The The Pilgrim's Progress reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
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The Pilgrim's Progress

The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come by John Bunyan (published 1678) is an allegorical novel.

Bunyan wrote this book while imprisoned in 1675 for violations of the Conventicle Act which punished people for conducting unauthorised religious services outside of the Church of England.

The allegory tells of Christian, an Everyman character who must make his way from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City of Zion. During his travel, he must make his way past hazards such as the Slough of Despond, temptations like Vanity Fair, and foes like the Giant Despair. In a second book, his wife and children, which once denounced his ideas, follow his path to the Celestial City. Due to the long popularity of this devotional book, many of these phrases have become proverbial in English.

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