UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE DO SULINSTITUTO DE LETRAS

DEPARTAMENTO DE LÍNGUAS MODERNASSETOR DE INGLÊS

THE 17TH CENTURY IN ENGLAND

KING JAMES I (1603-1625)

Queen Elizabeth died in 1603 and was suceeded by her nephew James, who was the son of Elizabeth’s cousin Mary Stuart, also known as Mary Queen of Scots. This monarch was, simultaneously, King James I of England and King James VI of Scotland. William Shakespeare served him as faithfully as he had previously served Elizabeth. Macbeth and The Tempest, for instance, were works composed on purpose to praise the King.

http://www.reformation.org/king-james-the-first.jpg

1605 – The Gun Powder Plot (Guy Fawkes Folly)1608 – John Milton is born1611 – The King James Authorized Version of the Holy Bible1616 – Death of William Shakespeare1620 – The Pilgrims leave for America

IN LITERATURE: THE KING JAMES BIBLE

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First attempt at translation: WyclifSecond attempt at translation: TyndaleThird attempt at translation: CoverdaleFor the compiling of the Authorized King James Version

Psalm 121I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,

From whence cometh my help.

My help cometh from the Lord,

Which made heaven and earth.

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved;

He that keepeth thee will not slumber.

Behold, he that keepeth Israel

Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is thy keeper;

The Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.

The sun shall not smite thee by day,

Nor the moon by night.

The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil;

He shall preserve thy soul.

The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in

From this time forth, and even for evermore.

KING CHARLES I (1625-1649)

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1628 – Cromwell becomes a Member of Parliament1629 – Charles I closes the Parliament and rules alone, for 11 years, proclaiming the Divine Rights of the King1634 – Charles I imposes exhorbitant taxes 1640 – The Long Parliament1642 – The Civil War Eclodes: Roundheads versus Cavaliers. The theatres are closed.1647 – Charles I surrenders to Parliament1649 – Charles I is beheaded and England is declared a Commonwealth

OLIVER CROMWELL (1649-1658)

http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/history/virtual/portrait/cromwell.jpg

1651 – Charles II tries to invade England, but fails and seeks refuge in France1653 – Cromwell dissolves the Rump Parliament and bocomes Lord Protector1657 – Cromwell refuses the crown of England1658 – Cromwell dies and is suceeded by one of his sons, Richard. But Richard resigns within one year, and the country is governed by Parliament until 1660, when the crown is returned to the Stuarts and Charles II is brought from France.

IN LITERATURE: JOHN MILTON (1608-1674)

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/graphics/pl.gif

A JOHN MILTON CHRONOLOGY 

by Roy C. Flannagan, Ohio University

Available on the Internet at: www.richmond.edu/~creamer/ milton / chronology .html Access on the 25th March 2005

1629 December 25. "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity"

1632 Milton's "On Shakespeare" published in the Second Folio of Shakespeare's works.

1637 Comus is publishedLycidas written

1641 Of Reformation published. Of Prelatical Episcopacy published. Animadversions published.

1642 The Reason for Church Government published.

1643 Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce published.

1644 Second, augmented edition of Doctrine and Discipline published. Of Education published.The Judgement of Martin Bucer Concerning Divorce published.Areopagitica published.

1645 Tetrachordon and Colasterion published.Poems of Mr. John Milton, Both English and Latin...1645 registered for publication.

1646 Poems...1645 published.

1649 Tenure of Kings and Magistrates published.Observations on the Articles of Peace published.Eikonoklastes ("breaker of icons") published.

1651 Defensio pro populo Anglicano ("defense of the English people," to vindicate the actions of the English on the Continent) published.

1652 Becomes totally blind towards the end of the month, most likely as the result of glaucoma.

1654 Defensio Secunda published.

1655  Milton resumes private scholarship, preparing a Latin dictionary and Greek lexicon; possibly he works on De Doctrina Christiana ("On Christia Doctrine"), his summary of his own theological beliefs.Possibly works on Paradise Lost.Salary reduced from £288 to £150, but that becomes a pension for life.Defensio Pro Se ("defence of himself") published.

1659 A Treatise of Civil Power published.Ready and Easy Way To Establish a Free Commonwealth published. The Likeliest Means to Remove Hirelings out of the Church published.

1660 Revised edition of the Ready and Easy Way.

1662 Sonnet to Sir Henry Vane published.

1667 Paradise Lost published, in ten books. Milton's agreement with Samuel Simmons the printer is the earliest author's contract preserved (Lindenbaum).

1668 Paradise Lost reissued with a new title page, the arguments, and other preliminary matter.

1669 Accidence Commenced Grammar published.

1670 History of Britain published.

1671 Paradise Regain'd and Samson Agonistes published together.

1672 Art of Logic published.

1673 Of True Religion published.Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions ...1675 published.

1674 Epistolae Familiares ("familiar letters" or "letters to friends") and Prolusiones ("prolusions,"college exercises) published.Second edition of Paradise Lost published, in twelve books, with commendatory poems by "S.B." and Andrew Marvell.

