2. What are the main characteristics of the literature of this period? Compare it with Elizabethan literature. How did religion and politics affect Puritan literature? Can you quote any passages or name any works which justify your opinion?
3. What is meant by the terms Cavalier poets, Spenserian poets, Metaphysical poets? Name the chief writers of each group. To whom are we indebted for our first English hymn book? Would you call this a work of literature? Why?
4. What are the qualities of Herrick's poetry? What marked contrasts are found in Herrick and in nearly all the poets of this period?
5. Who was George Herbert? For what purpose did he write? What qualities are found in his poetry?
6. Tell briefly the story of Milton's life. What are the three periods of his literary work? What is meant by the Horton poems? Compare "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso." Are there any Puritan ideals in "Comus"? Why is "Lycidas" often put at the summit of English lyrical poetry? Give the main idea or argument of Paradise Lost. What are the chief qualities of the poem? Describe in outline Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes. What personal element entered into the latter? What quality strikes you most forcibly in Milton's poetry? What occasioned Milton's prose works? Do they properly belong to literature? Why? Compare Milton and Shakespsare with regard to (1) knowledge of men, (2) ideals of life, (3) purpose in writing.
7. Tell the story of Bunyan's life. What unusual elements are found in his life and writings? Give the main argument of The Pilgrim's Progress. If you read the story before studying literature, tell why you liked or disliked it. Why is it a work for all ages and for all races? What are the chief qualities of Bunyan's style?
8. Who are the minor prose writers of this age? Name the chief works of Jeremy Taylor, Thomas Browne, and Izaak Walton. Can you describe from your own reading any of these works? How does the prose of this age compare in interest with the poetry? (Milton is, of course, excepted in this comparison.)
| [CHRONOLOGY] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Seventeenth Century | |||
| HISTORY | LITERATURE | ||
| 1621. | Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy | ||
| 1623. | Wither's Hymn Book | ||
| 1625. | Charles I | ||
| Parliament dissolved | |||
| 1628. | Petition of Right | 1629. | Milton's Ode on the Nativity |
| 1630-1640. | King rules without | ||
| Parliament. Puritan migration | |||
| to New England | 1630-1633. | Herbert's poems | |
| 1632-1637. | Milton's Horton poems | ||
| 1640. | Long Parliament | ||
| 1642. | Civil War begins | 1642. | Browne's Religio Medici |
| 1643. | Scotch Covenant | ||
| 1643. | Press censorship | 1644. | Milton's Areopagitica |
| 1645. | Battle of Naseby; | ||
| triumph of Puritans | |||
| 1649. | Execution of Charles I. | ||
| Cavalier migration to Virginia | |||
| 1649-1660. | Commonwealth | 1649. | Milton's Tenure of Kings |
| 1650. | Baxter's Saints' Rest. | ||
| Jeremy Taylor's Holy Living | |||
| 1651. | Hobbes's Leviathan | ||
| 1653-1658. | Cromwell, Protector | 1653. | Walton's Complete Angler |
| 1658-1660. | Richard Cromwell | ||
| 1660. | Restoration of Charles II | 1663-1694. | Dryden's dramas |
| (next chapter) | |||
| 1666. | Bunyan's Grace Abounding | ||
| 1667. | Paradise Lost | ||
| 1674. | Death of Milton | ||
| 1678. | Pilgrim's Progress published | ||
| (written earlier) | |||