John Bunyan ( 1628

1
John Bunyan ( 16281688 )

• Born in a tinkers family
• Became a tinker himself
• Have little education
• Joined the Parliamentary army
• Became a preacher

2
The comparison between Milton and Bunyan

• Milton
• Puritan poet
• In prison
• Wrote Paradise Lost after his blindness

• Bunyan
• Puritan writer of prose
• In prison longer than Milton
• Wrote The Pilgrims Progress in prison and
  published after his release

3
The Pilgrims Progress

• It is written in the old fashioned medieval form
  of allegory and drama.
• Plot
• A man ----a Christian pilgrim
• A book--- the Bible
• Burden--- weight of worldly and cares
  and concerns

4
????
He preaches his religious views in The Pilgrims
Progress.
5
Allegory
(style of a ) story, painting or description in
which the characters and events are meant as
symbols of purity , truth, patience, etc.
Three great allegories Spensers The Faerie
Queene Dantes La Divina Commdia (the
Divine Comedy) Bunyans The Pilgrims
Progress
6
Significance

• Gives a real picture of how life was during the
  17th century
• A faithful panoramic reflection of Bunyans age
• The most significant is his satire --- directed
  at the ruling classes.
• The use of allegory makes his satirical pictures
  less direct and more difficult to see.
• His books a religious book ?piercing exposures
  of social evils

7
Vanity Fair
Symbolic picture of London at the time
8
John Dryden (16311700)

• Born in a well-to-do Puritan family
• Received education at Cambridge
• An enthusiastic supporter of the revolution
• Changeable person

From Cromwell to Charles II
From Anglican to Roman Catholic to Puritan
9
John Drydens achievements
A prolific writer as a poet, a playwright and a
literary critic
Famous for his literary critics
Became poet laureate in 1668
The most outstanding contribution is his
literary criticism
As a poet he was known for his verse satires,
which was written in heroic couplets.
10
Heroic couplets

• A verse form widely adopted by the poets of the
  18th century. It is a pair of rhyming iambic
  pentameter lines.

11
John Drydens Works
An Essay of Dramatic Poesy
????
Form --- dialogue
Topic --- merits of English and French drama
merits of the old and the new English drama
Favor --- the neoclassical rules