"Thinking Activity"
The Puritan and Restoration Age
After completing the unit of Renaissance to Restoration literature our Prof. Dr. Dilip Barad sir gave us a task as our thinking activity. This blog is a response for that.
So friend in this blog I would like to write about John Dryden, John Bunyan and their works.
John Dryden(1631-1700)
Dryden is the greatest literary figure of the restoration, and in his work we have an excellent reflection of both the good and the evil tendencies of the age in which he lived.
John Dryden was an English poet, critic, and playwright active in the second half of the 17th century. Over the span of nearly 40 years, he dabbled in a wide range of genres to great success and acclaim. As a poet, Dryden is best known as a satirist and was England's first poet laureate in 1668. In addition to satires, Dryden wrote elegies, prologues, epilogues, odes, and panegyrics. His most famous poem is ‘Absalom and Achitophel’ (1681). Dryden was so influential in Restoration England that the period was known to many as the Age of Dryden.
His Early Life:
Dryden lived in the nearby village of Titchmarsh where he received his early education. In 1644, as a King’s scholar, he was sent to Westminster School where he learned the discipline of his life. This school had a basic focus on different religious and political spirit. They also encouraged Royalism.
Dryden was born in the village of the rectory of Aldminkle in Northamptonshire. At that place, his grandfather was rector of all Saints. His father’s name was Erasmus Dryden and he was the eldest of 14 children. His mother’s name was Mary Pickering. They also supported the Puritan cause in the Parliament. His headmaster in the school of Westminster was a charismatic teacher. But he always respected the headmaster and also he sent his two sons to the same school.
After his schooling, In 1650, he was admitted to a college in Cambridge known as Trinity College. It was also influenced by religious and political ethics which he attained in his early childhood. Again, he was taught by a Puritan Prasher whose name was Thomas Hill who was also the Masters of Trinity. He followed the curriculum related to rhetoric, classic and Mathematics. By God’s Grace, he graduated as a top of the list for Trinity that year 1654 and got his degree. But there was a tragedy in his family which left them hopeless.
His life was changed when he published his first poem which was important to him, named as Heroic Stanza in 1658. It was about Cromwell’s death and he wrote in an emotional manner. Restoration of Monarchy was done in 1660 and Dryden celebrated that with the Return of Charles II with Astraea Redux who was an authentic royalist panegyric. In his writing, Charles plays a very important role as a restorer of peace and order in the country. This was a kind of start to his professional career.
After that, he was known as one of the most leading and literary critics of all time and he established himself as the allegiances to the new Government. He was the first one to welcome the new regime with two more panegyrics whose name was not disclosed yet. But according to his works, it has been seen that he worked with Astraea and Redux. They were working on his sacred Majesty which was a Panegyrics on his coronation in 1662 and to my Lord Chancellor in 1662 also. He wrote these just to increase the reading public at that point in time. He did not write for the aristocracy and also not for the publishers. They were known all around the nation for his writings because they did not write for themselves. Dryden also played an important role in the Royal Society, where he took membership and was highly obliged but due to non-payment of his dues, he was expelled because of his inactiveness in 1666.
On 1st December 1663, Dryden was married to Lady Elizabeth. He liked her so much that was shown in his writings also.
There was a major change in the society after 1660 when there was reopening of the theatres. Dryden also participated in theatres by writing plays. In 1663, his first play was introduced which was known as ‘The Wild Gallant’ which failed at that time. But his name came into the picture and he started writing three plays in a row for the King’s Company. By producing them, he became a very famous shareholder of that company.
Satiric Verse also gave him so much success. Some of them are, Mac Flecknoe, Absalom and Achitophel, Medal in 1682, Religio Laici in 1682, The Hind and the Panther, etc. After this novel, he was converted to Roman Catholicism. He was also a translator as a profession and made great literary works in other languages as well. When he died on 12th May 1700, he gave tears to British Muses because they lost a gem. He was buried near Chaucer in Westminster Abbey.. He was a famous literary figure and influencer for all the people in the same field.
Works of Dryden:
Annus Mirabilis:
Annus Mirabilis is a poem written by John Dryden and published in 1667. It commemorates the year 1666, which despite the poem's name 'year of wonders' was one of great tragedy, involving both the Plague and the Great Fire of London. Samuel Johnson wrote that Dryden used the phrase 'annus mirabilis' because it was a wonder that things were not worse.
The poem contains over 1200 lines of verse divided into 304 quatrains. Each line is ten syllables long, with an 'ABAB' rhyming scheme, a pattern known as a decasyllabic quatrain.
Dryden's poem narrates the events of the Great Fire of London, from its beginning at night in the bakery on Pudding Lane, to its final extinguishment after king Charles II ordered houses to be torn down or blown up with gunpowder to create 'fire breaks' which prevent the flames from spreading.
The great Fire of London raged from Sunday 2 September to Wednesday 5 September 1666, and destroyed the homes of up to 70,000 inhabitants of the city. The death toll traditionally was thought to be small, with only six deaths recorded. This may, however, be a consequence of the social hierarchy of the time, and deaths of poor Londoners may have gone unnoticed and unrecorded.
All for Love; or, the World Well Lost, is a 1677 Heroic Drama by John Dryden which is now his best-known and most performed play. It is a tragedy written in blank verse and is an attempt on Dryden's part to reinvigorate serious drama. It is an acknowledged imitation of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra , and focuses on the last hours of the lives of its hero and heroine
click here to know more about this play.
Religio Laici:
Religio Laici, Or A Layman's Faith (1682) is a poem written in heroic couplets by John Dryden. It was written in response to the publication of an English translation of the Histoire critique due vieux testament by the French cleric Father Richard Simon.
