1642 Civil War between the royalists- the king and his supporters ( the Cavaliers) - and the supporters of Parliament (the Roundheads)

Oliver Cromwell - a Puritan member of the Parliament brought victory to the Parliamentary forces and temporarily ended monarchy in 1649.

The King James Bible

The noblest monument of English prose. First English language translation of Bible to receive widespread.

Was written under the orders of King James I in 1611.

Exerted an enormous stabilising effect on the English language, which had been steadily changing since the Norman Conquest.

The Bible is written in prose, but some portions use free verse, poetry without rhyme or metre.

John Milton 1608-1674

The most outstanding English poet of the 17th century.

Milton wrote distinguished poetry, including ‘Lycidas’ a fine elegy in English, written upon the death of his close college friend.

‘Paradise Lost’

‘Paradise Lost’ is an epic divided into 12 books.

The style is formal. It is written in blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter), which until Milton’s attempt was mostly used in drama.

Milton does use metaphors and sometimes extends them over many lines, he does bot exhibit his witty intellect.

‘Paradise Lost’ has been admired for its characters, who all are such vivid personalities.

Other works

‘Paradise Regained’, another Milton’s epic is in many ways different from ‘Paradise Lost’.

The cast of characters has been narrowed down to two - the Son of God and Satan.

In ‘Samson Agonistes’, a drama written on the Greek model, Milton describes the triumphant death of the old hero Samson.

John Bunyan 1628-1688

‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’ is a religious allegory. It tells a story of a man called Christian who leaves his home, the City of Destruction for the Celestial City.

‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’ is the first book of English literature ever to be translated into Estonian.