Addison and Steele - Part C

  • Write an essay on Addison's prose style. [NU. 2019]

/Write a short essay on Addison’s literary style.

/Bring out the salient features of Addison’s prose style.

/Comment on Addison's prose style after Sir Roger at Church. 

Joseph Addison is one of the greatest essayists of the 18th century. He is also known as a poet, playwright, and politician. He was the pioneer of a style that was very simple, lucid, natural, moderate, free from extravagant expression.

Addison founded The Spectator magazine along with his friend Richard Steele in 1711. As a critic, he comments or writes about the manners and morals of society.  Sir Roger at Church is one of his great essays.

The most striking feature of Addison’s style is clearness and lucidity of expression. There is no complexity or obscurity or difficulty in his expression. Even his long sentences are not difficult to understand. We can guess the meaning of his long sentences very clearly. Addison has also used short sentences. For example, ‘As soon as the sermon is finished, nobody presumes to stir till Sir Roger is gone out of the Church.’

Humour is one of the most notable qualities of Addison's style. His humour is mainly ironical and satirical and sometimes funny. It is not harsh or bitter but gentle and mild with a view to correcting the society. For example, Sir Roger is the landlord to the whole congregation at the church because all of those who constitute the congregation are his tenants. He kept the parishioners in good order in the church. He himself did not sleep in the church and allowed nobody to sleep there. If he saw anybody nodding, whether it was in the middle of the congregation or not, he himself woke that person or sent his servants to wake him up.

Addison's style is not highly figurative. Fanciful similes and metaphors are not found in his writings. His essays contain allusions and references. Many of his essays have quotations from modern or classical authors. Sir Roger at Church begins with the motto of Pythagoras – 

“First, in obedience to thy country's rites,

Worship the Immortal God.”

Addison employs conversational language in place of formal language. His prose style is somewhere between informal and formal language, free from formalism. Dr. Johnson pays a high tribute to his prose style. According to Johnson, "His prose is the model of the middle style".


From the above discussion, we can say that Addison showed a perfect English prose style. He brought clarity and fluency of expression to English prose style. He is known to have mastered the art of blending humor and satire. Many critics praise his humour because his essays highlighted fashion, social manners, and superstitions.