LITERATURE OF THE 17TH CENTURY

The Genesis, Myth and Popular Literature of the Seventeenth Century

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The Genesis, Myth and Popular Literature of the Seventeenth Century

The seventeenth century literature was characterized by controversies within societies, satire, the use of complex metaphor and circumstance. Many authors explored theological imagery. The themes of exploration were also evident. Some of the popular seventeenth century works of literature with these characteristics include Paradise Lost and the fall from Grace, Milton and the Bible as well as Love, Loss and the Geographical imagination in the Poetry of John Donne.

Issues that led to the civil war were also addressed in the seventeenth century literature. This included absolutism and popular sovereignty. Also explored were monarchy, Puritanism, Anglicanism and religious uniformity among others (Abrams, 1968).

The seventeenth century was a period awash with political changes, changes in social conditions, culture, politics and domestic relations. As such, the authors made use of literature to relay their opinions about the society.

Paradise Lost, for instance, touches on the Genesis story. It raises challenge on the orthodox idea of the innocence of the Garden of Eden. This raises the topic of marital relationships, a topic which was highly debated in the seventeenth century. Other topics explored in the seventeenth century include servitude and liberty (Radzinowicz, 1978).

Paradise Lost reworks the metaphors of the family using the context of Genesis. The Genesis myth was used to argue reform in the social and political spheres. The genesis story was contrasted with the myth of Utopia. Utopias are mostly political and fictional even when not arguing for reform. In the Genesis myth, reforms are inclined to Biblical exegesis (Ng, 2007).

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Abrams, M. H. (1968). The Norton anthology of English literature. New York: W.W. Norton.

Ng, S. F. (2007). Literature and the politics of family in seventeenth-century England. Cambridge [England: Cambridge University Press.

Radzinowicz, M. A. (1978). Toward Samson Agonistes: The growth of Milton’s mind. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press.