How The Pilgrim's Progress drew on Isaiah
A documented line of influence: John Bunyan demonstrably engaged Isaiah’s work. The commentary below is Gröblé’s, verbatim from each work’s page.
The source
Isaiah
Isaiah · c. 740 BCE
BibleThe influenced
The Pilgrim's Progress
John Bunyan · 1678
EnlightenmentRelevance
6/10
On The Pilgrim's Progress’s page
- Bunyan's marginal citations point you back to Isaiah again and again — he's not borrowing a mood, he's quoting a source
- Christian's "filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6) and the pit of Tophet (Isaiah 30:33) are lifted whole from the prophet
- Read Isaiah and the allegory's imagery stops feeling invented and starts feeling inherited
On Isaiah’s page
- Bunyan wrote his allegory with Isaiah open beside him — and he tells you so, citing the book by chapter and verse in his own margins
- Christian's "filthy rags" of human righteousness come straight from Isaiah 64:6; the fiery pit of Tophet from Isaiah 30:33
- The prophet's imagery becomes the furniture of the dream — proof of how directly The Pilgrim's Progress mines this one book