Bunyan, Swift, and Pope

The Last of the half Grant Kohler John Bunyan was not the first to write a significant work on the metaphorical journey of life. The story of a man traveling through familiar alien territory while meeting strange people and places has transcended all ages of literature. HomerÆs Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus return from the Trojan War, DanteÆs Comedy is the journey thought the 3 realms of the afterlife, SpenserÆs Faerie Queen …

…gives us giants and lands akin to the Homeric locales. Pope, with his lethal rhymed couplets, gives us the imaginary journey created within ourselves to piece together. All three essentially tell us, not just the readers but also our human race, that things could be better if we were not so selfish. If we act with reason and without pride, then, and only then, can a state of Heaven like the Biblical one, be reached.