Paper 105 :The Puritan Movement and Its Impact on Seventeenth-Century English Literature

  The Puritan Movement and Its Impact on Seventeenth-Century English Literature

Table of Content :

Academic Details                                                            1           

Assignment Details                                                                                                         2      

Introduction                    3               

Stylistic Reforms: From Ornate Rhetoric to Plain Prose        4

Thematic Impositions: Providence, Sin, and the Divided Se                                       5

Contextual Influences: Puritanism, the Civil War, and Literary Providentialism 8            |

Counterarguments and Broader Legacy                                                                     10       

Conclusion                                                             11   

References                     12

Academic Details:

• Name : Siddhiba.R.Gohil

• Roll No : 34

• Enrollment No : 5108250017

• Semester : 1

• Batch : 2025-2027

• Email : siddhibagohil25@gmail.com 

Assignment Details:
Paper Name	History of English Literature – From 1350 to 1900
Paper No.	105
Topic	The Puritan Movement and Its Impact on Seventeenth-Century English Literature
Word Count	Words
Submitted To	Smt. Sujata Binoy Gardi, Department of English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

 

The following information—numbers are counted using Docs :

Pages                                                     10
Words                                                    2032      
Characters                                             15757
Characters excluding spaces                 13018

Introduction :

The seventeenth century in England was a period of profound religious, political, and cultural upheaval, marked by the English Civil War, the execution of King Charles I, and the brief establishment of the Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell. At the heart of these transformations lay the Puritan movement—a diverse coalition of Protestant reformers who sought to "purify" the Church of England from what they perceived as lingering Catholic corruptions. Puritans emphasized personal piety, scriptural authority, predestination, and a moral rigor that permeated all aspects of life, including literature. This essay explores the Puritan movement's impact on seventeenth-century English literature, examining how it reshaped prose styles, influenced thematic content, and intersected with broader socio-political currents.

Drawing on scholarly works such as L. Ziff's "The Literary Consequences of Puritanism" (JSTOR, 1959), H. Fisch's "The Puritans and the Reform of Prose-Style" (JSTOR, 1958), R. Ashton's "Puritanism and Progress" (JSTOR, 1967), M. Grimley's "The Religion of Englishness: Puritanism, Providentialism, and the English Civil War" (JSTOR, 2007), and Ciprian Simuţ's "Body, Soul, and Sin in 17th Century British Puritanism: The Writings of Thomas Adams (1583-1652)" (ResearchGate, 2020), this analysis argues that Puritanism did not merely censor or suppress literary expression but profoundly innovated it. By promoting a plain, utilitarian style and infusing works with themes of divine providence, moral introspection, and communal ethics, Puritans contributed to the era's literary evolution from Renaissance exuberance to the introspective depth of the Restoration. The essay is structured around key impacts: stylistic reforms, thematic impositions, and contextual influences during the Civil War.

Stylistic Reforms: From Ornate Rhetoric to Plain Prose :

One of the most tangible legacies of Puritanism on seventeenth-century literature was its advocacy for a reformed prose style, shifting away from the elaborate, Latinate rhetoric of the Elizabethan age toward a "plain style" rooted in clarity, sincerity, and biblical fidelity. This transformation, as H. Fisch elucidates in "The Puritans and the Reform of Prose-Style", was not merely aesthetic but theological: Puritans viewed ornate language as a remnant of popish vanity, antithetical to the unadorned truth of Scripture (Fisch, 1958). Fisch traces this reform to influential Puritan divines like William Perkins and William Ames, who in their treatises on preaching—such as Perkins's The Arte of Prophesying (1607)—insisted on "perspicuity," or transparency, to ensure that words served God's message rather than human display.

This stylistic mandate permeated non-religious literature as well. Consider John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (1678), a quintessential Puritan allegory that employs simple, allegorical prose to depict Christian's journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. Bunyan, a Baptist preacher imprisoned for nonconformity, exemplifies the Puritan commitment to accessible language; his narrative avoids classical allusions in favor of everyday idioms drawn from the King James Bible. Ziff, in "The Literary Consequences of Puritanism", argues that this plainness democratized literature, making it a tool for moral instruction accessible to the unlettered masses, thereby expanding the audience for prose fiction (Ziff, 1959). Ziff further notes that Puritan stylistics influenced even secular writers like John Milton, whose early prose pamphlets, such as Areopagitica (1644), blend rhetorical flourish with Puritan directness to defend press freedom while condemning licentiousness.

