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I am Nidhi Jethava and student of English Literature. I am studying Master of Arts with English Literature. In this blog I am Going to describe general characteristic of PURITAN AGE and RESTORATION AGE.
So, Let's start with the Puritan age or The Age of Milton.
PURITAN AGE OR AGE OF MILTON (1620-1660):-
The entire period is dominated by the civil war. The earlier years are marked by the quarrels and alarms which led up to actual hostilities in 1642; the middle of the period is occupied with the spasmodic fighting that lasted till the execution of Charles I in 1649; and the last portion covers the establishment of the Commonwealth, the rise and disappearance of Cromwell (1653-58), the confusion following upon hi death, and the final restoration of the monarchy in 1660.
1. THE REACTION.
During this period the decline from the high Elizabethan standard is apparent in several ways.
(a) The output especially of poetry, is much smaller, and the fashion is toward shorter poems, especially the lyric of a peculiar type.
(b) There is a marked decay in the exalted poetical fervour of the previous age. In the new poetry there is more of the intellectual play of fancy than of passion and profundity. And. especially in prose, there is mature melancholy that one is apt to associate with advancing years.
(c) In prose there is a marked increase in activity, which is an almost invariable accompaniment of a decline in poetry.
2.THE PRESSURE OF HISTORICAL EVENTS :-
Viewed from a broad aspect, the civil war was only a domestic incident in English history; but the very narrowness of the issue intensified the bitterness of the contest. It divided the people into two factions, and among other things vitally affected the literature of the literature of the time.
3. MILTON.
In the age which, by comparison with Elizabethan produced relatively few great writers Milton stands as the one man who may claim a place among the very greatest. His prose is among the finest controversial writing in the language, and his poetic achievement has generally been considered to be second only to that of Shakespeare.
4. THE METAPHYSICAL POETS.
This term was first used by Dr. Johnson, who applied it to Cowley and Donne. It denotes the work of a group of poets who came directly or indirectly under Donne's influence. Usually lyrical in nature, their poems are full of learned imagery and striking conceits, and at their best, reveal great psychological insight and subtlety of thought development. In this category are included Crashaw, George Herbert, Vaughan, and Marvell. Their work will be considered in detail later in the chapter.
5. THE CAVALIER POETS.
Where most of the metaphysical poets were of a religious and mystical cast, the Cavaliers, best represented by Herrick, Lovelace, and Suckling, dealt with theme of love. They followed Ben Jonson in their classical restraint and concise lucidity. Their work is simple and graceful in structure and finely polished in style.
6. THE EXPANSION OF PROSE.
The development of prose is carried on from the previous age. In spite of the hampering effects of the civil strife, the prose output was copious and excellent in kind. There was a notable advance in the sermon; pamphlets were abundant and history, politics, philosophy, and miscellaneous kinds were well represented. In edition, there was a remarkable advance in prose style.
7. THE COLLAPSE OF THE DRAMA.
Many things combined to oppress the drama at this time. Chief among these were the civil disturbances and the strong opposition of the Puritans. In temper the age was not dramatic. It is curious to note that Milton's greatest work, which in the Elizabethan age would probably have been dramatic in form, took on the shape of the epic. The actual dramatic work of the period was small and unimportant ; and the unequal struggle was terminated by the closing of the theatres in 1642.
* DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PURITAN AND ELIZABETHAN LITERATURE :-
There are three main characteristics in which Puritan literature differs from that of the preceding age :
(I) Elizabethan literature, with all its diversity, had a marked unity in spirit, resulting from the patriotism of all classes and their devotion to a queen who, with all her faults, sought first the nation's welfare. Under the Stuarts all this was changed. The kings were the open enemies of the people; the country was divided by the struggle for political and religious liberty; and the literature was as divided in spirit as were the struggling parties.
(2) Elizabethan literature is generally inspiring ; it throbs with youth and hope and vitality. That which follows speaks of age and sadness; even even its brightest hours are followed by gloom, and by the pessimism inseparable from the passing of old standards.
(3) Elizabethan literature is intensely romantics; the romance springs from the heart of youth, and believes all things, even the impossible. The great schoolman's credo, " I believe because it is impossible ", is a better expression of Elizabethan literature than of medieval theology. In the literature of the puritan period one looks in vain for romantic ardor.
RESTORATION AGE OR AGE OF DRYDEN (1637-1700) :-
Three history events deeply influenced the literary movements of the time : the Restoration of the year 1660; the Roman Catholic controversy that raged during the latter half of Charles II's reign; and the Revolution of the year 1688.