The appearance in 1682 of Religio Laici; or, A Layman’s Faith coincided with the appearance of plots to assassinate the king. The poem was essentially a literary defense of the Protestant Anglican Church against arguments made by Deists, Catholics and Dissenting opinions. Essentially, Dryden was using Religio Laici to proclaim his support of the Church of England as the one true church of England. At the same time, in true Dryden fashion, the poem also works as sharp satire cutting with precision through what he considered the absolute absence of reason among those who would dissent to the view.
The Hind and The Panther:
The Hind and the Panther is a long poem in three parts totaling 2,592 lines. In this poem, John Dryden employs his favorite verse form, the heroic couplet. Taken as a whole, The Hind and the Panther is an allegorical and argumentative treatment of the religious conflicts that took place in England during the reign of King James II. More specifically, the poem is a defense of the Catholic faith and of Dryden’s conversion to Catholicism in 1685. The hind of the poem’s title is an allegorical deer representing the Catholic church, while the panther represents the Anglican church.
Absalom and Achitophel:
Click here for the original poem.
Absalom and Achitophel , verse satire by English poet John Dryden published in 1681. The poem, which is written in heroic couplet is about the Exclusion crisis, a contemporary episode in which anti-Catholics, notably the earl of Shaftesbury, sought to bar James, duke of York, a Roman Catholic convert and brother to King Charles II, from the line of succession in favour of the king’s illegitimate (but Protestant) son, the duke of Monmouth. Dryden based his work on a biblical incident recorded in 2 Samuel 13–19. These chapters relate the story of King David’s favourite son Absalom and his false friend Achitophel, who persuades Absalom to revolt against his father. In his poem, Dryden assigns each figure in the crisis a biblical name; e.g., Absalom is Monmouth, Achitophel is Shaftesbury, and David is Charles II. Despite the strong anti-Catholic tenor of the times, Dryden’s clear and persuasive dissection of the intriguers’ motives helped to preserve the duke of York’s position
Prose/Criticism of John Dryden:
“The Preface to the Fables”
“Of Heroic Plays”
“Discourse on Satire”
“Essay of Dramatic Poesy”
John Dryden (1631–1700) occupies a seminal place in English critical history. Samuel Johnson called him “the father of English criticism,” and affirmed of his ‘Essay of Dramatic Poesy’(1668) that “modern English prose begins here.” Dryden’s critical work was extensive, treating of various genres such as epic, tragedy, comedy and dramatic theory, satire, the relative virtues of ancient and modern writers, as well as the nature of poetry and translation. In addition to the Essay he wrote numerous prefaces, reviews, and prologues, which together set the stage for later poetic and critical developments embodied in writers such as Pope, Johnson, Matthew Arnold, and T.S.Eliot.
His Influence on Literature:
The establishment of the heroic couplet as a fashion.
His development of direct, serviceable prose style
His development of literary criticism in his essays and in the numerous prefaces to his poems.
John Bunyan(1628-1688)
As there is but one great enough to express a Puritan spirit, so there is one commanding prose writer, John Bunyan. Milton was the child of Renaissance inheritor of all its culture and educated man but Bunyan was poor and uneducated tinker
Bunyan is an extraordinary figure ,we must study him as well as his books. He was born in the village of Elstow near Bedford in 1628,the son of a poor tinker.
With a Banyan’s marriage to a good woman the real reformation in his life began. Bunyan’s life is an epitome of that astonishing religious individualism which marked the close of the English reformation .It is a tribute to his power that after the return of Charles II, Bunyan was the first to be prohibited from holding public meetings.
His works:
Pilgrim’s Progress:
The publication of “Pilgrim’s Progress” in 1678 made him most popular writer, as he was the most popular writer ,the most popular preacher .As for the secret of its popularity Taine says, ”Next to the Bible" the book most widely read in England is the “Pilgrim’s Progress”.
The Pilgrim’s Progress tells the story of Christian and his journey from The City of Destruction (representing earth) to the Celestial City (representing heaven). Along the way he meets characters such as Pliable, Obstinate and Hopeful who, as their names suggest, embody particular qualities that may help or hinder a Christian in his or her journey to heaven. The work’s language is permeated by that of the King James Bible, which Bunyan mixes with the colloquial language of his day. In applying the idea of the voyage/quest narrative to a spiritual subject.
The Holy War:
The Holy War, allegory by John Bunyan, published in 1682. It unfolds the story of the town of Mansoul, which is besieged by the hosts of the devil, is relieved by the army of Emanuel, and is later undermined by further diabolic attacks and plots against his rule. The metaphor works on several levels; it represents the conversion and backslidings of the individual soul, as well as the story of humanity from the Fall to the Redemption and the Last Judgement. There is even a more precise historical level of allegory related to the persecution of Nonconformists under Charles II. While its epic structure is carefully wrought, it is lacking in the spontaneous inward note of Pilgrim's Progress.
Grace Abounding to The Chief of Sinners:
‘Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners’ is one of the great classic autobiographies, part of the Christian tradition of testimony from The Confessions of St. Augustine to Corrie Ten Boom's The Hiding Place. In Grace Abounding, John Bunyan , the author of Pilgrim's Progress, describes his conviction of sin, his struggles against unbelief, his entrance into the meaning and comfort of the Holy Scriptures, and much more.
The Life and The Death of Mr.Badman:
His ‘The Life And The Death of Mr.Badman’ (1680) is more like a realistic novel than an allegory in its portrait of the unrelievedly evil and unrepentant tradesman Mr.Badman. The book gives an insight into the problems of money and marriage when the Puritans were settling down after the age of persecution and beginning to find their social role as an urban middle class.
In 1686 second part of “Pilgrim’s Progress”, showing the journey of Christiana and her children to the city of All Delight.
Word counts:2324
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