THE PURITANS
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
THE NAME PURITAN
 Came to be used to describe members of the
Church of England who wished to purify it of all
semblances to the Roman Catholic Church, in
particular the liturgy, vestments and episcopal
hierarchy.
 The Puritans emphasized that they did not wish
to destroy the Church of England, nor did they
want to separate from it. Their sole aim was to
restore it to its original purity.
 A radical minority within the Puritan
movement, the Separatists, wanted to
remove itself from the tainted English church
and worship in its own independent
congregations.
 The death of Elizabeth I in 1603 brought
profound changes to England.
 The new king, James I, bruised the feelings of
many by asserting his “divine right” to rule
and by supporting the business ventures and
public careers of many English Catholics.
 These trends were deeply disturbing to the
Puritans, many of whom began to entertain
thoughts of escaping their increasingly
repressive environment.
• In the mid-seventeenth century, John Milton
was a successful poet and political activist. He
wrote scathing pamphlets against corruption
in the Anglican Church and its ties to King
Charles. In Milton’s day Puritanism meant
having politically radical views. And at one
point Milton was actually jailed for recording
them on paper.
PLYMOUTH. MASSACHUSETTS
• In spite of the fact they had left England, the
Puritans who sailed to Massachusetts Bay in
1630 maintained they were not separatists,
but wanted to purify the Church of England by
establishing "a city upon a hill" as an example
of how godly people should live.
In the mid-seventeenth century, John Milton was a successful poet and
political activist. He wrote scathing pamphlets against corruption in the
Anglican Church and its ties to King Charles.
• Milton had contemplated the composition of
an epic poem for many years. For his subject
matter he chose the fundamentals of Christian
theology. By the time he began writing
Paradise Lost in the late 1650’s, Milton had
become blind. He dictated the entire work to
secretaries.
 Puritan political influence had largely disappeared in
Massachusetts by the end of the 17th century, but
attitudes associated with it remained.
 The Puritans, heirs to the Calvinist tradition, had
emphasized that:
 suffering was necessary to redeem oneself from
original sin;
 hard work not only produces wealth, but strong moral
character (the "Puritan Ethic"). Those who did not
devote themselves to hard work were in mortal
danger of falling into evil ways.
LITERATURE OF THE PURITANISM
 Prose writing flourished, e.g. sermons,
controversial tracts and political documents.
 Masterpieces:
1. The Pilgrim´s Progress (John Bunyan)
2. Paradise Lost and Areopagitica (John Milton)
3. “Of Travel”, “Of Studies”, “Of Revenge” “Of
Parents and Children, “Of Love” “Of Beauty”
and “Of Adversity” (Francis Bacon)
• Paradise Lost has many of the elements that define
epic form. It is a long, narrative poem; it follows the
exploits of a hero (or anti-hero); it involves warfare
and the supernatural; it begins in the midst of the
action, with earlier crises in the story brought in later
by flashback; and it expresses the ideals and
traditions of a people. It has these elements in
common with the Aeneid, the Iliad, and the Odyssey.
• The poem is in blank verse, that is, non-rhyming verse. In
a note he added to the second printing, Milton expresses
contempt for rhyming poetry. Paradise Lost is composed
in the verse form of iambic pentameter—the same used by
Shakespeare. In this style, a line is composed of five long,
unaccented syllables, each followed by a short, accented
one.
 The first edition of Paradise Lost was published in 1667, in ten
chapters or books. In 1674 Milton reorganized the poem into
twelve books, by dividing two of the longer books into four. He
also added an introductory prose “argument” summarizing the
plot of each book, to prepare readers for the complex poetry that
would follow. Part of that complexity is due to the many
allusions and diversions into ancient history and mythology
throughout the poem.
• The central story line is built around a few
paragraphs in the beginning of Genesis—the
story of Adam and Eve. The epic also uses
elements from many other parts of the Bible,
particularly involving Satan’s role. Focusing his
poem on the events surrounding the fall of
Adam and Eve, Milton intended, in his words,
to “justify the ways of God to men,” by tracing
the cause and result for all involved.
 In the last two books of the epic, Milton includes
almost a complete summary of Genesis. This lengthy
section may seem anti-climactic, but Milton's
mission was to show not only what caused man's fall,
but also the consequences upon the world, both bad
and good. A concept central to this tale is that of the
“felix culpa” or fortunate fall. This is the philosophy
that the good which ultimately evolves as a result of
the fall--God's mercy, the coming of Christ,
redemption and salvation--leaves us in a better place,
with opportunity for greater good than would have
been possible without the fall.
John Bunyan 1628 - 1688
John Bunyan - (1628-1688),
• John Bunyan had very little schooling. John Bunyan was received into the
Baptist church in Bedford by immersion in 1653. In 1655, Bunyan became
a deacon and began preaching, with marked success from the start. In
1658 he was indicted for preaching without a license. The authorities were
fairly tolerant of him for a while, and he did not suffer imprisonment until
November of 1660, when he was taken to the county jail in Silver Street,
Bedford, and there confined (with the exception of a few weeks in 1666)
for 12 years until January 1672. In March of 1675 he was again imprisoned
for preaching publicly without a license, this time being held in the
Bedford town jail. In just six months this time he was freed, (no doubt the
authorities were growing weary of providing Bunyan with free shelter and
food) and he was not bothered again by the authorities.
The Pilgrim's Progress
• John Bunyan wrote The Pilgrim's Progress in two
parts, of which the first appeared at London in
1678,which he had begun during his imprisonment in
1676. The second part appeared in 1684. The earliest
edition in which the two parts were combined in one
volume came out in 1728. A third part falsely
attributed to Bunyan appeared in 1693. The Pilgrim's
Progressis the most successful allegory ever written,
and like the Bible has been extensively translated
into other languages.
Francis Bacon
• He was born on 22 January 1561 in London. He was
the son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, keeper of the great
seal for Elizabeth I. Bacon studied at Cambridge
University and at Gray's Inn and became an MP in
1584. However, he was unpopular with Elizabeth,
and it was only on the accession of James I in 1603
that Bacon's career began to prosper. Knighted that
year, he was appointed to a succession of posts
culminating, like his father, with keeper of the great
seal.