The Restoration Period (1660-1700)

After the Restoration in 1660, when Charles II came to the throne, there was a
complete repudiation of the Puritan ideals and way of living. In English literature the
period from 1660 to 1700 is called the period of Restoration, because monarchy was
restored in England, and Charles II, the son of Charles I who had been defeated and
beheaded, came back to England from his exile in France and became the King.
It is called the Age of Dryden, because Dryden was the dominating and most
representative literary figure of the Age. As the Puritans who were previously
controlling the country, and were supervising her literary and moral and social
standards, were finally defeated, a reaction was launched against whatever they
held sacred. All restraints and discipline were thrown to the winds, and a wave of
licentiousness and frivolity swept the country. Charles II and his followers who had
enjoyed a gay life in France during their exile, did their best to introduce that type of
foppery and looseness in England also. They renounced old ideals and demanded
that English poetry and drama should follow the style to which they had become
accustomed in the gaiety of Paris. Instead of having Shakespeare and the
Elizabethans as their models, the poets and dramatists of the Restoration period
began to imitate French writers and especially their vices.
The result was that the old Elizabethan spirit with its patriotism, its love of
adventure and romance, its creative vigour, and the Puritan spirit with its moral
discipline and love of liberty, became things of the past. For a time in poetry, drama
and prose nothing was produced which could compare satisfactorily with the great
achievements of the Elizabethans, of Milton, and even of minor writers of the
Puritan age. But then the writers of the period began to evolve something that was
characteristic of the times and they made two important contributions to English
literature in the form of realism and a tendency to preciseness.
In the beginning realism took an ugly shape, because the writers painted the real
pictures of the corrupt society and court. They were more concerned with vices
rather than with virtues. The result was a coarse and inferior type of literature. Later
this tendency to realism became more wholesome, and the writers tried to portray
realistically human life as they found itits good as well as bad side, its internal as
well as external shape.
The tendency to preciseness which ultimately became the chief characteristic of the
Restoration period, made a lasting contribution to English literature. It emphasised
directness and simplicity of expression, and counteracted the tendency of
exaggeration and extravagance which was encouraged during the Elizabethan and
the Puritan ages. Instead of using grandiloquent phrases, involved sentences full of
Latin quotations and classical allusions, the Restoration writers, under the influence
of French writers, gave emphasis to reasoning rather than romantic fancy, and
evolved an exact, precise way of writing, consisting of short, clear-cut sentences

without any unnecessary word. The Royal Society, which was established during this
period enjoined on all its members to use a close, naked, natural way of speaking
and writing, as near the mathematical plainness as they can. Dryden accepted this
rule for his prose, and for his poetry adopted the easiest type of verse-formthe
heroic couplet. Under his guidance, the English writers evolved a styleprecise,
formal and elegantwhich is called the classical style, and which dominated English
literature for more than a century.
(a) Restoration Poetry
John Dryden (1631-1700). The Restoration poetry was mostly satirical, realistic and
written in the heroic couplet, of which Dryden was the supreme master. He was the
dominating figure of the Restoration period, and he made his mark in the fields of
poetry, drama and prose. In the field of poetry he was, in fact, the only poet worth
mentioning. In his youth he came under the influence of Cowley, and his early
poetry has the characteristic conceits and exaggerations of the metaphysical
school. But in his later years he emancipated himself from the false taste and
artificial style of the metaphysical writers, and wrote in a clear and forceful style
which laid the foundation of the classical school of poetry in England.
The poetry of Dryden can be conveniently divided under three headsPolitical
Satires, Doctrinal Poems and The Fables. Of his political satires, Absolem and
Achitophel and The Medal are well-known. In Absolem and Achitophel, which is one
of the greatest political satires in the English language, Dryden defended the King
against the Earl of Shaftesbury who is represented as Achitophel. It contains
powerful character studies of Shaftesbury and of the Duke of Buckingham who is
represented as Zimri. The Medal is another satirical poem full of invective against
Shaftesbury and MacFlecknoe. It also contains a scathing personal attack on
Thomas Shadwell who was once a friend of Dryden.
The two great doctrinal poems of Dryden are Religio Laici and The Hind and the
Panther. These poems are neither religious nor devotional, but theological and
controversial. The first was written when Dryden was a Protestant, and it defends
the Anglican Church. The second written when Dryden had become a Catholic,
vehemently defends Catholicism. They, therefore, show Drydens power and skill of
defending any position he took up, and his mastery in presenting an argument in
verse.
The Fables, which were written during the last years of Drydens life, show no
decrease in his poetic power. Written in the form of a narrative, they entitle Dryden
to rank among the best story-tellers in verse in England. The Palamon and Arcite,
which is based on Chaucers Knights Tale, gives us an opportunity of comparing the
method and art of a fourteenth century poet with one belonging to the seventeenth
century. Of the many miscellaneous poems of Dryden, Annus Mirabilis is a fine

