The Enlightenment movement was one with an emphasis on the importance of reason and logic, and of gaining this through personal experience rather than only from what others have told. As William Wordsworth wrote in his poem The Tables Turned, "Up! Up! My friend, and leave your books". Instead of gaining knowledge through others, experience it personally.
Wisdom Through Experience
The poem goes on to say "come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher". Wordsworth is explaining that there is more to be learnt than that which can be found in books and that there is more "wisdom" in learning things through experience. John Locke also wrote of this idea of empiricism, that knowledge can only come from experience, in his work An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.
Enlightenment writing questions learning from an experienced and knowledgeable mind, perhaps to teach others what they already know, or to inspire them to seek true knowledge for themselves.
There are conflicting opinions on this search for true knowledge, as illustrated when Stanley Rosen writes of "light so bright one cannot see anything", and Denis Diderot that "man is born to think for himself". These two frames of mind are evident in Enlightenment writing.
Accessible Knowledge
The writing in this time period covered a range of genres such as epic, mock epic, satirical pamphlets and so forth, and was attempted by a large number of writers. This is due in part to the Civil War in Britain, which led to a desire amongst the British public to be kept up-to-date with the news and to be more literary conscious, in turn leading to a rise in the number of writers who wished to air their views through publication.
Some writers thought that the desire to learn more about mankind and the world around us was useless and unimportant. Another would believe that it was a valid and necessary part of human life, to question what we know or could know, and to pose queries to what has been told as true knowledge by trying to learn through personal experience, rather than, for example, what the Bible has told as truth.
Optimism and Satire
There are a number of light-hearted storylines running through some of the texts written during this period, but most of these are satirical and make a comment about society and the world we live in. Writers such as Swift often used satirical pamphlets and these were to highlight problems.
Wit was also highly thought of in the 18th century, with intellectual sharpness being of strong merit. Examples of this are The Lady’s Dressing Room and Pope’s mock epic The Rape of the Lock.
Milton's Paradise Lost is the tale of humanity’s plunge into mortality, illness, tragedy, and so on, from their previous immortal paradise in their ignorance. In comparison, Voltaire's Candide is a story of unabashed optimism in the face of all misery, believing that "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds". These two texts illustrate the opposing views of the benefits of personal experience to gain knowledge.
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