The impact extended to poetry, where Puritan poets like George Herbert and Andrew Marvell adapted metaphysical conceits to moral ends. Herbert's The Temple (1633) uses intricate emblematic structures but subordinates them to devotional humility, reflecting the Puritan disdain for artifice. Marvell's "The Garden" (c. 1650s) juxtaposes sensual retreat with providential duty, echoing the tension between worldly delight and spiritual vigilance. Fisch contends that this reform was double-edged: while it stripped away excess, it risked dullness, yet it fostered a precision that anticipated the empirical prose of the Royal Society (Fisch, 1958). Thus, Puritanism's stylistic imprint laid groundwork for the neoclassical clarity of Dryden and Pope in the ensuing century.

Critics might argue that this plainness stifled creativity, but evidence suggests adaptation rather than suppression. Puritan writers repurposed rhetorical tools—metaphor, antithesis—for edification, as seen in Richard Baxter's The Saints' Everlasting Rest (1650), a devotional manual whose vivid imagery serves doctrinal ends. Overall, the reform of prose style under Puritan influence marked a pivotal shift toward functional literature, prioritizing ethical utility over ornamental beauty.

 Thematic Impositions: Providence, Sin, and the Divided Self :

Beyond style, Puritanism infused seventeenth-century literature with enduring themes: divine providence, the ineradicable stain of sin, and the soul's arduous quest for grace. These motifs, drawn from Calvinist theology, emphasized human depravity and God's sovereign will, transforming narrative structures from heroic epics to introspective journeys of redemption.

Ciprian Simuţ's analysis of Thomas Adams in "Body, Soul, and Sin in 17th Century British Puritanism" provides a microcosmic view of this thematic dominance (Simuţ, 2020). Adams, a lesser-known but prolific Puritan preacher, explored the tripartite anthropology of body, soul, and sin in sermons like The Soldier's Honour (1619) and Diseases of the Soule (1616). Simuţ highlights how Adams portrayed sin not as abstract vice but as a corporeal affliction—lust as a "fever of the flesh," pride as a "distemper of the spirit"—demanding rigorous self-examination. This somatic emphasis influenced literary depictions of the human condition; for instance, John Donne's later Holy Sonnets (c. 1610-1620), though pre-Puritan in chronology, resonate with Puritan sensibilities in lines like "Batter my heart, three-person'd God," where divine violence redeems the sin-wrecked self.

Milton's epic Paradise Lost (1667) epitomizes Puritan thematic ambition on a grand scale. As a Puritan sympathizer who served the Commonwealth, Milton wove providential history into his retelling of the Fall, portraying Satan's rebellion as a cautionary tale of unchecked ambition. Ziff observes that Milton's work bears the "literary consequences" of Puritanism by subordinating classical epic machinery to biblical teleology: the Son's sacrifice prefigures Cromwell's godly revolution, while Adam and Eve's expulsion underscores predestined grace (Ziff, 1959). Yet, Milton's ambivalence—his portrayal of Satan as a tragic anti-hero—reveals Puritanism's internal tensions, allowing space for humanistic inquiry within orthodox bounds.

Simuţ extends this to communal themes, noting Adams's sermons urged collective repentance amid England's moral decay, a motif echoed in Puritan poetry. Anne Bradstreet, though writing from colonial America, drew on English Puritan roots in The Tenth Muse (1650), where poems like "Contemplations" meditate on nature as a providential signpost, blending awe with warnings of vanity. In England, Edward Taylor's Preparatory Meditations (c. 1680s, unpublished until later) similarly use domestic metaphors—the "Huswifery" of spinning grace from sin—to explore soul-body dualism.

These themes were not monolithic; Puritanism's emphasis on sin fostered psychological depth, prefiguring the novel's rise. Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719), on the cusp of the eighteenth century, inherits this legacy: Crusoe's island isolation mirrors the Puritan "errand into the wilderness," his conversion narrative a paean to providential deliverance from sin's tempests. Fisch links this to prose reforms, arguing that plain style enabled such introspective realism (Fisch, 1958). Thus, Puritan themes enriched literature with moral gravity, turning texts into mirrors for the reader's soul.

 Contextual Influences: Puritanism, the Civil War, and Literary Providentialism :

The Puritan movement's literary impact cannot be divorced from its socio-political context, particularly the English Civil War (1642-1651), where religious fervor fueled regicide and republican experimentation. M. Grimley's "The Religion of Englishness: Puritanism, Providentialism, and the English Civil War" frames Puritanism as a "civil religion" that mythologized England as God's elect nation, infusing literature with providential narratives that justified upheaval (Grimley, 2007). Providentialism—the belief that historical events manifested divine will—permeated pamphlets, histories, and dramas, transforming literature into a battleground for ideological contestation.