FRENCH INFLUENCE :-
In the literature of the Restoration we note a sudden breaking away from old standards, just as society breaking away from the restraints of Puritanism. Many of the literary men had been driven out of England with Charles and his court, or else had followed their patrons into exile in the days of the commonwealth. On their return they renounced old ideals and demanded that English poetry and drama should follow the style to which they had become accustomed in the gayety of Paris. We read with astonishment in Pepys's Diary (1660-1669 ) that he has been to see a play called Midsummer Night's Dream, but that he will never go again to hear Shakespeare, " for it is the most insipid, ridiculous play that ever I saw in another writer who reflects with wonderful accuracy the life and spirit of the Restoration,- " I saw Hamlet played played; but now the old plays begin to disgust this refined age, since his Elizabethans were no longer interesting, literary men began to imitate the French writers, with whose works they had French influence, which shows itself in English literature for the next century, instead of the Italian influence which gad been dominant since Spenser and the Elizabethans.
Once has to consider for a moment the French writers of this period, Pascal, Bossuet, Fenelon, Malherbe, Corneille, the reign of Louis XIV the Elizabethan Age of French literature,- to see how far astray the early writers of the Restoration went in their wretched imitation. When a man takes unfortunately many English writers reversed the rule, coping the vices of French comedy without any of its wit or delicacy or abundant ideas, The poems of Rochester, the plays popular in their days, are mostly unreadable. Milton's "sons of Belial, flown with insolence and wine," is a good expression of the vile character of the court writers and of the London theatre for thirty years following the Restoration. Such work can never satisfy a people, and when Jeremy Collier, in 1698 published a vigorous attack upon the evil plays and the playwrights of the day, all London, tired of the coarseness and excesses of the Restoration, joined the literature revolution, and the corrupt drama was driven from the stage.
NEW TENDENCIES :-
With the final rejection of Restoration drama we reach a crisis in the history of our literature. The old Elizabethan with Patriotism, with its patriotism, its creative vigor, its love of romance and the puritan spirit with its moral earnestness and individualism, were both things of the past; the greatest writer of the age, voiced a general complaint when he said that in his prose and poetry he was "drawing the outlines" of a new art, but had no teacher to instruct him. But literature is a progressive art, and soon the writers of the age developed two marked tendencies of their own, - the tendency to realism, and the tendency to that preciseness and elegance of expression which marks our literature for the next hundred years.
(I) Realism :-
In Realism- that is, the representation of men exactly as they are, the expression of plain, unvarnished truth without regard to ideals or romance - the tendency was a first thoroughly bad. The early Restoration writers sought to paint realistic pictures of a corrupt court and society, and as we have suggested, they emphasized vices rather than virtues and gave us coarse, low plays without interest or moral significance. Later, however, this tendency to realism became more wholesome. While it neglected romantic poetry, in which youth is eternally interested, it led to a keener study of the practical motives which govern human action.
( II) Formalism :-
The second tendency of the age was toward directness and simplicity of expression, and to this excellent tendency our literature is greatly indebted. In both the Elizabethan and the Puritan ages the general tendency of writers was towards extravagance of thought and language. Sentence were often involved, and loaded with Latin quotation and classical allusions. The Restoration writers opposed to regard establishment rules for writing, to emphasize close reasoning rather than romantic fancy, and to use short, clean cut sentences without an unnecessary word. We see this its objects the reform of English prose by getting rid of its " swelling of style" and which bound all its member to use " a close, naked, natural way of speaking ........as near to mathematics plainness as they can." Dryden accepted this excellence rule for his prose, and adopted the heroic couplet, as the next best thing, for the greater part of his poetry.
And this unpolished rugged verse I chose.
As fittest for discourse, and nearest prose .
THE COUPLET :-
Another Interest in Restoration literature is the adoption of the heroic couplet; that is, two iambic pentameter lines which rime together, as the most suitable form of poetry. Waller, who began to use it 1623, is generally regarded as the father of the couplet, for he is the first poet to use the it consistently in the bulk of his poetry. Chaucer had used the rimed couplet wonderfully well in his Canterbury Tales, but in Chaucer it is the poetical thought more than the expression which delights us. With the Restoration writers, form couplet the prevailing literary fashion, and in their hands the couplet becomes " closed "; that is, each pair of lines must contain a complete thought, stated as precisely as possible. Thus Waller writes:
The soul's dark cottage, battered and decayed,
Lets in new light through chinks that time has made.
That is a kind of aphorism such as Pope made in large quantities in the following age. Soon this mechanical closed couplet, in which the second line was often made first, almost excluded all other forms of poetry. It was dominant in England for a full century, and we have grown familiar with it, and somewhat weary of its monotony, in such famous poems as Pope's " essay on Man" and Goldsmith's " Deserted Village." These, however, are essays rather and poems. That even the couplet is capable of melody and variety is shown in Chaucer's Tales and in Keats's exquisite Endyminon.
CONCLUSION :-
These four things, the tendency to vulgar realism is the drama, a general formalism which came from following set rules, the development of a simpler and more direct prose style, and the prevalence of the heroic couplet in poetry are the main characteristic of Restoration literature. They are all exemplified in the work of one man, John Dryden.
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