Restoration literature

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Prose, poetry, and drama written in English in Britain during the Restoration (the period when the monarchy, in the person of Charles II, was re-established after the English Civil War and the fall of the Protectorate in 1660). See also English literature.

The restoration of Charles II to the throne liberated creative writing from the restrictions of the Protectorate. The best known genre of the period was the bawdy and lively Restoration comedy, the work of English dramatists such as William Wycherley who wrote The Country Wife (1675). However, there was a sharply contrasting religious output from writers such as the English poet John Milton (‘Paradise Lost’, 1667, ‘Paradise Regained’, 1671, ‘Sampson Agonistes’, 1671) and the imprisoned English writer of religious allegory and spiritual autobiography, John Bunyan (Pilgrim's Progress, 1678–1684). There is some debate as to how far this period overlaps with the Augustan. Here, the watershed is taken as the accession of William III in 1689 after the revolution of the previous year.

Although often coloured yellow, the island is intended to be copper, reflecting the country's name, ‘Copper Island’. Effective date: c. September 1960. >>