example of his sustained narrative power. His Alexanders Feast is one of the best
odes in the English language.
The poetry of Dryden possess all the characteristics of the Restoration period and is
therefore thoroughly representative of that age. It does not have the poetic glow,
the spiritual fervour, the moral loftiness and philosophical depth which were sadly
lacking in the Restoration period. But it has the formalism, the intellectual precision,
the argumentative skill and realism which were the main characteristics of that age.
Though Dryden does not reach great poetic heights, yet here and there he gives us
passages of wonderful strength and eloquence. His reputation lies in his being great
as a satirist and reasoner in verse. In fact in these two capacities he is still the
greatest master in English literature. Drydens greatest contribution to English
poetry was his skilful use of the heroic couplet, which became the accepted
measure of serious English poetry for many years.
(b) Restoration Drama
In 1642 the theatres were closed by the authority of the parliament which was
dominated by Puritans and so no good plays were written from 1642 till the
Restoration (coming back of monarchy in England with the accession of Charles II to
the throne) in 1660 when the theatres were re-opened. The drama in England after
1660, called the Restoration drama, showed entirely new trends on account of the
long break with the past. Moreover, it was greatly affected by the spirit of the new
age which was deficient in poetic feeling, imagination and emotional approach to
life, but laid emphasis on prose as the medium of expression, and intellectual,
realistic and critical approach to life and its problems. As the common people still
under the influence of Puritanism had no love for the theatres, the dramatists had to
cater to the taste of the aristocratic class which was highly fashionable, frivolous,
cynical and sophisticated. The result was that unlike the Elizabethan drama which
had a mass appeal, had its roots in the life of the common people and could be
legitimately called the national drama, the Restoration drama had none of these
characteristics. Its appeal was confined to the upper strata of society whose taste
was aristocratic, and among which the prevailing fashions and etiquettes were
foreign and extravagant.
As imagination and poetic feelings were regarded as vulgar enthusiasm by the
dictators of the social life. But as actual life meant the life of the aristocratic class
only, the plays of this period do not give us a picture of the whole nation. The most
popular form of drama was the Comedy of Manners which portrayed the
sophisticated life of the dominant class of societyits gaiety, foppery, insolence and
intrigue. Thus the basis of the Restoration drama was very narrow. The general tone
of this drama was most aptly described by Shelley:
Comedy loses its ideal universality: wit succeeds humour; we laugh from selfcomplacency and triumph; instead of pleasure, malignity, sarcasm and contempt,

succeed to sympathetic merriment; we hardly laugh, but we smile. Obscenity, which

