History of Puritan and Restoration Age

The history of puritan and Restoration age

This blog is in response to the task assigned by dr. barad sir. In this blog I am going to discuss some important general characteristics of literature of these ages.

Introduction-

Puritan Age-

puritan age is also called age of milton.

This age is divided in two sub periods-

-  jecobean (james 1 1603-1625)

- caroline period (charles 1625-1649)

The puritan age is named after the rise of the puritan movement in England in the 17 th century. Basically puritans, were a group of English speaking protestant who were dissatisfied with the religious reformation movement carried out during the  reign of queen elizabeth.

They wanted a couplete purification of church of England and removal 

of practices such as hierarchical leadership, clerical vestments and various rituals of the church, which were associated with rome.

The puritans emerged as a strong political force during the england war(1642-1651). In that time the English civil war was a series of conflicts between Charles 1 and his supporters called the  cavaliers on the one hand, and on the other hand parliamentarians or the roundheads mainly comprised the puritan middle classes. This war was ended in 1651 with the victory of the parliamentarians, charles 1 was executed while his son, charles 2 died to france, and there any hopes of monarchy were demolished and the monarchical rule was replaces first with commonwealth of England (1649-53), and then with a protectorate (1653-59), under oliver cromwell's personal rule.

Restoration Age-

The period from 1660 to 1700is mainly known as the restoration age or also known as the age of dryden.

Dryden was the representative writer of this period. The restoration of king charles 2 in 1660 marks the beginning of a new era. This era made an effect in life and the literature of England. The king was received with wild joy on his return from exile.

This period is Renaissance delight in the world and also the unlimited possibilities of the exploration of the world  and their moral zeal and the earnestness of the puritan period could no more fascinate the people of England. The greater part of the restoration period there was awareness of the limitations of human experience, there was without faith in the extension of the resources. There were historical events like the restoration of charles 2 in 1660, and also religious controversy and the revolution of 1688 deeply influenced the social life and the literary movements of the age.

Here are general characteristics of these ages-

Characteristics of puritan age-

Here are the main characteristics of the literature of the age.

Geres-

In this period first person narratives were commonplace in the writing especially in the forms of journals and diaries. There were personal accounts of early American colonists depicting tales of traveling to the new lands, immigration, and everyday struggle.

The main genres of this age writing included religious sermons, historical narrative, and personal journals and poetry.

Themes of this age-

The common themes of this age included religious and political idealism.

There is also an insistence on practicality and pragmatism of day to day life.

There is heavy usage of symbolism, especially from religious scripture. The age is also  due to the heavy influence of biblical text, for example, old testament and books like the book of jeremiah. The genre, known as Jeremiads, was split into three portions. 

There was also an influence of natural phenomena like earthquakes, fire, floods etc as the people of the age were interested in learning  about nature and the signs for god's design in nature. Other thematic works included the idea of reformation or regeneration. Unity and free choice and order were also topical manifestations. The concept of struggle between the world and spirituality was also there.

Writing style-

The writing style of this age was  plain with simple sentences and language. There was limited use of metaphorical constructions and excessive ornamentation or dramatic appeals were discouraged.

The main motive was to tell the truth of God's existence in a commonly understandable form. Therefore the use of Greek mythology or forms of classical literature was avoided.

In this age puritan believed that literature should not be used for entertainment. It must be used in the service of religious discourse.

Anne Bradstreet  and John Winthrop wrote extensively about spirituality. They mainly wanted to motivate people by creating an allusion to that ideal society. The one work of winthrop's " model of christians charity" which was actually a sermon and used the popular metaphor"city upon a hill" in abella covenant.

Puritan Poetry-

 

They mainly used sonnets, especially the likes of Anne Bradstreet, who she considered to be the first American poet. This was a continuation of the sonnet writing in the elizabeth age and the works of Shakespeare etc.

"the author of her book" by Anne Bradstreet is the best example of sonnets. Here she used a European poetic style and avoided getting into squabbles with the criticism of the clergy at the time. Poets like John Dryden broughy new creativity to the puritan age.

Characteristic of Restoration age-

The literature of the restoration period marked the complete breaking of ties with the renaissance literature. It mainly reflected the spirit of the age, there is a spirit of corruption and moral laxity, which were reflected in literature.

The following are the main characteristics of the age.

Rise of neo - classicism-

This age marks a complete break with the past. Most people believed in the present, the real and the material. Men had learned to fear individual enthusiasm and therefore they tried to discourage withbreason and common sense to which all men should adapt themself. These all tendencies were reflected in the literature of this period. Prose and poetry writers agreed upon the rules and principles  in accordance with which they should write.

Rules and literary  conventions became more important than the depth and seriousness of the subject matter to the writers of this period.

Imitation of the ancient masters-

Most of the authors of this period were not endowed with exceptional literary talents. So they turned to the  ancients writers, in particular to the latin writers, for guidance and inspiration they generally believed that the ancients had reached the acme of excellence and the modern poets could do no better than model their writings on the classics, thus grew the neo classical school of poetry.

Imitation of the french masters-

In this period King Charles II and his companions had spent the period of exile in France. They demanded that poetry and drama should follow the style to which they had become accustomed in France. Shakespeare and his contemporaries could not satisfy the popular literary taste. 

Pepys wrote in his diary that he was bored to see Shakespeare‘s Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Italian influence had been dominant in the Elizabethan period. Now began the period of French influence, which showed itself in English literature for the next century. W. H. Hudson commented on the French influence on the literature of this period and  writes that-

Now the contemporary literature of France was characterized particularly by lucidity, vivacity, and by reason of the close attention given to form – correctness, elegance and finish. 

The famous French writers like Corneille, Racine, Moliere and Boileau were imitated. Boileau‘s ―good sense  idea became very popular. 

Correctness and Appropriateness

 The most  work of the authors of the Restoration period was imitative and of limited quality. Since they lacked creativity and flight of imagination, they abandoned freedom altogether and slavishly followed the rules. 

There was the new tendency, which reached its climax in the Age of Pope, is very clearly marked in the literature of the Restoration period. To Dryden Dr. Johnson applied the term ―Augustan, saying that Dryden did to English literature what Augustus did to home.

Dryden was the first representative of the new ideas that were to dominate English literature till the end of the eighteenth century. 

Realism and formalism 

This Restoration literature is realistic. It was very much related  with life in London, and with details of dress, fashions and manners. 

The early Restoration writers observe that W. J. Long, sought to paint realistic pictures of corrupt court and society, and emphasized vices rather than virtues and gave us coarse, low plays without interest or moral significance.

In this period Dryden accepted the excellent rule for his prose, and adopted the heroic couplet, as the next best thing for the greater part of this poetry. 

Here i embeded youtube video of  puritan and restoration age-

Conclusion-

In Puritan age there were first person narratives in forms of journels and diaries and The main genres of this age writing included religious sermons, historical narrative, and personal journals and poetry. On other side in puritan age Rules and literary  conventions became more important than the depth and seriousness of the subject matter to the writers of this period. The common theme of puritan age was religious and political idealism. in Restoration literature is realistic. It was very much related  with life in London, and with details of dress, fashions and manners.