The second half of XVII C. was marked by bloody wars and a polemic social progress, though in the literary filed, it was not remarkably brilliant. The aesthetic and philosophic problems were transmitted through prose and verse. At that period, not only the comedy prospered and satire flourished, but also two new genres, the novel and the art of essay were being shaped.

In poetry, and previously to Romanticism, Alexander Pope introduced the idea of following nature. His most important work, El Rapto del Bucle, is characterised by an exquisite sensitivity and elegance. The creations of the visionary, eccentric, prophet and obscure poet, William Blake basically deferred f rom Pope. William Blake's works, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience clearly prefigured symbolism.

English theatre owes to John Dryden the source of the heroic drama and comedy already settled in Spain and France. The satire Adsalom and Achitophel is one of the best works in English language. Following John Dryden other dramatists emerged: Thomas Otway was the creator of sentimental drama through his convincing presentation of human emotions, obtained a great success with his Venice Preserved that in an Elizabethan style ends with an furious bloody bath.

William Wycherley, the author of The Plain Dealer, and William Congreve with his The Way of the World.

In the philosophic field, John Locke had a privileged place; the clarity of his thoughts is excellently reflected in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Letter Concerning Toleration, where the author opposes to the notion of divine right.

In prose, the most memorable authors are John Evelyn, Samuel Pepys, whose personal diaries, full of freshness and wittiness, offered precious material for the pre-romantic novelists. John Bunyan contributed with his spiritual autobiography Grace Abounding and an allegoric vision of life, The Pilgrim's Progress.

Jonathan Swift was the master of satire. His early works were The Battle of the Books, upholding the superiority of the ancients to the moderns, and Tale of a Tub, a satire on religious excesses. He became a hero to the Irish with his Drapier's Letters (1724) and the savage Modest Proposal (1729), in which he ironically advocated the breeding of Irish babies to be fed to the rich as a means of reducing Ireland's poverty. His masterpiece is Gulliver's Travels (1726), a ruthless satire on human folly and 18th C. England.

Richard Steele and Joseph Addison wrote with the aim of improving manners and morals, and attempted to popularise serious ideas on science and ethics while also entertaining their readers. Their goal, they declared, was "to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality." Richard Steele, author of interesting and amusing comedies such as The Funeral, The Lying Lover and The Tender Husband, inspired Fielding and Goldsmith.

Joseph Addison attempted in poetry in his epic Campaign, plus two extremely long prose works, Remarks on Italy and Dialogues upon the Usefulness of Ancient Medals, though works of exhausting reading.

Historically, literary works of the 17th C. and 18th C. are more liberal, expansionist, and in many ways, more outward looking, and it is also a more tolerant era. Novels inevitably seem to invite the protagonist to leap beyond him and to create a broader, less ethno or egocentric world view, like in Robinson Crusoe and Don Quijote.

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