Literary culture

English coffeehouses in the 17th and 18th


centuries were public social places where men
would meet for conversation and commerce. For
the price of a penny, customers purchased a cup
of coffee and admission. Travellers introduced
coffee as a beverage to England during the mid-
17th century; previously it had been consumed
mainly for its supposed medicinal properties.
Coffeehouses also served tea and hot chocolate as
well as a light meal.
Continue
• Topics discussed included politics and political
scandals, daily gossip, fashion, current events,
and debates surrounding philosophy and
the natural sciences. Historians often associate
English coffeehouses, during the 17th and 18th
centuries, with the intellectual and cultural
history of the Age of Enlightenment: they were
an alternate sphere, supplementary to the
university. Political groups frequently used
coffeehouses as meeting places.
Continue
• Before the restoration of the crown, theaters were banned
throughout England and coffeehouses became the natural
outlet (you can learn more about the English Civil War in
the Politics Involved page).  The coffeehouse became a place
that helped the theater sustain itself.  Theater was related to
literature because it not only brought writers and authors
into the coffeehouse, but kept their works alive.  After the
theaters reopened, the coffeehouses began to develop their
own type of audience to productions held there.  Largely
because of their exclusionary rules (mostly excluding
women), the types of works were "discursive, critical and
sober" (Ellis, viii).  The new type of work brought with it new
people who specialized in this type if literature or poetry.  
Continue

• The coffeehouse turned into a place of wits and


satires that was largely attended by poets and
playwrights.  An example of this is Will's
Coffeehouse which hosted meetings by the most
famous poets and playwrights of the age including
"William Wycherly, Thomas Southerne...Nicholas
Rowe, George Etherege, William Walsh," and a
few others (Ellis, viii).  The group would meet and
socially discuss literature and also play a role in
"judgement on all the new plays and poems
produced or published in London 
Continue
• These poets and playwrights both intellectually
discussed works of art, but had strong opinions
of works being introduced to the public.  The
coffeehouse was able to create a sphere where
new literature could be introduced to society,
more specifically, the intellectuals could critique
them.  It was a unique place where established
writers and newcomer's work could interact.
Continue

• Other features of the comedy include: "populated


by characters recognisable from everyday life...and
spoken in normal speech“.  Coffeehouses are so
frequently the place of settings in place because
they were a space "where disparate people can be
observed, and satirised, together" .  The usage of a
coffeehouse as a setting speaks to the universality
it had.  Everyone was familiar with a coffeehouse
and the type of people who would typically
frequent it.  It was a way to criticize their own
society in an indirect way. 

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