‘What Shall I Do?’

“O my dear wife,” said he, “and you the children of my bowels, I, your dear friend, am in myself undone, by reason of a burden that lies hard upon me; moreover, I am for certain informed, that this our city will be burned with fire from heaven; in which fearful overthrow, both myself, with thee, my wife, and you my sweet babes, shall miserably come to ruin;* except (the which yet I see not) some way of escape can be found, whereby we may be delivered.”

At this his relations were sore amazed; not for that they believed that what he had said to them was true, but because they thought that some frenzy distemper had got into his head; therefore, it drawing towards night, and they hoping that sleep might settle his brains, with all haste they got him to bed: but the night was as troublesome to him as the day.

From ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ Parts I and II (1678, 1684) by John Bunyan (1628-1688), edited by Charles William Eliot (1834-1926). Additional information from ‘Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners’ (1666), also by Bunyan.

* Bunyan had four children with his first wife: Mary, Elizabeth, Thomas and John. Mary was born blind.

Précis
Christian’s attempt to warn his family that they and the whole city are in imminent danger of destruction does not go well. Though they clearly do not believe him they are not unkind. They bundle him off to bed in the hope he will be better next morning, yet the dawn brings no lessening of his pitiable anxiety.
Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Sevens

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

What did Christian tell his wife?

Suggestion

That their family was in imminent danger.

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

Christian heard his city would be destroyed. He told his family. They did not believe it.

See if you can include one or more of these words in your answer.

IDanger. IISerious. IIIWarn.

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