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Unit 1: Development of Prose Writing through the Literary Ages

the revocation of the ban placed them by the Puritans in 1642. Sir George Etherege, William Notes
Wycherley, William Congreve and John Dryden developed the distinctive comedy of manners
called “Restoration Comedy”. Dryden was the major poet and critic as well as one of the major
dramatists of the time.
The Development of Prose Style
English writers of the sixteenth century were self-consciously puzzled about the state of their
language. They knew that it had changed markedly in the past two centuries, but they were not
sure whether too rapid a change was good. They were aware also that its vocabulary was being
influenced by other modern languages, especially French and Italian. They wondered whether it
should be more like Latin, the international language of learning, or whether it should be true to
its own native genius.
The spread of printing meant that people who were not learned (who did not know Latin) could
afford English books and would therefore read, as they had not done before. Notable defenses of
the vernacular tongues of Italian and French had been published; some Englishmen felt that an
equally valid defense of English could be made. As early as 1543 a translator, Peter Betham,
proclaimed that he thought translators ought to use the usual terms of our English tongue, not
borrowing terms from other languages, because, as he said, continual borrowing without repayment
would make the language, as it would make a man, bankrupt. Furthermore, he deplored what he
called “inkhorn” terms, learned words derived from Latin or invented by authors—words so
obscure that he thought the ordinary Englishman would not be able to understand them. To be
sure, he admitted, a few words of foreign origin must be allowed, since languages are clearly
interlaced with each other, but the good writer of English is the one who follows Chaucer and
other old writers, keeping English in its native tradition. The most notable theorist of language
reform in the middle of the century was the famous classical scholar, Sir John Cheke, Regius
Professor of Greek at Cambridge. His theory of phonetic spelling is demonstrated in his letter to
the translator Sir Thomas Hoby. The most important translations of the sixteenth century were the
renderings of the Bible into the vernaculars. In England William Tyndale began his translation in
1523; he had to do it surreptitiously and outside the country; he finally suffered martyrdom for his
efforts. In 1530 a royal proclamation condemned Tyndale’s translation and all other versions in
the vulgar tongue. Then in 1535 Miles Coverdale published, in Zu¨ rich, the first complete Bible in
English. By this time the official attitude was changing, and in 1540 the so-called Great Bible was
published, the first English Bible issued with official sanction—evidence of the extent of the breach
between the English church and the Church of Rome.

1.2 Prose in the Fourteenth Century

The second half of the fourteenth century in England was a period rich both in realization and in
anticipation. At such happy times, not one but many kinds of thought and action occupy men’s
attention. The pageant of chivalry was then still being displayed upon the stage of the great world,
and was finding in Froissart a worthy chronicler. Crecy and Poitiers were living memories of
young men when Ed-ward III died. Though the changes abroad were many, at home English laws
and government were rapidly assuming forms which were to be permanent. The place of the
commons in the control of affairs was becoming more clearly defined, and the nation at large was
entering upon a new era of patriotism and national self-consciousness. Architecture, especially
domestic architecture, flourished, and the comforts and luxuries of life were increasing. Gower,
Chaucer, Langland, and the unknown author of The Pearl and other remarkable poems, were
lending luster to the newly-prized English language. In the humbler walks of life, the voice of the
people was making itself heard, and the last remnants of medieval serfdom were disappearing as
new conceptions of personal liberty came into being. Wiclif and his followers were spreading

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