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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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