Season 5 Podcast 16 John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, Episode 1, Chapter 1 A, “The Dream.” First I would like to give credit to Project Guttenberg for their outstanding services in making classic books in the public domain available. Their library is vast, and I am indebted for their services and strongly recommend that you peruse their library. All direct quotes from Bunyan’s Classic tale are taken from Project Guttenberg.  The explication is my own. John Bunyan is a contemporary of John Milton. In earlier Podcasts Linda and I explored all twelve books of Milton’s extraordinary epic poem, Paradise Lost. Our purpose with John Milton as well as John Bunyan —and may I add Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene which we just completed—is to faithfully present their views of the Christian experience through their art. Our reference is the King James Bible. Milton, Bunyan, and Spenser all have one thing in common. Theirs is the journey epic, symbolizing the journey that we all must take in returning to paradise or to heaven our former home. It is no coincidence that the King James Bible is written in the same epic form. The Oxford English Dictionary defines epic as “A poem, typically derived from ancient oral tradition, which celebrates in the form of a continuous narrative the achievements of one or more heroic characters of history or legend.” Examples of Epic Poetry are The Old Testament, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Spenser’s Faerie Queen, Milton’s Paradise Lost, Dante’s Inferno, Virgil’s Aeneid. Bunyan’s epic, Pilgrim’s Progress, is unique. The classic epic hero is a king or queen or prophet or great hero. Christian, who represents all Christians seeking salvation, is an ordinary person. Bunyan himself was a tinker. The classic epic style is elevated poetry. Pilgrim’s Progress can be read by children. In addition, Pilgrim’s Progress is an allegory. Christian is the only character that represents a person, though it represents all Christians on a journey to salvation. The other characters are types that symbolize virtues or vices such as Obstinate, Pliable, Evangelist, and Worldly Wise. We know by their names what they represent. The allegory clearly fits well with Bunyan’s purpose since virtues lead us to heaven and vices lead us to hell. Spenser does the same thing in the Faerie Queen, the story of the Redcross Knight. We have the House of Pride vs The House of Holiness, the seven deadly sins vs the seven heavenly virtues. Pilgrim’s Progress begins with a dream. Please note that I take some liberties in truncating the speeches as it is impractical to quote every word though I will try to be as faithful as possible to the original text. Linda reads directly from the text. Christian is speaking.As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place where was a den, and laid me down in that place to sleep; and as I slept, I dreamed a dream. I dreamed, and behold, I saw a man clothed with rags, standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house, a book in his hand, and a great burden upon his back. I looked, and saw him open the book, and read therein; and as he read, he wept and trembled; and, not being able longer to contain, he brake out with a lamentable cry, saying, "What shall I do?"Pilgrim’s Progress is the story of a poor man who is unhappy with his sinful life and, therefore, seeks repentance. The ‘book in hand’ is The Holy Bible. The ‘burden on his back’ is a knowledge of his sins. He feels remorse and wants to know the way of repentance and redemption. Christian has a family; therefore, he goes home and pours out his heart to his wife. 

Ver todos los episodios