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. An expanded edition, with additions written after Bunyan was freed, appeared in 1679. The Second Part appeared in 1684. This work is one of the greatest classics of literature, widely translated into more than 100 languages other than its original English text. The text consists of 108,260 words and, within each of its two parts, is not further divided, e.g. into chapters, but reads as a continuous narrative.

Places in The Pilgrim's Progress

• City of Destruction, Christian's home, representative of the world (cf. Isaiah 19:18)
• Slough of Despond, the miry swamp on the way to the Wicket Gate, one of the hazards of the journey to the Celestial City. In the First Part, Christian falling into it, sinks further under the weight of his sins (his burden) and his sense of their guilt.
• Mount Sinai, a frightening mountain near the Village of Morality that threatens all who would go there
• Wicket Gate, the required beginning of the straight and narrow way to the Celestial City
• House of the Interpreter, a type of spiritual museum to guide the pilgrims to the Celestial City
• Hill and Sepulchre, surmounted by three crosses, emblematic of Calvary and the tomb of Christ
• Hill Difficulty, both the hill and the road up is called "Difficulty" it is flanked by two treacherous byways "Danger" and "Destruction." There are three choices: CHRISTIAN takes "Difficulty" (the right way), and Formalist and Hypocrisy take the two other ways, which prove to be fatal dead ends.
• House Beautiful, a fine home that serves as rest stop for pilgrims to the Celestial City. It apparently sits atop the Hill Difficulty. From the House Beautiful one can see forward to the Delectable Mountains.
• Valley of Humiliation, the valley the other side of the Hill Difficulty, where Christian meets Apollyon. This valley had been a delight to the "Lord of the Hill" Jesus Christ in his "state of humiliation."
• Valley of the Shadow of Death, a treacherous valley with a quick sand bog on one side and a deep chasm/ditch on the other side of the King's Highway going through it
• Gaius's inn, a rest stop in the Second Part
• Vanity and Vanity Fair, a city through which the King's Highway passes where a yearlong fair is held
• Hill Lucre, location of a reputed silver mine, that proves to be the place where By-Ends and his companions are lost
• Plain Ease, a pleasant area traversed by the pilgrims
• By-Path Meadow, the place leading to the grounds of Doubting Castle
• Doubting Castle, the home of Giant Despair and his wife; only one key could open it, the key Promise.
• The Delectable Mountains, know as "Immanuel's Land." Lush country from whose heights one can see many delights and curiosities. It is inhabited by sheep and their shepherds, and from Mount Clear one can see the Celestial City.
• The Enchanted Ground, an area through which the King's Highway passes that has air that makes pilgrims want to stop to sleep. If one goes to sleep in this place, one never wakes up
• The Land of Beulah, a lush garden area just this side of the River of Death
• The River of Death, the dreadful river that surrounds Mount Zion, deeper or shallower depending on the faith of the one traversing it
• The Celestial City, the "Desired Country" of pilgrims, heaven, the dwelling place of the "Lord of the Hill," God.