Bunyan, Swift, and Pope
John Bunyan was not the first to write a significant work on the metaphorical journey of life. The story of a man traveling through familiar alien territory while meeting strange people and places has transcended all ages of literature. HomerÆs Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus return from the Trojan War, DanteÆs Comedy is the journey thought the 3 realms of the afterlife, SpenserÆs Faerie Queen exhibit the human virtues while traveling through forests, castles, and meeting dragons. However, The PilgrimÆs Progress is indeed a progression form these works; until this point, these allegories had been written as poems. Bunyan writes in prose, possibly because he was not schooled in letters but in metalworking and wasnÆt trained to shape his words the way previous writers had.In fact, BunyanÆs style is very unique. While undertaking a similar task that John Milton faced, that is, to make the basis of the Bible more identifiable for the reader, Bunyan interlopes quotation from the Bible into his prose. Its almost as if Bunyan had written a research paper and the Bible was his data. From Vanity Fair: ôOne chanced mockingly, beholding the
o While only a hundred years had passed between this writing and the death of William Shakespeare, the idea is very similar to the question of true authorship to the BardÆs plays. o How fitting that Swift chose to make the ideal human characters horses. Of course, the exact opposite of these perfect horses are the Yahoos, who resemble humans. )ôGo, wiser thou! And, in thy scale of sense,Weigh thy opinion against Providence;Call imperfection what thou fancyÆst such,Say, here he gives too little, gives too much;Destroy all creatures for thy sport or gust,Yet cry, if manÆs unhappy, GodÆs unjust;If Man alone engross not HeavenÆs high care,Alone made perfect here, immortal there:Snatch from his hand the balance and the rod,Rejudge his justice, be the God of God. Both Swift and Pope have written on the subject of the ways of man, Swift writes Fiction, Pope writes poetry. Beginning with his second Canto the Slough of Despond, he begins each with what he saw Now I saw, then I saw, So I saw. What causes strife and discord is the opinion of majorities and a God that serves as our scapegoat. Pope, with his lethal rhymed couplets, gives us the imaginary journey created within ourselves to piece together. Rubbish here, but it works with Pope. ôWhen I thought of my family, my friends my countrymen, or human race in general, I considered them as they really were, Yahoos in shape and disposition, perhaps a little more civilized, and qualified with the gift of speech; but making no other use of reason than to improve and multiply those vicesaWhen I happened to0 behold the reflection of my own form in a lake or fountain, I turned away my face in horror and detestation of myself, and could better endure the sight of a common Yahoo than of my own person. Yet, he retains an element of poetic song in the PilgrimÆs progress. The Houyhnhnms are the most likeable characters within GulliverÆs travels. Swift uses the travels of an imaginary character to report his views while Pope speaks in an abstract form of the actions of people. He writes about human behavior, religion, politics, and other forms sociology while filling the office of them. Despite his limited education, IÆm sure that Bunyan was able to pick up a copy of the Comedy somewhere and learn to mimic it.
Common topics in this essay:
Thames River,
Minds Vietnamese,
God Godo,
PatrickÆs Cathedral,
Pope English,
IÆm Bunyan,
Swift Swift,
Englando Houyhnhnms,
Vanity Fair,
Providence Call,
journey life,
pilgrimÆs progress,
exact opposite,
human race,
previous writers,
vanity fair,
reason improve,
alexander pope,
improve multiply,
reason improve multiply,
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Acceptance Essays
