Embodying major ideas such as scepticism upon the monarchy, the pursuit of scientific knowledge through reason, and accepting each person as an individual, the Age of Enlightenment which occupied the better part of the 17th and 18th centuries was a period of intellectual and cultural growth in Europe that gave birth to writers and poets who would produce works which are concerned with the exploring of the human condition, the nature of society, and questioning concepts like authority and tradition; people who later would go on to define their era from a literary perspective as well. Among other nations, England too was affected by the spirit of this period, its society in time embracing scientific reasoning, empiricism and most importantly the changing preference of upholding logic and observation over traditional authority.

However, these seemingly benign improvements brought with them concerning changes to societal daily interactions, namely the dominance of the church, a rigid social hierarchy and the lack of social mobility which crippled the growing middle class; directly going against the period’s accepted beliefs which emphasized equity and freedom. This led to the literature of time diverting its focus on the traditions of vanity, unquestioned rulers, and the corruption of society, as authors sought to expose the flaws and injustices of their contemporary world through their works.

Representing three different genres and authors from England, John Dryden, Jonathan Swift, and Samuel Richardson and their respective works Mac Flecknoe, A Modest Proposal, and Pamela are good exemplars for the key areas of focus in Augustan Literature. While each work details and/or criticizes the society they are born from, they each approach it from a differing angle; with Dryden’s Mac Flecknoe mocking the literary pretentiousness, A Modest Proposal satirizing the political and economic attitude shown by the English to the people of Ireland, and Pamela hanging on to the slowly deteriorating understanding of female chastity; all of them expanding and recording into history the deeds and thoughts of their time.

Delving in deeper, John Dryden’s Mac Flecknoe is a mock epic poem where the contemporary poet Thomas Shadwell is heavily criticized with the help of mythological, historical and biblical allusions. A king is described who selects Shadwell as he resembles his dullness most, with later sections of the poem taking Shadwell through a ceremony of coronation where he’s made king of “nonsense”. Moving onwards to the much-respected work of the great satirist Jonathan Swift’s prose satire work A Modest Proposal, he begins his argument with a description of the ravaged streets and population of Ireland. He then expands to how nourishing children to working age is detrimental to this society, and that with the right calculation and accommodations, it is much better for the greater good to have Irish parents sell their children as they would cattle to contribute their part on their overlords’ tables. Samuel Richardson’s Pamela on the other hand pales in comparison to the horrifying graphic displays department, his work rather focusing on the story of a 15-year-old maidservant named Pamela Andrews who resists the advances of her wealthy master. The novel is composed of a series of letters, thus determining the work’s genre as an epistolary novel.

In conclusion, these works show the social, political, and cultural landscape of England during the Enlightenment period; revealing both its virtues and flaws with each writer shedding light on different facets of English society. Despite their differences, these works all reflect the key principles of the Enlightenment, demonstrating how literature can serve not only as a form of entertainment but also as a powerful tool for critiquing and shaping the world.