The Reporters!

Batanay, Pauline Joy

Concepcion, Catherine
 The Restoration and the 18th Century
Literature

• Puritan Period
• Neoclassical Period
• On His Blindness by J. Milton
Puritan Period
 The term Puritan is commonly
applied to a reform movement that
strove to purify the practices and
structure of the Church of England
in the sixteenth through eighteenth
centuries. As dissidents, they
sought religious freedom and
economic opportunities in distant
lands.
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 Anglican Church. In 1620,
they came the Plymouth America on the ship The Mayflower
to find religious freedom.

The society of the puritan literary period was therefore

dommated by rules, religious belief, devotion of God and a
fear of sin. The values of society rested on self-reliance,
simplicity, hard-work and sobriety. This was also expressed
in the literature at that time which focused on the
connections between God and everyday lives.
Puritan Beliefs
 Living in complete agreement with the Bible. Education was
important because everyone needs to be able to read the
Bible for themselves. They also believe in keeping spiritual
journals where they wrote about God was telling them.

 The Puritans saw themselves as a new version of the Biblical

Israelites. God was leading them out of England/ Egypt and
into America, the Promised Land. They were fulfilling Gods
plan.
 Puritan did not tolerate dissent or non-puritan
religions.

 Puritans did not tolerate idleness or excessive

celebration.

 Puritans used public punishment like whipping and

humiliation to enforce the rules. They executed people,
usually by hanging them.

 Church leaders and government leaders were closely

connected, sometimes the same people; there was still
no separation of church and state.
Puritan Writing Style
Church Sermon Style
Purposiveness
Plain Prose Style
Focus on History
 Puritan Forms of Writing
1. Diaries
• The puritan people chose to keep Diaries regarding their
daily lives.
• Puritan specifically wrote spiritual autobiographies, where
many puritan people tried to capture their journey to achieving
Gods grace.

2. Poetry
• Poetry was also a popular form of Puritan writing
• Many famous Puritan ere poets like Anne Badstreet and
Edward Taylor expressed their anxiety and wonder of living in
the new settlements by use of poetry.
3. Religious Sermons/Writing
• Traits of puritan writing included simple verse and
plain style
• The Bay Psalm Book- a translation of the Biblical book
of psalm, also the first boo published in America
• Michael Wigglesworth wrote “ The Day of Doom”, a
poem that brutally depicted the suffering of non believers
on Judgement Day ( Puritan believed this was the day of
reckoning).
• The Day of Doom was considered Americas first best
seller
 Famous Puritan Writers
John Milton
He was a 17th-century poet most known for the epic work
“Paradise Lost”. He also published pamphlets to promote
his controversial political views, including the belief that
the church of England should be abolished. Milton
advocate for tolerance, rather that state-mandated
religion, and wrote works criticizing the tyrannical rule of
King Charles l.
Anne Bradstreet
Was an English poet and prose writer who migrated
to the Massachusetts Bay Colony with her family.
One of her most famous works, "The Tenth Muse
Lately Sprung Up in America," was released in
England in 1650 after her brother-in-law secretly
had it published. Bradstreet's poems often explored
her spiritual beliefs and issues of domestic life.
Cotton Mather
A Puritan minister from New England who wrote
biographies, historical accounts, almanacs, pamphlets
and many other prose works, including "Pillars of
Salt," "Magnalia Christi Americana" and "The Biblia
Americana." Mather was a prominent figure during the
Salem witch trials and composed a letter influencing
courts to accept accounts of spectral sightings as
evidence.
William Bradford
An Englishman who helped found the Plymouth Colony
in Massachusetts in 1620 and served as its governor for
31 years. His two-volume work "Of Plymouth
Plantation" offers a detailed account of expanding the
early New England settlement. Bradford was one of the
signers of the Mayflower Compact and was involved in
drafting the legal code for the Plymouth Colony.
Neoclassical
Period
The period of enlightenment, “age of reason” and
era of logic”.
‫ ﺣ‬Neoclassical Literature is
characterized by order, accuracy and
structure.
‫ ﺣ‬Literature of the age is concerned with
“nature” human nature, supremacy of
reason.
‫ ﺣ‬The unity in the works of all writers.
‫ ﺣ‬The age wished to understand not to
imagine.
‫ ﺣ‬The 18th century in English literature has been called the
neo-classical age, Augustan age and the age of reason.

