THE PURITAN AGE (1600-1660) - HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Charles I (1625-1649) Charles I, a Stuart, like his father James I, believed in the divine right and absolute power of
the monarch. He alone ruled the country and paid little attention to Parliament. When he could not find a solution to
the financial problems caused by the cost of war abroad, he decided to dissolve Parliament in 1629 and did not call
another for eleven years, until 1640. This caused an uproar, particularly among the Puritans (which had a considerable
majority in Parliament) and was one of the main causes of the Civil War.

The quarrel between king and Parliament In 1640 Charles I was forced to summon Parliament to try and solve
increasing problems at home (a rebellion in Scotland) and abroad. Parliament, however, due to the growing opposition
to the king, especially from Puritans, only lasted three weeks and became known as the ‘Short Parliament’. The king
called Parliament a second time that year, but it continued to refuse the king financial support to solve his difficulties.
This second parliament lasted until 1642 and became known as the ‘Long Parliament’. One of the members of this Long
Parliament was Oliver Cromwell, a man who would play a very important role in the events to come. Charles I had
become less and less willing to listen to Parliament and was gradually turning into a dictator, upsetting the balance of
power between king and government.

The Civil War The Civil War broke out when, in 1642, Parliament demanded control of the army and Charles I refused.
It consisted of a series of armed conflicts between two factions: the Parliamentarians* on the one hand (supported by
the Puritan dissenters lead by Oliver Cromwell) and the ‘Royalists’, or ‘Cavaliers’ on the other (supported by the king
and Church of England). The war ended with the king’s defeat and he was publicly executed in Whitehall, London, in
1649.

*The Parliamentarians: The Parliamentarians were also known as ‘The Roundheads’ because of their unique short
hairstyle; the fashion of the time was for men to have long hair.

Oliver Cromwell’s republic After the victory against the king’s army, Oliver Cromwell became the political leader
of the new government (1649-58) and was given the title of ‘Lord Protector’. He was a charismatic and able leader.
England, for the first time in history, had no monarchy. It was called a republic, but, in reality, it was a dictatorship.
During Cromwell’s republic (or Commonwealth), theatres were closed, and every kind of entertainment was
suppressed, seen as immoral and unrefined. Cromwell died in 1658. His rule and Puritan influences* had brought a
mood of austerity and depression to the country and in 1660 the monarchy was restored. The people needed some
light relief and found it with Charles II (1660-85). Theatres were re-opened and public entertainment was re introduced.
Charles II became known as the Merry Monarch, but with his restoration, and from then on, the monarchy would be
very different. The king or queen would have only a limited power as a ‘constitutional’ monarchy.

*The Puritans: this is the name given to a branch of extreme Protestants within the Church of England in the 16th century.
They wanted to “purify” the Church of England from Catholicism: they wanted the removal of intermediaries (i.e.
priests) between God and the individual and rejected any spiritual authority except that of the Bible. They encouraged
direct personal religious experience within a strict moral code of conduct. Puritanism found fertile ground amongst
the middle class as it underlined the value of work and individualism, the basis of the Industrial Revolution which
was to begin a hundred years later.

PURITAN LITERATURE - THE LITERARY CONTEXT

Poetry A new tradition began in poetry and it became known as the ‘poetry of wit’ (poesia dell’ingegno), distinguished
by a style rich in the use of simile and metaphor and by the use of contradictory terms. It slowly abandoned the purely
rhetorical conventions of the Elizabethan Age and became more direct in order to express man’s new reality; a man
aware of being at the centre of the world, but at the same time in search of his true identity.
John Donne was the first to adopt these new literary trends in the late 16th century. The other great poet and central
figure of this age was John Milton (1608-74). In Paradise Lost (first published in 1667), he abandoned the conventions of
the Renaissance and ‘invented’ a new epic, in which he attempted to combine the classical and humanistic traditions
with the Christian thought of the new Reformation.
Prose More varied than poetry, the prose of this period reflected a new style which aimed at clarity and precision. This
is evident in the writings of the philosopher Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), particularly in Leviathan (1651). This work
supported absolutism in politics and is considered the foundation of modern political science.
Theatre The theatre declined rapidly in the Puritan Age. By 1648 strict rules had been passed by the Puritans which led
to the closing of most of the theatres. When Oliver Cromwell died in 1660, theatrical life started its slow revival and was
to flourish once more in the Restoration period.