is ever blasphemy against the divine beauty of life, becomes, from the very veil
which it assumes, more active if less disgusting; it is a monster for which the
corruption of society for ever brings forth new food, which it devours in secret.
These new trends in comedy are seen in Drydens Wild Gallant (1663), Etheredges
(1635-1691) The Comical Revenge or Love in a Tub (1664), Wycherleys The Country
Wife and The Plain Dealer, and the plays of Vanbrugh and Farquhar. But the most
gifted among all the Restoration dramatist was William Congreve (1670-1720) who
wrote all his best plays he was thirty years of age. He well-known comedies are
Love for Love (1695) and The Way of the World (1700).
It is mainly on account of his remarkable style that Congreve is put at the head of
the Restoration drama. No English dramatist has even written such fine prose for
the stage as Congreve did. He balances, polishes and sharpens his sentences until
they shine like chiselled instruments for an electrical experiment, through which
passes the current in the shape of his incisive and scintillating wit. As the plays of
Congreve reflect the fashions and foibles of the upper classes whose moral
standards had become lax, they do not have a universal appeal, but as social
documents their value is very great. Moreover, though these comedies were
subjected to a very severe criticism by the Romantics like Shelley and Lamb, they
are now again in great demand and there is a revival of interest in Restoration
comedy.
In tragedy, the Restoration period specialised in Heroic Tragedy, which dealt with
themes of epic magnitude. The heroes and heroines possessed superhuman
qualities. The purpose of this tragedy was didacticto inculcate virtues in the shape
of bravery and conjugal love. It was written in the heroic couplet in accordance
with the heroic convention derived from France that heroic metre should be used
in such plays. In it declamation took the place of natural dialogue. Moreover, it was
characterised by bombast, exaggeration and sensational effects wherever possible.
As it was not based on the observations of life, there was no realistic
characterisation, and it inevitably ended happily, and virtue was always rewarded.
The chief protagonist and writer of heroic tragedy was Dryden. Under his leadership
the heroic tragedy dominated the stage from 1660 to 1678. His first experiment in
this type of drama was his play Tyrannic love, and in The Conquest of Granada he
brought it to its culminating point. But then a severe condemnation of this grand
manner of writing tragedy was started by certain critics and playwrights, of which
Dryden was the main target. It has its effect on Dryden who in his next play
Aurangzeb exercised greater restraint and decorum, and in the Prologue to this play
he admitted the superiority of Shakespeares method, and his own weariness of
using the heroic couplet which is unfit to describe human passions adequately: He
confesses that he:

Grows weary of his long-loved mistress Rhyme,

Passions too fierce to be in fetters bound,
And Nature flies him like enchanted ground;
What verse can do, he has performed in this
Which he presumes the most correct of his;
But spite of all his pride, a secret shame
Invades his breast at Shakespeares sacred name.
Drydens altered attitude is seen more clearly in his next play All for Love (1678).
Thus he writes in the preface: In my style I have professed to imitate Shakespeare;
which that I might perform more freely, I have disencumbered myself from rhyme.
He shifts his ground from the typical heroic tragedy in this play, drops rhyme and
questions the validity of the unities of time, place and action in the conditions of the
English stage. He also gives up the literary rules observed by French dramatists and
follows the laws of drama formulated by the great dramatists of England. Another
important way in which Dryden turns himself away from the conventions of the
heroic tragedy, is that he does not give a happy ending to this play.
(c) Restoration Prose
The Restoration period was deficient in poetry and drama, but in prose it holds its
head much higher. Of course, it cannot be said that the Restoration prose enjoys
absolute supremacy in English literature, because on account of the fall of poetic
power, lack of inspiration, preference of the merely practical and prosaic subjects
and approach to life, it could not reach those heights which it attained in the
preceding period in the hands of Milton and Browne, or in the succeeding ages in
the hands of Lamb, Hazlitt, Ruskin and Carlyle. But it has to be admitted that it was
during the Restoration period that English prose was developed as a medium for
expressing clearly and precisely average ideas and feelings about miscellaneous
matters for which prose is really meant. For the first time a prose style was evolved
which could be used for plain narrative, argumentative exposition of intricate
subjects, and the handling of practical business. The elaborate Elizabethan prose
was unsuited to telling a plain story. The epigrammatic style of Bacon, the
grandiloquent prose of Milton and the dreamy harmonies of Browne could not be
adapted to scientific, historical, political and philosophical writings, and, above all,
to novel-writing. Thus with the change in the temper of the people, a new type of
prose, as was developed in the Restoration period, was essential.
As in the fields of poetry and drama, Dryden was the chief leader and practitioner of
the new prose. In his greatest critical work Essay of Dramatic Poesy, Dryden
presented a model of the new prose, which was completely different from the prose

