John Bunyon, The Piligrim's Progress, starting to read

Today I started reading John Bunyon's "The Piligrim's Progress".

The author's introduction to it is lengthy, and in a form of a poem. I think it is more than just an introduction,  but a separate (and beautiful!) work in itself. I truly enjoyed reading it, despite the archaic language - a true test of a classic, a work that stands the test of time and is able to engross and touch a reader of any place, age, generation... 

The rhymes are flowing and easy, natural. The language sophisticated,  the meaning is deep and the logic is very clever. A great mind of an author really shines through this poem. 

But enough about beauty. The poem is an argument with an invisible opponent, or a small group of opponents, who would not want the author's work (being introduced) to be published. Even though I haven't studied the author's time and life, it is easy to see that this is an unconventional work of literature for the time, breaking some unwritten rules of good and proper writing, or even taboos.  I am starting to like this author, who is evidently a revolutionary in his time. In justifying the value of this tale, the author brings to his side arguments weighted with biblical references and comparisons, which in middle ages, when the work was written, were probably the gravest arguments in existence. Since I peaked a little beyond the introduction, I see that these references foreshadow what is to come... the work quotes the holy writings almost in every line..  

Well, the author convinced me. I was very eager to dig into the book itself, or shall I say, the second masterpiece contained in this volume. 

And in the end, I will quote some of the last lines of the beautiful introductory poem... It will convince anybody to read ahead!

"Dost thou love picking meat? Or wouldst thou see

A man in clouds, and hear him speak to thee?

Wouldst thou be in a dream, and yet not sleep?

Or wouldst thou in a moment laugh and weep?

Wouldest thou lose thyself and catch no harm,

And find thyself again without a charm?

Wouldst read thyself, and read thou knowest not what,

And yet know whether thou art blest or not,

By reading the same lines? Oh, then come hither,

And lay my book, thy head, and heart together."