Genesis myth and the popular seventeenth century literature

CONTENTS:


Introduction ………………………………………………..………2

1. 
   Genesis myth and the popular seventeenth century literature
   

1.1. Genesis Creation narrative ……………………………………..4
1.2. Genesis’s myth and English literature….…………………...….11
1.3. The age from Donne and Dryden……………............................24
Conclusion ………………………………………………….….…..29
Bibliography……………………………………………….....….…30

Introduction
The actuality of the course paper
Religion plays a vital role in man’s life. Still what religion the people of Harappa, Babylonia, the Aztec and Egypt followed is uncertain. The Hebrew religion was the oldest, followed by Hinduism, Zorastrianism, Jainism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam.
These man-made religions, following the primal man’s adherence to Nature framed their own versions of the creation of man (the genesis myth), his evolution, his fall and the ways for his atonement. All this is exuberant in Hebraism on which both Christianity and Islam are founded.
The Genesis Myth mainly speaks of man’s evolution; and all biblical literature begins with this part of Christian knowledge.
The aim of the course paper
The present course paper mainly examines the genesis myth and other things of the Bible and Christianity as reflected in the English literature of the 17thcentury, because of the constraints of language.
Once the Romans adopted Christianity, the new religion found a place of following in England. St Augustine (6thcentury) spread it in Europe, particularly in England. Then the English translation of the Bible, and religious reforms began.
John Wycliffe (1320-84) wrote / translated his own version of the English bible. After Wyclif, translation flagged till the Reformation bent men's minds anew to the task. The greatest of all the translators was William Tyndale ((?)-1536), who did much to give the Bible its modern shape. Tyndale suffered a good deal of persecution owing to his hardihood, and was driven abroad, where much of his translation was accomplished, and where it was first printed. At Cologne (1525), a fragment of his English New Testament was printed. A feature of Tyndale's translation was its direct reliance upon the Hebrew and Greek originals, and not upon the Latin renderings of them. Of these Latin texts, frestock version was the Vulgate, upon which Wyclif to a large extent relied.
The practical value of the course paper
This current paper examines the Genesis myth and how influential it had on English literature. As far as this topic is discussed, we will look at the genesis myth through the lens of literature and science. During the seventeenth century, England was a country, where many people wanted to have reforms in their life, not only a social one, but also a religious. Such events and moods were shown in the novels and poems written at that time and my paper tries to analyse them in depth.
The structure of the course paper.
This paper starts with an introduction, where some general and background information is provided to make this course paper clear to understand and how useful it will be for those learning such a theme. This is followed by three main paragraphs. There I will explain genesis creation narratives in different nations and the second paragraph deals with genesis myth and the seventeenth century English literature.

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