Poet, Historian (1608– 1674)
John Milton is best known for Paradise Lost, widely regarded as the greatest epic poem in English. Together with Paradise Regained, it formed his reputation as one of the greatest English writers. In his prose works he advocated the abolition of the Church of England. His influence extended through the English civil wars and also to the American and French revolutions.
Poetry, Politics, and Personal Life
After Cambridge, Milton spent six years living with his family in Buckinghamshire and studying independently. In that time, he wrote “On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity,” “On Shakespeare,” “L’Allegro,” “Il Penseroso,” and "Lycidas," an elegy in memory of a friend who drowned.
Milton was a Puritan who believed in the authority of the Bible, and opposed religious institutions like the Church of England, and the monarchy, with which it was entwined. He wrote pamphlets on radical topics like freedom of the press, supported Oliver Cromwell in the English Civil War, and was probably present at the beheading of Charles I. Milton wrote official publications for Cromwell’s government.
● Famous literary text of puritan age
《Paradise lost》
John Milton's Paradise Lost is one of the greatest epic poems in the English language. It tells the story of the Fall of Man, a tale of immense drama and excitement, of rebellion and treachery, of innocence pitted against corruption, in which God and Satan fight a bitter battle for control of mankind's destiny. The struggle rages across three worlds - heaven, hell, and earth - as Satan and his band of rebel angels plot their revenge against God. At the center of the conflict are Adam and Eve, who are motivated by all too human temptations but whose ultimate downfall is unyielding love.
Marked by Milton's characteristic erudition, Paradise Lost is a work epic both in scale and, notoriously, in ambition. For nearly 350 years, it has held generation upon generation of audiences in rapt attention, and its profound influence can be seen in almost every corner of Western culture.
● characterises of puritan age
◇ The moral and religious earnestness that wascharacteristic of Puritans
◇ Morality combined with the doctrine of predestination
◇ Inheritense from Calvinism to produce a “covenant theology,”
◇ A sense of themselves as chosen by God to live godly lives
■ Restoration age
John Dryden (1631-1700)
John Dryden was an English poet, critic, and playwright active in the second half of the 17th century. Over the span of nearly 40 years, he dabbled in a wide range of genres to great success and acclaim. As a poet, Dryden is best known as a satirist and was England's first poet laureate in 1668. In addition to satires, Dryden wrote elegies, prologues, epilogues, odes, and panegyrics. His most famous poem is Absalom and Achitophel (1681). Dryden was so influential in Restoration England that the period was known to many as the Age of Dryden.
● Famous Literary text of Restoration age
《 “Absalom and Achitophel”》
This text is regarded as not simply a satire, but a poem as Dryden himself calls it “a poem.” The central theme is : Temptation, sin, fall and punishment.
The poem tells the Biblical tale of the rebellion of Absalom against King David; in this context it is an allegory used to represent a story contemporary to Dryden, concerning King Charles II and the Exclusion Crisis (1679–1681). The poem also references the Popish Plot and the Monmouth Rebellion .
The name Absalom means “father of peace,” but this father did not live up to .
● characterises of Restoration age
◇ Social and political conflict with charles ll
◇ Opening of theatres
◇ Rise of Neo-classicism
◇ Imitations of the ancients
◇ Realism
◇ New literary forms
◇ Comedy of manners
● pepy's diary
Historians have been using his diary to gain greater insight and understanding of life in London in the 17th century .pepy wrote consistently on subjects such as personal finances, the time he got up in the morning, the weather, and what he ate.Samuel started to write around 1660, about the things he did and who he saw. He lived in London and began writing his diary when he was 26.The eventual publication of the diary reveales pepy as an exceptionally skilled recorder of the political events of his time, and also everyday life. Pepys' record of contemporary events has become n important source for historians seeking an understanding of life in London during the mid-seventeenth century.
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