‫ ﺣ‬Specifically, the Neo-classical age was the period after the

pest oration era of the death of Alexander Pope.

‫ ﺣ‬The major writers of the age were Pope and Johnson,

Dryden in poetry and Jonathan Swift and Joseph
Addition in prose.

‫ ﺣ‬Neo-classical period ended in 1798 when Wordsworth

published the Romantic “Lyrical Ballads”
Neo-classical literature is characterized by order,
accuracy, and structure. In direct opposition to
Renaissance attitudes, where man was see as basically
good, the Neo-classical writers portrayed man as
inherently flawed. They emphasized restraint, self
control and common sense. In addition, this was the
time when conservatism flourished in both politics and
literature.
Some popular types of literature in
Neo-classical Age

Parody Satire
Essays Melodrama

Letters Fables
 Neo-classical period of literature
can divided into three part.

THE RESTORATION PERIOD

THE AUGUSTAN PERIOD

THE AGE OF JOHNSON

THE RESTORATION PERIOD
(1660-1700)

‫ ﺣ‬The Restoration of king Charles II to the English

throne in 1660 after a long period of puritan
domination in England brought a new change in
English literature. Previously closed theaters were
opened again. New group of writers began to write
plays.

‫ ﺣ‬Restoration literature continued to appeal the

heroic ideals of love and honor, particularly on
stage, in heroic tragedy.
Famous Writers
‫ﺣ‬ JOHN DRYDEN
‫ﺣ‬ JOHN MILTON
‫ﺣ‬ SIR WILLIAM TEMPLE
‫ﺣ‬ JOHN LOCKE
‫ﺣ‬ SAMUEL PEPYS
‫ﺣ‬ JEAN RACINE
‫ﺣ‬ JEAN BAPTISTE
 THE AUGUSTAN PERIOD
(1700-1750)

‫ ﺣ‬It is called Augustan

because people was think
like Augusts Caesar. Famous Writers
‫ﺣ‬ ALEXANDER POPE
‫ ﺣ‬This period in marked by
‫ﺣ‬ JONATHAN SWIFT
the imitation of Virgil and
‫ﺣ‬ JOSEPH ADDISON
Horace’s literature in
English letters. ‫ﺣ‬ FRANCIS MARIE
 THE AGE OF JOHNSON
(1750-1790)

‫ ﺣ‬This period marks the transition toward the upcoming

Romanticism through the period is still largely Neo-
classical.

‫ ﺣ‬Much was happening around the world politically, such as

both the American and French Revolutions.

‫ ﺣ‬This time marked a transition in English literature from the

structure and formality of the Neo-classical writers to the
emotion, ungoverned writings of the Romantics.
Famous Writers
‫ﺣ‬ SAMUEL JOHNSON
‫ﺣ‬ EDWARD GIBBON
‫ﺣ‬ GEORGE GRABBE
‫ﺣ‬ ROBERTS BURNS
‫ﺣ‬ WILLIAM COWPER
‫ﺣ‬ THOMAS PAINE
‫ﺣ‬ THOMAS JEFFERSON
‫ﺣ‬ BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
On His Blindness
by John Milton
 John Milton, (born December 9,
1608, London, England—died November
8, 1674, London), English poet,
pamphleteer, and historian, considered
the most significant English author after 
William Shakespeare.
His epic Paradise Lost, classical tragedy 
Samson Agonistes, and pastoral elegy Lycidas
 are widely regarded as the greatest poems of
their kind in English. He is also known for such
prose works as Areopagitica—a fierce defense of
freedom of speech.
On His Blindness
When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts: who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait."
Thank You!