Milton uses the form of the Petrarchian Sonnet (abba, abba, cde, cde + Jambic pentametre)

ODE TO HIS BLINDNESS

When I consider how my life is spent aEre half my days, in this dark world and wide, bAnd that one talent which is death to hide bLodged with me useless, though my soul more bent aTo serve therewith my maker, and present aMy true account, lst he returning chide; b“Doth God exact thy labour, light denied?” bI fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent aThat murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need cEither man’s work nor his own gifts. Who best dBear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state eIs kingly: thousands at his bidding speed, cAnd post o’er land and ocean without rest; dThey also serve they who stand and wait.” e

ENGLISH WRITERS ALIVE IN THE 17TH CENTURYSir Walter Raleigh

Francis Bacon

William Shakespeare

Ben Jonson

John Donne

George Wither

Robert Herrick

Izaak Walton

John Milton

Sir John Suckling

Richard Lovelace

John Bunyan

John Dryden

Samuel Pepys

William Congrave

Andrew Marvell

JOHN DONNE (1573-1631)

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Meditation 17 (In: Devotions upon Emergent Occasions)

XVII

Nunc lento sonitu dicunt, Morieris

Now, this Bell tolling softly for another, saies to me, Thou must die.

PERCHANCE hee for whom this Bell tolls, may be so ill, as that he knowes not it tolls for him; And perchance I may thinke my selfe so much better than I am, as that they

who are about mee, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for mee, and I know not that. The Church is Catholike, universall, so are all her Actions; All that she does, belongs to all. When she baptizes a child, that action concernes mee; for that child is thereby connected to that Head which is my Head too, and engraffed into that body, whereof I am a member. And when she buries a Man, that action concernes me: All mankinde is of one Author, and is one volume; when one Man dies, one Chapter is not torne out of the booke, but translated into a better language; and every Chapter must be so translated; God emploies several translators; some peeces are translated by age, some by sicknesse, some by warre, some by justice; but Gods hand is in every translation; and his hand shall binde up all our scattered leaves againe, for that Librarie where every booke shall lie open to one another: As therefore the Bell that rings to a Sermon, calls not upon the Preacher onely, but upon the Congregation to come; so this Bell calls us all: but how much more mee, who am brought so neere the doore by this sicknesse. There was a contention as farre as a suite, (in which both pietie and dignitie, religion, and estimation, were mingled) which of the religious Orders should ring to praiers first in the Morning; and it was that they should ring first that rose earliest. If we understand aright the dignitie of this Belle that tolls for our evening prayer, wee would bee glad to make it ours, by rising early, in that application, that it might bee ours, as wel as his, whose indeed it is. The Bell doth toll for him that thinkes it doth; and though it intermit againe, yet from that minute, that that occasion wrought upon him, hee is united to God. Who casts not up his Eye to the Sunne when it rises? but who takes off his Eye from a Comet when that breakes out? Who bends not his eare to any bell, which upon any occasion rings? but who can remove it from that bell, which is passing a peece of himselfe out of this world? No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee. Neither can we call this a begging of Miserie or a borrowing of Miserie, as though we were not miserable enough of our selves, but must fetch in more from the next house, in taking upon us the Miserie of our Neighbours. Truly it were an excusable covetousnesse if wee did; for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it. No man hath affliction enough that is not matured, and ripened by it, and made fit for God by that affliction. If a man carry treasure in bullion, or in a wedge of gold, and have none coined into currant Monies, his treasure will not defray him as he travells. Tribulation is Treasure in the nature of it, but it is not currant money in the use of it, except wee get nearer and nearer our home, Heaven, by it. Another man may be sicke too, and sick to death, and this affliction may lie in his bowels, as gold in a Mine, and be of no use to him; but this bell, that tells me of his affliction, digs out, and applies that gold to mee: if by this consideration of anothers danger, I take mine owne into contemplation, and so secure my selfe, by making my recourse to my God, who is our onely securitie.

CHARLES II (1660-1685) AND THE RESTORATION OF THE STUARTS

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1665 – The Plague Year1666 – The Great Fire of London1667 – Paradise Lost is published1674 – Death of John Milton1679 – The Royal Society is founded

JAMES II (1685-1688)

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King James II tries to re-establish Catholicism in England. His attempt is so ill succeeded that he has to give up the throne and seek refuge in France. William

and Mary come from Holland to reign in England. That marks the beginning of the ruling of the House of Hannover and the end of the Stuart dynasty.1687 – Isaac Newton’s Principia is published1688 – Birth of Alexander Pope

WILLIAM AND MARY (1688-1702): THE HOUSE OF HANNOVER

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1694 – Death of Mary

Sources:BURGESS, Anthony. English Literature. London: Longman, 1979.INGLIS, R.B; SPEAR, J. Adventures in English Literature. New York: Harcourt, 1958..