Breif explanation about richard steele's the spectator club essay
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The styles of Addison and Steele were actuated, to a great extent, by the temper of the times. After 1688 the middle class in England rose to positions of power in the state and made its influence felt among all classes, Merchants, financiers, and statesmen became -more cultured and had much time for leisure. The new era aimed at compromise between the aristocratic temper of moral freedom of the Restoration period and the Puritan spirit, which the excesses of the commonwealth had brought into repute; it was the task of Addison and Steele to reconcile the opposite tendencies. This task was effected psychologically through the stylistic genius of the competent essayists, who through their personal distinction and delicate tact were able to bring about synthesis.
Middle class patrons frequented the coffeehouses with other members of London society, and it was there that public opinion was formed and to the coffee house group that successful writer must make his appeal. Early eighteenth century literature, to certain extent, was reactionary to the coarse, licentious literature, of the preceding period; the works were extra ordinarily chaste in expression and highly polished; the classical school demanded restraint and correctness and was generally inspired by Latin review of the writings of the period shows fondness for moralism and an undisguised didactic trend. In the main, the styles utilized by Addison and Steele were in accord with literary trends. Various classes found equal enjoyment in the Spectator, for there is the polished speech, conventional restraint, philosophic reasoning, and classical influence of Addison that appealed to the refined classic taste of all England; there is the sentiment, family affection, and homely expression of Steele that brought the simple joys of sadness, regret, and memory to people that for generations had known only empty chivalry, cynicism, and libertinage.