Hello and welcome to the Discourse. John Bunyan was a celebrated English minister and preacher, author of The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678), the book that was the most characteristic expression of the Puritan religious outlook. His other works include doctrinal and controversial writings; a spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding (1666); and the allegory The Holy War (1682). While these were serious philosophical works that he wrote with a general readership in mind, he was interested in writing content that could help young children in shaping a better character for themselves. With this aim in mind, Bunyan wrote ‘A Book For Boys and Girls’ or ‘County Rhymes for Children’ in the year 1686.
This book wasn’t published in his lifetime as he died on August 31, 1688. Later on, this book was published posthumously by the title ‘A Book for Boys and Girls or Temporal Things Spiritualized’ by John Bunyan’ in the year 1701. There are some seventy-four children’s rhymes in this book.
‘A Book for Boys and Girls’ is a collection of rhymes written for children to explain some aspects of God’s ways to children in such a way that a child in rural England of that time could easily understand. This collection of poems is very easy to understand and the book holds a didactic purpose of pleasing the young minds while justifying the ways of God to them. Most of the poems employ a commonplace or an ordinary subject to inculcate moral values and divine conclusions in the young minds. Some prominent rhymes of ‘A Book For Boys and Girls’ offering religious instructions are ‘Upon the Ten Commandments, ‘Upon the Lord’s Prayer’, and ‘Upon the Creed.’ However, many poems are not that religious in tone, rather, they offer general social, spiritual, and moral insights and ideas. One such beautiful rhyme is ‘Upon Overmuch Niceness.’
Poem Structure:
The rhyme is written in blank verse with no proper rhyme scheme. The whole poem is written in eight stanzas with a quatrain at the opening of the poem, followed by seven couplets. The poem has 18 lines in strings written in iambic pentameter, following rima rhyme. The poem appears to be written like a sonnet. While the number of words in each line varies, many lines contain 8 words. The words ‘they’, and ‘their’ repeat in the lines diaphorically. The poem contains many allegorical Biblical references.
Summary:
Tis much to see how over nice some are
About the body and household affair,
While what’s of worth they slightly pass it by,
Not doing, or doing it slovenly.
The poet directly addresses a certain type of people who are habitual to offer great concern to their outer appearances. They care a lot about their physical beauty and grooming and although they appear to stress more on cleanliness and niceties of behavior, the poet complains that such people often ignore things that are of higher worth and deeper meaning. Despite their outer cleanliness, they either ignore their moral obligations completely, or they do it excessively casually.
Their house must be well furnished, be in print,
Meanwhile their soul lies ley, has no good in’t.
The poet further explains how those who stress more on their outer well-being materialistically, fail to gain anything spiritually. He says that while their houses are elegant, beautiful, and well-furnished, their soul is unseeded or uncultivated, holding no worth at all. As if their bodies are like those of highly ornamented tombs with nothing but bones inside. Their niceness is devoid of a soul that is spiritually refined. The well-furnished house and the uncultivated soul remind us of Matthew 23:27 from Bible.
Its outside also they must beautify,
When in it there’s scarce common honesty.
In these lines, the poet suggests that such people often find themselves to be forced to take great care of their outer beauty and look as if it is a must thing for them. This is so because, within their soul, they even lack the common honesty that must shine a soul.
Their bodies they must have tricked up and trim,
Their inside full of filth up to the brim.
While they realize their hidden filth within, such people are bound to keep a neat and clean physique to impress and fool others while their inner self is full of conceit and deceit.
Upon their clothes there must not be a spot,
But is their lives more than one common blot.
The poet further chastises such people who devout all their energies in decorating and glorifying their outer self. They remain neat and clean and always wear clean and shining clothes. Even a little dark spot on their clothes disturbs them and they keep a keen watch on the cleanliness of their attires. However, their whole life is sans any spiritual, moral, and humanly goodness and they appear a common blot on the society. The people wearing spotless attire lead a blemished life marred with imperfection.
How nice, how coy are some about their diet,
That can their crying souls with hogs’-meat quiet.
The poet further notices that while such people take great care of their health and always manage to take the best and healthy rich diet, they ignore the nourishment of their starving, crying souls. Such people try to quieten their hunger with corporal nourishment with no thought of the spiritual needs their souls need.
All drest must to a hair be, else ’tis naught,
While of the living bread they have no thought.
The poet says that while these people are so attentive and careful about their corporeal needs and desires, while they take care of every hair on their body and if even a slight imperfection on their outer being make them feel as if they have lost everything, they hardly think about the ‘living bread’, the spiritual need of their soul. Here, the poet indicates the Biblical bread mentioned in John 6:51, 6: 35, and 6: 32-35.
The poet suggests that just like bread is essential for life, Jesus, the ‘living bread’, the foundation of spiritual life.
Thus for their outside they are clean and nice,
While their poor inside stinks with sin and vice.
In this last couplet, the poet exhorts such people who are leading soulless life to ask for Godly help to revive their spiritual life. People seem to be complacent about their worldly life immersed in materialistic pleasures with a total disregard for spiritual rejuvenation. Their outside and inside are totally different. While their outside appears so nice and clean and calm, within their poor soul, they are full of sins and vice, and their soul realizes the troubles and disharmony that they are bound to suffer.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!
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