of Bacon, Milton and Browne. He wrote in a plain, simple and exact style, free from
all exaggerations. His Fables and the Preface to them are fine examples of the prose
style which Dryden was introducing. This style is, in fact, the most admirably suited
to strictly prosaic purposescorrect but not tame, easy but not slipshod, forcible
but not unnatural, eloquent but not declamatory, graceful but not lacking in vigour.
Of course, it does not have charm and an atmosphere which we associate with
imaginative writing, but Dryden never professed to provide that also. On the whole,
for general purposes, for which prose medium is required, the style of Dryden is the
most suitable.
Other writers, of the period, who came under the influence of Dryden, and wrote in
a plain, simple but precise style, were Sir William Temple, John Tillotson and George
Saville better known as Viscount Halifax. Another famous writer of the period was
Thomas Sprat who is better known for the distinctness with which he put the
demand for new prose than for his own writings. Being a man of science himself he
published his History of the Royal Society (1667) in which he expressed the public
demand for a popularised style free from this vicious abundance of phrase, this
trick of metaphors, this volubility of tongue. The Society expected from all its
members a close, natural way of speakingpositive expressions, clear senses, a
native easiness bringing all things as near the mathematical plainness as they can,
and preferring the language of artisans, country men and merchants before that of
wits and scholars.
Though these writers wrote under the influence of Dryden, they also, to a certain
extent, helped in the evolution of the new prose style by their own individual
approach. That is why the prose of the Restoration period is free from monotony.
John Bunyan (1628-1688). Next to Dryden, Bunyan was the greatest prose-writer of
the period. Like Milton, he was imbued with the spirit of Puritanism, and in fact, if
Milton is the greatest poet of Puritanism, Bunyan is its greatest story-teller. To him
also goes the credit of being the precursor of the English novel. His greatest work is
The Pilgrims Progress. Just as Milton wrote his Paradise Lost to justify the ways to
God to men, Bunyans aim in The Pilgrims Progress was to lead men and women
into Gods way, the way of salvation, through a simple parable with homely
characters and exciting events. Like Milton, Bunyan was endowed with a highly
developed imaginative faculty and artistic instinct. Both were deeply religious, and
both, though they distrusted fiction, were the masters of fiction. Paradise Lost and
The Pilgrims Progress have still survived among thousands of equally fervent
religious works of the seventeenth century because both of them are masterpieces
of literary art, which instruct as well please even those who have no faith in those
instructions.
In The Pilgrims Progress, Bunyan has described the pilgrimage of the Christian to
the Heavenly City, the trials, tribulations and temptations which he meets in the
way in the form of events and characters, who abstract and help him, and his

ultimately reaching the goal. It is written in the form of allegory. The style is terse,
simple and vivid, and it appeals to the cultured as well as to the unlettered. As Dr.
Johnson remarked: This is the great merit of the book, that the most cultivated
man cannot find anything to praise more highly, and the child knows nothing more
amusing. The Pilgrims Progress has all the basic requirements of the traditional
type of English novel. It has a good story; the characters are interesting and possess
individuality and freshness; the conversation is arresting; the descriptions are vivid;
the narrative continuously moves towards a definite end, above all, it has a literary
style through which the writers personality clearly emanates. The Pilgrims Progress
is a work of superb literary genius, and it is unsurpassed as an example of plain
English.
Bunyans other works are: Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666), a kind of
spiritual autobiography; The Holy War, which like The Pilgrims Progress is an
allegory, but the characters are less alive, and there is less variety; The Life and
Death of Mr. Badman (1680) written in the form of a realistic novel, gives a picture
of low life, and it is second in value and literary significance to The Pilgrims
Progress.
The prose of Bunyan shows clearly the influence of the English translation of the
Bible (The Authorized Version). He was neither a scholar, nor did he belong to any
literary school; all that he knew and learned was derived straight from the English
Bible. He was an unlettered country tinker believing in righteousness and in disgust
with the corruption and degradation that prevailed all around him. What he wrote
came straight from his heart, and he wrote in the language which came natural to
him. Thus his works born of moral earnestness and extreme sincerity have acquired
true literary significance and wide and enduring popularity. It is quite true to call
him the pioneer of the modern novel, because he had the qualities of the great
story-teller, deep insight into character, humour, pathos, and the visualising
imagination of a dramatic artist.