Pilgrim's Progress Continued...

As part of introducing Class 5 and 6 to Pilgrim's Progress in Literature class at Clapham School, I've been giving a mini 3-part lecture series (yesterday, today and tomorrow) on the basics for understanding Bunyan's classic. Though I've haven't yet read it all the way through myself, I'm pretty sure these are the basic elements that an unfamiliar reader would want to know.

First, we talked yesterday about what 'allegory' is. I gave them this definition for 'allegory' that I crafted from my best knowledge: "An extended metaphor that compares aspects in a narrative (characters, plot, settings) to deeper realities beyond the surface level of the story."

Today, I gave them 7 specific aspects of Pilgrim's Progress to look for as we read through the book:
1. Allegorical Names (of people and places)
2. Biblical Allusions (or references to the events of the Bible)
3. Biblical Language (or phrases and words that were used in English translations of the Bible during his time, like "behold" or "I dreamed a dream")
4. The Journey or Quest Motif (a convention of a Romance usually)
5. The Constant Referent of the Nature of the Christian Life
6. The Dream or Vision Motif (characteristic of much prophetic and apocalyptic literature in the Bible)
7. Melisma, or Poetically Adorned Language

Tomorrow, I will discuss with them 3 reasons why a writer might be inclined to use the genre of 'allegory', since it is such a strange form in many ways:
1. It is a vivid narrative form that catches the imagination of readers and carries them on a journey, allowing truth to sink in deeper than it might in a purely didactic form.
2. Its universalizing nature makes it especially easy for us as readers to see our own life through that of the protagonist (Christian, in this case).
3. Because of its cryptic method of hiding meaning beyond the surface level, it can be particularly useful for expressing divine or transcendent realities.