Gunpowder Days in England

Abstract

In addition to the celebrations of Gunpowder Day every November 5, Guy Fawkes appears in 17th-century literature as an arch-villain. Thomas Decker wrote a play in 1611 that encounters Guy in Hell. In 1614 in his play “Bartholomew Faire”; Ben Jonson’s character Lanthorn boasts of his success as a puppeteer with the topic of the Gunpowder Plot. In 1622 young John Milton wrote a 226-line poem in Latin referring to Gunpowder Treason. By 1641, Francis Herring could make Fawkes a son of the devil. The poem “Remember, Remember” reflects the later development of November 5. As the centuries went on, anti-Catholic sentiment in England finally diminished, making Fawkes even more the focus of what often now was called Guy Fawkes Day.