The Literature of the Seventeenth Century may be divided into two periods- The Puritan Age or the Age of Milton (1600-1660)which is further divided into the Jacobean and Caroline periods after the names of the rulers James I and Charles I, was ruled from 1603 to 1625 and 1625 to 1649 respectively; and the Restoration Period or the Age of Dryden(1660-1700). The Seventeenth Century was marked by the decline of the Renaissance spirit, and the writers either imitated the great masters of Elizabethan period or followed new paths.