16th And 17th Century English
Changing Roots of a Literary Society
In order to explore the aspects of Prose we must first understand that over the course of those two hundred years, an extraordinary amount of social upheaval and reformation took place. Several changes occurred politically, religiously, and socially. In order to follow the path of English prose, I shall illustrate the use of different pieces of literature during these changing times.
Prose, being a written form of language lacking rhyme and/or meter, was certainly not the prevalent form of literature moving into this time period. Keeping in mind that paper and printing had been invented only a century or so before, most writers used forms of verse ...
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science, art, music, and writing. During all of this, conventions, or habitual patterns in literature began to change. Again, for the most part this affected the non-prose area of literature,
however there were some noticeable changes, which affected prose writings.
The use of the pastoral convention concerned itself with love, pursuit of contentment, and freedom from pride and ambition, rather than the gloomy ideas of war and politics.(lit. background site) As this convention came into use there were also several forms of literature during the period that vanished from use. Sonnets would be one example of this, known to most thanks to Mr. William Shakespeare, although used afterwards by Donne and Milton before being discontinued.(lit. background site) As well, a form used by many known as allegory began to see a decline at this time. Soon after, however, a literary device known as burlesque came into play which is the basis for the modern day novel. Henry Fielding was ...
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sports and festivals, which was denounced by the Puritans as pagan occasions of sin. William Prynne’s book Histrio-Mastix was published only a few months before Charles I reissued the Book of Sports. Prynne’s book was an extreme denunciation of Sunday sports, stage plays, and even court masques. He was severely punished for defacing the monarchs. A piece of literature from a women named Lucy Hutchinson, written in the 1660’s supplies a view of retrospect on the time.
“As the 1630’s wore on, Puritans of Various kinds pressed for more
Reformation in doctrine, worship, and church government to eradicate
‘idolatrous’ and ‘papist’ ...
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"16th And 17th Century English." Essayworld.com. June 29, 2004. Accessed November 30, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/16th-And-17th-Century-English/10251.
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