Puritan Period:

The Puritans were a group of people, who were prosecuted in their home
country, England, for wanting to separate from the Church of England to purify
the Anglican Church. They were a religious collective who can be said to have
invented their identity by means of the word. They constantly modified and
expanded that identity through a flood of sermons, histories, hagiographies,
jeremiads and, to a lesser extent, poems. Taken as a whole, this body of
literature constitutes a unique example of rhetorical self-definition. The Puritans
believed that their society in New England would provide, in John Winthrop’s
phrase, “A Modell of Christian Charity”; they believed that their special role in
history had been fore-ordained in the Bible and that God had reserved the New
World as a second Garden of Eden for them to prepare for the second coming of
Christ. Identifying themselves with the Israelites of the Old Testament, they
interpreted America as their own Promised Land, thus already making it, in
effect, a kind of dream – more than a geographical reality, an imaginative or
literary figure.
This peculiar “errand into the wilderness”, as Perry Miller called it, would have
enormous and profound historical repercussions. The Puritans had to elaborate a
set of overarching ideals, based on the strict Protestant theology of John Calvin
(1509-1564), which were conceived to resolve the many ambiguities implicit in
their religious beliefs and their historical enterprise, for example, their
conviction that they had been chosen by God to carry out his plan in a new
Paradise (America) which was, nevertheless, hostile. Along with their primary
mandate to glorify God and purify the world, the need to justify their role in
history and to rationalize the many contradictions inherent in their beliefs was
one of the major purposes and functions of Puritan literary expression.
The Puritan settlement of New England began in 1620 with the founding of
Plymouth Plantation by a group of Separatists led by William Bradford. The
colony of Massachusetts Bay was founded in 1630, and shortly thereafter began
the Great Migration, which would bring to America large numbers of Puritans
seeking to escape repression in England. By the end of the century, however,
religious zeal was declining in most Puritan communities, and the movement as
a whole suffered an almost fatal blow with the crisis of the Salem witchcraft
trials in 1692. It underwent an unexpected resurgence, known as The Great
Awakening, during the first half of the next century.
The salient features of Puritan Period:
1. The writers of Puritan age followed the paths of the great Renaissance
writers. 2. The spirit of science popularized by great men like Newton, Bacon
and Descartes. 3. In literature the spirit infuses itself in the form of criticism,
which was truly the creation of Puritan age.
4. In literature the spirit infuses itself in the form of criticism, which was truly
the creation of Puritan age. In this period people took stock of what had been
acquired. 5. People classified, analyzed, and systematized many things which
were having no importance before that. English language was started being used
as the medium for instruction and for storing the data and for conveying facts.
6. Art of Biography popularized which was unknown in previous ages. 7. Satire
and Irony got fame in Puritan age, individually as well as on collective basis. 8.
Readers had become criticizers and asked for the facts and figures, so that they
may judge and can take sides in the controversial matters. 9. John Milton was
the best representative of Puritan age. Puritanism is considered as the second
greatest renaissance.
10. Rebirth of the moral nature of man which followed intellectual awakening
of Europe in 15th and 16th century. 11. Despotism was the order of the day. 12.
Puritan movement stood for the liberty of people of Europe. 13. There was an
introduction of morality and high ideals in politics. 14. Puritan age had two
perspectives; personal righteousness and civil and religious liberty.
15. It aimed at making people free and honest. In puritan age John Milton and
Thomas Cromwell fought for the religious liberties of people. 16. With the
passage of time Puritanism became the movement against the King which stood
for the freedom of the society. 17. Puritans was the name given to the people
who advocated certain changes in the form of the worship of the reformed
English church under queen Elizabeth.

Puritan and Elizabethan Literature:

There are three main characteristics in which Puritan literature differs from that
of the preceding age: (1) 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 its brightest
hours are followed by gloom, and by the pessimism inseparable from the
passing of old standards. (3) Elizabethan literature is intensely romantic; 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. 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.

The main differences are as follows:

The Elizabethan age:

●  The Elizabethan age began during the year 1558 to 1603, the reign of queen
Elizabeth I. 
●  This age is also known as the age of the Renaissance. 
●  This age is the Golden age in English history. 
 The Puritan age:
●  The Puritan age began during the year 1625 to 1660. 
After the death of James I in 1625 the new monarch Charles I took religious
persecution to a new level.
● This age is known as the age of Milton.                                                         
Characteristics of the Elizabethan age and the Puritan age:
The Elizabethan age                 The Puritan age
¤ Religious tolerance                   ¤ Religious movement
¤ Social content                               toward cleansing the 
¤ unbounded enthusiasm                church of its catholic 
¤ National spirit and                    style that had profound
   Patriotism                                   effect on writing of the 
¤ Exploration of the new              time.
   World.                                         ¤ Simple language and 
                                                            Sentences.
The writing style of the Elizabethan age and the Puritan age:
●  In contrast with the hopefulness and vigor of the Elizabethan writing, while
much of the literature of the Puritan age is somber in character. It saddens
rather than inspire us.
● Elizabethan literature is intensely romantic; the romance spring from the
heart of youth and believes all things, even the impossible.  The Puritan
period one looks in vain for romantic ardor. Even Lyrics love poems
critical, intellectual spirit takes its place.
● In Puritan age we find out two major religions: 1. Catholicism and 2.
Protestantism. Lower classes were uneducated men. King were the enemies
of the people while queen Elizabeth was very loyal to the people and
society. 
● Puritan struggled for righteousness and liberty because the age is one of
moral and political revolution. On the other side in the Elizabethan age
queen Elizabeth gave full freedom to the people and society of England.
● Puritan literature has no unity spirit as in the day of Elizabeth, resulting
from the patriotic enthusiasm of all classes.
● The Puritan age lost the romantic impulse of the youth and become critical
and intellectual, it make us think rather than feel deeply. Elizabethan
literature is generally inspiring; it throbs with youth and hope and vitality.
● In Puritan age the writer avoid the use of Greek mythology and form of
classical literature. Because the writer of the Puritan age believed that
literature should not be used for entertainment but it must be used in the
service of religious discourage. 
Major writer of the Elizabethan age and the Puritan age
The Elizabethan age                The Puritan age 
■ William Shakespeare          ■ John Milton 
■ Edmund Spenser                    ■ John Bunyan
■ Christopher Marlowe          ■ Robert Burton 
■ Frances Bacon                        ■ Sir Thomas Browne