Hello readers, I'm writing this blog as an assignment form the Department of English. Here, I'm trying to give information about the characteristics of Puritan age and Restoration age.
Characteristics of puritan age:
Influence
Puritans held deep religious beliefs based on their own perspective of Christianity. The Bible played an important role in the daily lives of the Puritans. Families attended church regularly and read the Bible in their homes. Due to this influence, most Puritan writing is based on the styles of the Bible. Puritans compared their own lives to biblical narratives and events and compared themselves to biblical characters to illustrate points.
Puritanism had a profound influence on English life and literature. The spirit he represented was good and noble but it was hard and stern. In his overzealous zeal to react against existing abuses, he condemned the good things in life, condemned science and art, neglected the appreciation of beauty which encouraged secular life. Puritanism destroyed human civilization and tried to confine human civilization within the circumscribed sphere of its own particular interests. It was fatal to both art and literature.
Biblical Influence
Throughout the 1670s and 1680s, New England clergy wrote sermons which drew directly from the Book of Jeremiah. This Old Testament book is one in which the prophet Jeremiah scolds the Hebrews for losing religious dedication and in turn, God's favor. This literary genre is a formulaic one, in which the writer first summarizes the joy and faith once held by the community, castigates them for current and recent sins, and then pleads for their repentance. Because Puritans at the time studied both Scripture and nature for signs of God's intentions, they became increasingly alarmed by earthquakes, explosions and fires, which they equated with God's anger.
Sense of unity
Elizabethan literature was marked by a sense of unity, which resulted from the intense patriotism and nationalism of all classes and their devotion and loyalty to the Queen, who had a single mission to seek the welfare of the nation. During this period James I and Charles II were opposed to the interests of the people. The country was divided by the struggle for political and religious freedom; And literature was divided in sentiment just like the contending parties.
Dominance of Critical and Intellectual Spirit
The critical and intellectual spirit, instead of the romantic spirit which prevailed in Elizabethan literature, dominates the literature of this period.In the literature of the Puritan period one looks in vain for romantic ardour. Even in the lyrics and love poems a critical, intellectual spirit takes its place, and whatever romance asserts itself is in form rather than in feeling, a fantastic and artificial adornment of speech rather than the natural utterance of a heart in which sentiment is so strong and true that poetry is its only expression.
Decay of Drama
This period is remarkable for the decay of drama. The civil disturbances and the strong opposition of the Puritans was the main cause of the collapse of drama. The actual dramatic work of the period was small and unimportant. The closing of the theatres in 1642 gave a final jolt to the development of drama.
Plain Style
Puritans lived a simple life based on the concepts of humility and simplicity. This influence comes from their religious beliefs and the Bible. Wearing elaborate clothing or having conceited thoughts offended Puritans. Puritan writing mimics these cultural values in its plain writing style. Puritans wrote directly to the point, and avoided much of the elaborate writing style that became popular in Europe. Simple sentences with common language allowed Puritans to communicate information without feeling like they were drawing attention to themselves.
Purpose
Puritans wrote with specific purposes in mind. Even the letters they wrote to friends and family in Europe performed more of a purpose than simply communicating about their lives and keeping in touch. Puritans' religious beliefs affected their lives on all levels, and their writing illustrated their religion's values, such as the importance of the church and the influence of God in their lives. Writing often became instructive, teaching Christian values. The Puritans did not believe that literature was for entertainment; therefore, they frowned upon "entertainment" genres such as drama (plays) and fiction novels.
Characteristics of Restoration age:
Rise of Neo-classicism
The Restoration marks a complete break with the past. For the writers of this age, both the prose and poetry, rules and literary conventions became more important than the depth and seriousness of the subject matter. They express superficial manners and customs of the aristocratic and urban society and did not pry into the mystery of the human mind and heart.
Comedy of manner
The Restoration comedy is also known as the comedy of manners. Fashionable intrigues, sex, marriage and adultery were treated with cynicism, with worldly wit and a sense of the comedy of life.
William Congreve is the best and finest writer of the comedy of manners. His famous comedies are:
-The Double dealer
- Love for love
- The way of the world
Imitation of the Ancient masters
The authors of the period were not endowed with exceptional literary talents. So they turned to the ancient writers.
Realism and Formalism
Restoration literature is realistic. It was very much concerned with life in London, with details of dress, fashion and manners. Dryden accepted the excellent rule for his prose and adopted the heroic couplet. It is largely due to Dryden that writers developed formalism of the style.
Moderation
Restoration poetry is considered moderate in the way it emphasises precision or economical use of language and words.
Reason
One of the Restoration poetry characteristics is the reason. Instead of focusing on Metaphysical ideas which most of the prior poetries had relied upon, it was inspired by many scientific developments of the time. These scientific developments encouraged people to use reason to solve problems.
Thus, these characteristics made Restoration poetry’s style, also known as the classical school of poetry, dominate English Literature for more than a century.
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