SUMMARY PURITAN PERIOD (INTRODUCTION TO

LITERATURE)
History:
 Literary works in during Puritan period
The earlier seventeenth century, and especially the period of the English
Revolution (1640 – 60), was a time of intense turmoil in all areas of life –
religion, science, politics, domestic relations, culture. That turmoil was
reflected in the literature of the era, which also focused on the self and the
personal life.

 England during the early 17th century

After Queen Elizabeth died in 1603, King James VI of Scotland succeeded
to the throne, becoming James I and establishing the Stuart Dynasty.
Unlike his predecessor, he did not have the ability to hold the kingdom in
stability. As a result, the English people began to react to resent his
depotism and so Puritanism emerged.

Poetry:

 In the early seventeenth century, John Donne, Ben Jonson, and George
Herbert led the shift towards “new” poetic genres. These included
classical elegy and satired epigram, verse epistic, meditative religious
lyric, and the country – house poem. The most popular type of poetry was
‘Metaphysical Style’. This poetry was characterized by tricks of style and
unusual images, mixed strong feeling with reasons used excessive
methapor and simile, thus making it difficult to understand.

Poets Masterpiece:
- Go and Catch the falling star
- Valediction: Forbidden Mourning.
- Paradise Lost
 Prose

During Puritan period prose developed slowly; most of them were in the
form of devotional, mediative, prose, sermons, and chronicle , for
example History of the Rebellion by edward hyde. However, the period
produced a number of interesting biography such as Biography of John
Donne by Izzak Walton.

 Drama
The Civil War was disastrous for the English theaters. The teaters were
closed from 1642 onward for eighteen years. There were some
performaces before small companies in private houses, or in taverns
located three or four miles out of town, but they wer given in secrecy.No
actor or spectator was safe, especially during the early days of the Puritan
rule. As a result, no important drama was produced during Puritan period.