During the 1640s, Puritan propagandists like John Lilburne and the Levellers produced tracts such as England's Birth-Right (1645), employing stark, biblical rhetoric to rally against monarchy. Grimley argues this fostered a "literature of crisis," where providence explained victories like Naseby (1645) as God's judgment on prelacy (Grimley, 2007). Lucy Hutchinson's Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson (c. 1660s, published 1806) exemplifies this: her hagiographic account of her husband's Parliamentarian service weaves personal piety with national destiny, portraying the war as a purge of sin.

R. Ashton's "Puritanism and Progress" broadens this to socio-economic dimensions, linking Puritan ethic to emerging capitalism and its literary reflections (Ashton, 1967). Ashton posits that Puritanism's valorization of industriousness—rooted in Weberian "spirit of capitalism"—influenced works like Baxter's A Christian Directory (1673), which extols labor as divine calling. This ethic appears in dramatic literature; Ben Jonson's The Alchemist (1610), though pre-war, anticipates Puritan critiques of idleness, while post-war Restoration comedies like Etherege's The Man of Mode (1676) satirize lingering Puritan austerity.

The Interregnum's censorship under the Rump Parliament paradoxically spurred innovation. Milton's Eikonoklastes (1649) dismantled royalist iconography, using providential exegesis to legitimize Charles I's execution. Ziff notes this era's "consequences" included a surge in autobiographical writing, as Puritans like Bunyan documented spiritual autobiographies to affirm election amid chaos (Ziff, 1959). Grimley extends this to cultural identity: Puritan providentialism crafted an "Englishness" of covenantal obligation, echoed in Andrew Marvell's An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland (1650), which balances republican zeal with monarchical elegy.

Post-Restoration, Puritan themes persisted underground. John Owen's theological treatises and the nonconformist diaries of Ralph Josselin (1616-1683) reveal a literature of quiet resistance, preserving providential introspection. Ashton's analysis suggests this "progressive" Puritanism—merging piety with innovation—paved the way for Enlightenment rationalism in literature, as seen in Defoe's journalistic style (Ashton, 1967). Yet, the Civil War's trauma also bred reaction; Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel (1681) mocks Puritan "enthusiasm" as fanaticism, highlighting the movement's polarizing legacy.In sum, the war contextualized Puritan literature as activist discourse, blending theology with politics to forge a narrative of national redemption.

 Counterarguments and Broader Legacy :

While Puritanism undeniably shaped seventeenth-century literature, detractors like T.S. Eliot have dismissed it as antithetical to true artistry, claiming its moralism engendered "dissociation of sensibility" (Eliot, 1921). However, Ziff counters that Puritanism's "consequences" were generative, fostering introspection over ornament (Ziff, 1959). Fisch similarly defends the plain style as liberating, not limiting (Fisch, 1958). Ashton's economic lens reveals Puritanism's role in "progress," enabling literature's adaptation to modernity (Ashton, 1967), while Grimley underscores its mythic power in defining English identity (Grimley, 2007). Simuţ's focus on Adams illustrates how granular theological concerns yielded profound psychological insights (Simuţ, 2020).

The movement's legacy endures: the novel's rise owes much to Puritan narrative forms, from spiritual autobiographies to moral fables. Themes of providence and sin persist in Romantic and Victorian works, underscoring Puritanism's indelible mark.

 Conclusion :

The Puritan movement profoundly impacted seventeenth-century English literature, reforming its style toward plain utility, imbuing it with themes of sin and providence, and embedding it within the Civil War's providential drama. Through the lenses of Ziff, Fisch, Ashton, Grimley, and Simuţ, we see not suppression but reinvention—a literature honed for moral urgency amid turmoil. As England transitioned from revolution to restoration, Puritanism ensured that words remained weapons of the spirit, echoing the era's quest for a godly commonwealth. Future scholarship might explore transnational Puritan influences, but for now, these dynamics affirm literature's role as conscience of the age.

 References :

- Ashton, R. (1967). Puritanism and Progress. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2592631

- Fisch, H. (1958). The Puritans and the Reform of Prose-Style. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2871897

- Simuţ, C. (2020). Body, Soul, and Sin in 17th Century British Puritanism: The Writings of Thomas Adams (1583-1652). ResearchGate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342869691_Body,_Soul,_and_Sin_in_17th_Century_British_Puritanism

- Ziff, L. (1959). The Literary Consequences of Puritanism. JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2872040