John Milton (1608-74) Born in 1608 into a strict Protestant family in London, Milton received an excellent education
which he completed at Cambridge University. After Cambridge he dismissed a career in the Church, shocked by the
corruption he saw there, and decided to concentrate on writing and studying the classics. At the outbreak of the Civil
War Milton, who was a passionate Puritan and a great supporter of Oliver Cromwell, took office for him as secretary.
Following the Restoration, however, having been publicly on the side of the Parliamentarians during the war, Milton
was imprisoned. After a short period, he was released and eventually granted a full pardon. By 1652 he became
completely blind and could continue writing only with the help of secretaries. This makes the completion of his greatest
works, Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, in these later years, even more extraordinary. He died in 1674.
Main works
• ‘Lycidas’ (1637)
• Sonnets (1650-60)
• Paradise Lost (1667)
• Paradise Regained; Samson Agonistes (1671)
Milton’s literary life John Milton was undoubtedly the greatest poet of the 17th century and with Paradise Lost he
achieved his goal of writing an epic poem to the standards of Homer and Virgil. He was also one of the most
controversial figures in English literature. He was anti-royal and anti-clerical and at the same time highly religious; in
fact, both he and his works were deeply affected by the great political and social changes of the period (the Civil War
and the Restoration). Milton was passionately involved in all these events and his works combine the humanist and
classical traditions, which were the fruits of his studies and typical of the Renaissance.
His life and works can be divided into three distinct periods. In the first period (1629-39) Milton concentrated on poetry.
In the second period (1640-60), that of the Civil War, he almost entirely abandoned poetry and dedicated himself to
writing prose in favour of Cromwell’s cause. He did, however, write 17 sonnets in this period, including one of his most
famous, ‘On His Blindness’. Milton’s third period is marked by the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. This was a great
disappointment to the poet, who had dedicated himself to the Commonwealth cause. Despite his disappointment (or
because of it) this period marked Milton’s return to poetry and his greatest literary achievements.
Milton’s style Milton’s style is not easy for the modern reader as it is the result of many years of classical studies. It is
also imbued with his strong religious beliefs. He believed that man was put on earth to serve God and that every poet
had the ‘divine mission’ of justifying the ways of God to man. Blank verse, complex similes and long, Latinate
sentences (he used Latin words and sentence structure) further contributed to the grandeur of his work and became
known as Milton’s ‘grand style’.
Blank verse: is a literary device that is defined as an un-rhyming verse written in iambic pentameter. Iambic Pentameter
means that each line has 10 syllables with a stress on syllables 2,4,6,8 and 10. Iambic Pentameter is most famous in
Shakespeare's sonnets: Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Paradise Lost (1667) Paradise Lost in an epic written in blank verse on the revolt of Lucifer and his angels, the creation
and fall of man and the redemption. Milton planned Paradise Lost as a Christian epic, in keeping with his Puritan faith
and classical Renaissance learning. Using Homer, Virgil and Dante as models he also developed the idea of a divine
plan.
Epic: a long poem which narrates the story of one or more heroic figures. The first epic poem in English literature is
Beowulf.
The plot centres around the biblical themes of man’s fall from grace and divine providence. Milton uses the Ptolemaic
model of the universe in which there is a rigid hierarchy with God alone at the top then descending down to the lowest
level, animals. The work is divided into 12 books. It begins with Lucifer and the fallen angels who are defeated by God
in their rebellion and are driven from heaven into hell. Satan seeks his revenge on God by convincing Eve, in the Garden
of Eden, to eat from the Tree of Knowledge and so disobey God. Adam also eats the fruit to share Eve’s punishment.
Although they both repent their sins, they are forced to leave Paradise forever and enter the world. Paradise Lost has
also been interpreted as an allegory of the political events of his time; Satan’s banishment from heaven being compared
with Charles I’s loss of the throne.