Restoration literature is the
English literature written during the historical period commonly referred to as the
English Restoration (1660–1689), which corresponds to the last years of the direct
Stuart reign in England, Scotland,
Wales, and Ireland. In general, the term is used to denote roughly homogeneous styles of literature that center on a celebration of or reaction to the restored court of
Charles II. It is a literature that includes extremes, for it encompasses both
Paradise Lost and the
Earl of Rochester's
Sodom, the high-spirited
sexual comedy of
The Country Wife and the moral wisdom of
The Pilgrim's Progress. It saw
Locke's
Treatises of Government, the founding of the
Royal Society, the experiments and holy meditations of
Robert Boyle, the hysterical attacks on theaters from
Jeremy Collier, and the pioneering of
literary criticism from
John Dryden and
John Dennis. The period witnessed news become a commodity, the
essay developed into a periodical art form, and the beginnings of
textual criticism.