4..17世纪玄学派和弥尔顿及班扬

The 17th Century—Revolution and

Restoration

1 A brief introduction of the 17th century

1.1 Historical background

●The 17th century was one of the most tempestuous periods in the history. This century witnessed at least two revolutions: puritan revolution (1640-1660) and glorious revolution (1688). Puritan revolution began with the calling of the Long Parliament by King Charles I and proceeded through two civil wars (1642-1648), the trial and execution of the king (1649), the republican experiments of Oliver Cromwell (1649-1653), and, ultimately, the restoration of King Charles II (1660). Because of these two revolutions, the political system in England underwent somewhat great changes.

●Because of these two revolutions, the political system in England underwent somewhat great changes. First, after the Puritan revolution there established a kind of military dictatorship under which the people suffered greatly. Second, after the glorious revolution, there brought to England a constitutional monarchy (君主立宪制), within which the king’s power was greatly restricted and the revolution meant three things: the supremacy of Parliament, the beginning of modern England, and the final triumph of the principle of political liberty for which the Puritan had fought and suffered hardship for a hundred years.

●The general features of the age are the transition and the spirit of doubt and scientific analysis. Transition here means the transition

from the absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy, the transition from agricultural to manufacturing etc.

术语解释：Puritanism:Puritanism was the religious doctrine of the revolutionary bourgeoisie during the English Revolution. It preached thrift, sobriety, hard work and unceasing labor in whatever calling one happened to be, but with no extravagant ( [ik'strævəɡənt] 奢侈的；放纵的) enjoyment of the fruits of labor. The wealthy were to accumulate capital, the poor to labor at their tasks, as a ―divine duty‖. Worldly pleasures were condemned as harmful. This was precisely the outlook needed by the bourgeoisie for the accumulation of capital. The Puritans opposed the old church that squandered a lot of money upon robes, candles and magnificent processions. They closed down the London theatres in 1642, not only for their extravagance and deterioration but

also for the puritanic abhorrence of ―worldly‖pleasures in general.

1.2 Literary characteristics

The Revolution Period was one of confusion in literature. English literature of the period witnessed a decline and degeneration. We can see that it is different from the literature of Elizabeth Period in three aspects.

1)Elizabeth literature had a marked unity and the feeling of patriotism and devotion to the Queen, but in the Revolution Period, all this was changed, the king became the open enemies of the people, and the country was divided by the struggle for political and religious liberty. So literature was divided in spirit as were the struggling parties.

2)Elizabeth literature was generally inspiring. It throbbed with youth and hope and vitality. Literature in the Puritan Age expressed