1. The poem occurs towards the end of The Pilgrim’s Progress, when Mr Great-heart and Mr Valiant-for-Truth are nearing the end of their pilgrimage. Having reached the enchanted ground, Mr Valiant-for-Truth introduces the poem with the following words: ‘I believed, and therefore came out, got into the way, fought all that set themselves against me, and, by believing, am come to this place.’

2. The autobiographical nature of this verse is unmistakable: Bunyan is asserting the right to preach his own religion. The Stuart regime (the ‘Gyant’ of ‘He’l with a Gyant Fight’) persecuted Dissenters such as Bunyan, who languished for more than twelve years in gaol – it has been estimated that some 8,000 prisoners died of gaol fever for their faith, before the regime was overthrown by William of Orange in 1688, the year of Bunyan’s death.

3. ‘No goblin nor foul fiend’ (Hymn 293 in Hymns Ancient and Modern). Bunyan’s verse was adapted for inclusion in The English Hymnal (1906) by Percy Dearmer and Ralph Vaughan Williams. They introduced several changes: ‘Who would true Valour see’ becomes ‘He who would valiant be’, and the opening lines of verse three are rendered: ‘Since, Lord, thou dost defend/Us with Thy Spirit’. The melody of ‘Monk’s Gate’, a Sussex folk song, was sung to Vaughan Williams by Mrs Harriet Verrall on 24 April 1904 in Horsham.