On the death of Oliver Cromwell （in 1658） plays were no longer prohibited. A new kind of comic drama， dealing with issues of sexual politics among the wealthy and the bourgeois， arose. This is Restoration Comedy， and the style developed well beyond the restoration period into the mid 18th century almost. The total number of plays performed is vast， and many lack real merit， but the best drama uses the restoration conventions for a serious examination of contemporary morality. A play which exemplifies this well is The Country Wife by William Wycherley （1640-1716）。
Prose fiction and the novel
Jonathan Swift （1667-1745）， wrote satires in verse and prose. He is best-known for the extended prose work Gulliver's Travels， in which a fantastic account of a series of travels is the vehicle for satirizing familiar English institutions， such as religion， politics and law. Another writer who uses prose fiction， this time much more naturalistic， to explore other questions of politics or economics is Daniel Defoe （1661-1731）， author of Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders.
The first English novel is generally accepted to be Pamela （1740）， by Samuel Richardson （1689-1761）： this novel takes the form of a series of letters； Pamela， a virtuous housemaid resists the advances of her rich employer， who eventually marries her. Richardson's work was almost at once satirized by Henry Fielding （1707-1754） in Joseph Andrews （Joseph is depicted as the brother of Richardson's Pamela Andrews） and Tom Jones.
After Fielding， the novel is dominated by the two great figures of Sir Walter Scott （1771-1832） and Jane Austen （1775-1817）， who typify， respectively， the new regional， historical romanticism and the established， urbane classical views.
Novels depicting extreme behaviour， madness or cruelty， often in historically remote or exotic settings are called Gothic. They are ridiculed by Austen in Northanger Abbey but include one undisputed masterpiece， Frankenstein， by Mary Shelley （1797-1851）。
Romanticism
The rise of Romanticism
A movement in philosophy but especially in literature， romanticism is the revolt of the senses or passions against the intellect and of the individual against the consensus. Its first stirrings may be seen in the work of William Blake （1757-1827）， and in continental writers such as the Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the German playwrights Johann Christoph Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
The publication， in 1798， by the poets William Wordsworth （1770-1850） and Samuel Taylor Coleridge （1772-1834） of a volume entitled Lyrical Ballads is a significant event in English literary history， though the poems were poorly received and few books sold. The elegant latinisms of Gray are dropped in favour of a kind of English closer to that spoken by real people （supposedly）。 Actually， the attempts to render the speech of ordinary people are not wholly convincing. Robert Burns （1759 1796） writes lyric verse in the dialect of lowland Scots （a variety of English）。 After Shakespeare， Burns is perhaps the most often quoted of writers in English： we sing his Auld Lang Syne every New Year's Eve.
Later Romanticism
The work of the later romantics John Keats （1795-1821） and his friend Percy Bysshe Shelley （1792-1822； husband of Mary Shelley） is marked by an attempt to make language beautiful， and by an interest in remote history and exotic places. George Gordon， Lord Byron （1788-1824） uses romantic themes， sometimes comically， to explain contemporary events. Romanticism begins as a revolt against established views， but eventually becomes the established outlook. Wordsworth becomes a kind of national monument， while the Victorians make what was at first revolutionary seem familiar， domestic and sentimental.
Victorian poetry
The major poets of the Victorian era are Alfred， Lord Tennyson （1809-1892） and Robert Browning （1812-1889）。 Both are prolific and varied， and their work defies easy classification. Tennyson makes extensive use of classical myth and Arthurian legend， and has been praised for the beautiful and musical qualities of his writing.
Browning's chief interest is in people； he uses blank verse in writing dramatic monologues in which the speaker achieves a kind of self-portraiture： his subjects are both historical individuals （Fra Lippo Lippi， Andrea del Sarto） and representative types or caricatures （Mr. Sludge the Medium）。
Other Victorian poets of note include Browning's wife， Elizabeth Barrett Browning （1806-1861） and Christina Rossetti （1830-1894）。 Gerard Manley Hopkins （1844-1889） is notable for his use of what he calls "sprung rhythm"； as in Old English verse syllables are not counted， but there is a pattern of stresses. Hopkins' work was not well-known until very long after his death.
