John Bunyan, no stranger to confinement, spent over a decade in 17th Century prisons, places of squalor and disease. He was repeatedly offered release or pardon on the sole stipulation that he would cease from “illegal” preaching, i.e. unlicensed and unauthorized by the government. His refusal on principle to even admit he was guilty led from an initial sentence of three months to several incarcerations totaling more than 12 years. It is probable that many of Bunyan’s 60 books, including The Pilgrim’s Progress, were composed while he was in jail.
In Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, the dungeon into which Christian and his friend Hopeful are thrown belongs to a Giant Despair in the castle of Doubting. From Bunyan’s experience, we can be sure these were not random allegorical assignments. They reflect with painful certainty the reality of prison.
- Just the synonyms for despair from Roget's Thesaurus are enough to evoke grief and burden the mind. Imagine living these words daily for years!
Definition: hopelessness
anguish, dashed hopes, dejection, depression, desperation, despondency, discouragement, disheartenment, forlornness, gloom, melancholy, misery, ordeal, pain, trial, tribulation, wretchednes
1 comment:
dad, what was that other bunyan book was supposed to read? no wait, it wasn't him, but it was about pilgrims.
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