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Outlines of English and American Literature
John Bunyan
by Long, William J.
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There is a striking contrast between the poet and the prose writer of the
Puritan age. Milton the poet is a man of culture, familiar with the best
literature of all ages; Bunyan the prose writer is a poor, self-taught
laborer who reads his Bible with difficulty, stumbling over the hard
passages. Milton writes for the cultivated classes, in harmonious verse
adorned with classic figures; Bunyan speaks for common men in sinewy prose,
and makes his meaning clear by homely illustrations drawn from daily life.
Milton is a solitary and austere figure, admirable but not lovable; Bunyan
is like a familiar acquaintance, ruddy-faced, clear-eyed, who wins us by
his sympathy, his friendliness, his good sense and good humor. He is known
as the author of one book, The Pilgrim's Progress, but that book has
probably had more readers than any other that England has ever produced.
Life
During Bunyan's lifetime England was in a state of religious
ferment or revival, and his experience of it is vividly portrayed
in a remarkable autobiography called Grace Abounding to the
Chief of Sinners. In reading this book we find that his life is
naturally separated into two periods. His youth was a time of
struggle with doubts and temptations; his later years were
characterized by inward peace and tireless labor. His peace meant
that he was saved, his labor that he must save others. Here, in a
word, is the secret of all his works.
He was born (1628) in the village of Elstow, Bedfordshire, and was
the son of a poor tinker. He was sent to school long enough to
learn elementary reading and writing; then he followed the tinker's
trade; but at the age of sixteen, being offended at his father's
second marriage, he ran away and joined the army.
As a boy Bunyan had a vivid but morbid imagination, which led him
to terrible doubts, fears, fits of despondency, hallucinations. On
such a nature the emotional religious revivals of the age made a
tremendous impression. He followed them for years, living in a
state of torment, until he felt himself converted; whereupon he
turned preacher and began to call other sinners to repentance. Such
were his native power and rude eloquence that, wherever he went,
the common people thronged to hear him.
In Bedford Jail
After the Restoration all this was changed. Public meetings were
forbidden unless authorized by bishops of the Established Church,
and Bunyan was one of the first to be called to account. When
ordered to hold no more meetings he refused to obey, saying that
when the Lord called him to preach salvation he would listen only
to the Lord's voice. Then he was thrown into Bedford jail. During
his imprisonment he supported his family by making shoe laces, and
wrote Grace Abounding and The Pilgrim's Progress.
After his release Bunyan became the most popular writer and
preacher in England. He wrote a large number of works, and went
cheerfully up and down the land, preaching the gospel to the poor,
helping the afflicted, doing an immense amount of good. He died
(1688) as the result of exposure while on an errand of mercy. His
works were then known only to humble readers, and not until long
years had passed did critics awaken to the fact that one of
England's most powerful and original writers had passed away with
the poor tinker of Elstow.
Works of Bunyan
From the pen of this uneducated preacher came nearly sixty
works, great and small, the most notable of which are: Grace
Abounding (1666), a kind of spiritual autobiography; The Holy
War (1665), a prose allegory with a theme similar to that of Milton's
epic; and The Life and Death of Mr. Badman (1682), a character study
which was a forerunner of the English novel. These works are seldom read,
and Bunyan is known to most readers as the author of The Pilgrim's
Progress (1678). This is the famous allegory [Footnote: Allegory is
figurative writing, in which some outward object or event is described in
such a way that we apply the description to humanity, to our mental or
spiritual experiences. The object of allegory, as a rule, is to teach moral
lessons, and in this it is like a drawn-out fable and like a parable. The
two greatest allegories in our literature are Spenser's Faery Queen
and Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.] in which, under guise of telling
the story of a pilgrim in search of a city, Bunyan portrays the experiences
of humanity in its journey from this world to the next. Here is an outline
of the story:
Story of Pilgrim's Progress
In the City of Destruction lives a poor sinner called Christian.
When he learns that the city is doomed, he is terrified and flees
out of it, carrying a great burden on his back. He is followed by
the jeers of his neighbors, who have no fear. He seeks a safe and
abiding city to dwell in, but is ignorant how to find it until
Evangelist shows him the road.
As he goes on his journey Mr. Worldly Wiseman meets him and urges
him to return; but he hastens on, only to plunge into the Slough of
Despond. His companion Pliable is here discouraged and turns back.
Christian struggles on through the mud and reaches the Wicket Gate,
where Interpreter shows him the way to the Celestial City. As he
passes a cross beside the path, the heavy burden which he carries
(his load of sins) falls off of itself. Then with many adventures
he climbs the steep hill Difficulty, where his eyes behold the
Castle Beautiful. To reach this he must pass some fearful lions in
the way, but he adventures on, finds that the lions are chained, is
welcomed by the porter Watchful, and is entertained in the castle
overnight.
Dangers thicken and difficulties multiply as he resumes his
journey. His road is barred by the demon Apollyon, whom he fights
to the death. The way now dips downward into the awful Valley of
the Shadow. Passing through this, he enters the town of Vanity,
goes to Vanity Fair, where he is abused and beaten, and where his
companion Faithful is condemned to death. As he escapes from
Vanity, the giant Despair seizes him and hurls him into the gloomy
dungeon of Doubt. Again he escapes, struggles onward, and reaches
the Delectable Mountains. There for the first time he sees the
Celestial City, but between him and his refuge is a river, deep and
terrible, without bridge or ford. He crosses it, and the journey
ends as angels come singing down the streets to welcome Christian
into the city. [Footnote: This is the story of the first part of
Pilgrim's Progress, which was written in Bedford jail, but
not published till some years later. In 1684 Bunyan published the
second part of his story, describing the adventures of Christiana
and her children on their journey to the Celestial City. This
sequel, like most others, is of minor importance.]
Such an outline gives but a faint idea of Bunyan's great work, of its
realistic figures, its living and speaking characters, its knowledge of
humanity, its portrayal of the temptations and doubts that beset the
ordinary man, its picturesque style, which of itself would make the book
stand out above ten thousand ordinary stories. Pilgrim's Progress is
still one of our best examples of clear, forceful, idiomatic English; and
our wonder increases when we remember that it was written by a man ignorant
of literary models. But he had read his Bible daily until its style and
imagery had taken possession of him; also he had a vivid imagination, a
sincere purpose to help his fellows, and his simple rule of rhetoric was to
forget himself and deliver his message. In one of his poems he gives us his
rule of expression, which is an excellent one for writers and speakers:
Thine only way,
Before them all, is to say out thy say
In thine own native language.
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