(sometimes initial capital letter) Literature. of, pertaining to, or designating a style of poetry or prose, developed chiefly in the 17th and 18th centuries, rigidly adhering to canons of form that were derived mainly from classical antiquity, that were exemplified by decorum of style or diction, the three unities, etc., and that emphasized an impersonal
expression of universal truths as shown in human actions, representing them principally in satiric and didactic modes.