Literature of the Puritans. Pilgrims/Puritans Sailed over on the Mayflower to Mass. 1620 Religious reformers Trying “purify” Church of England Trying

Literature of the Puritans

Pilgrims/PuritansPilgrims/Puritans• Sailed over on the **Mayflower** to Mass. 1620• Religious reformers• Trying “purify” Church of England• Trying to build “a city on the hill” (Model

based on the Bible)• John Calvin’s predestination led to intense

self-evaluation and search for grace, which is seen in literary and oral traditions.• Valued religious devotion and work over

private feelings.• Lasting impact: “Puritan Ethic”of hard-work and

self-discipline remains an American value.

Puritan Life

•As you watch this video, jot down puritan values and other interesting details. • Form an opinion about the validity of

the video’s perspective on Puritans and Native Americans. •Puritan Life (10 min)•Discuss

Puritan Literary Style

•Like their life on the new frontier:•strenuous, serious, realistic•Like their religious convictions: •rational, orderly, sober

Puritan Literary StylePuritan Literary Style

•Like their lives of modest, simple, utilitarian clothes, furnishings and customs:•Puritan Plain Style: short words, direct statements, and references to common objects and experiences

Anne Bradstreet• The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, 1650• Ref. to 9 muses that inspired ancient Greek

poetry. Bradstreet is the 10th, American muse? • First woman and first poet published in the British

North American colonies• Wrote privately, published by brother-in-law

unbeknownst to her• Despite being a devote puritan wife and mother,

she found time to write and express deep emotions.

“To My Dear and Loving Husband” by Anne Bradstreet

If ever two were one, then surely we.

If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;

If ever wife was happy in a man,

Compare with me, ye women, if you can.






Rhyme scheme?






Neat rhyming couplets







What is her main idea in this stanza and what tone does she set?



If ever man were loved by wife, then thee; If ever wife was

happy in a man,



She loves her husband very much. If/Then statements create a logical (Puritan) tone.

Remember God set things rationally in place









Interesting change in audience?









Switch from speaking to husband into speaking to other women. Why?


I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold, or all the riches that the East doth hold. My love is such that rivers cannot quenchNor ought but love from thee give recompenseThy love is such I can no way repay.What two metaphors are seen in these lines and what do they mean? What is the only thing that her love needs?


I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold, or all the riches that the East doth hold. My love is such that rivers cannot quenchNor ought but love from thee give recompenseThy love is such I can no way repay.•Her love for him is more valuable than riches and can’t be quenched by even a river. She just needs his love in return.


Thy love is such I can no way repay.

The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.

Then while we live, in love let's so persevere

That when we live no more, we may live ever.

How do the first 2 lines reflect her faith?






She prays God will repay his love manifold: “many times”

What’s adding to the beauty of the language here?






She prays God will repay his love manifold: “many times”

Alliteration!

““To My Dear and Loving To My Dear and Loving HusbandHusband””

•Re-write the poem in modern language. Use complete sentences and no slang/inappropriate terminology. •What do poetic devices such as tone, figurative language, rhyme scheme and alliteration add to the poem?

Conceit (extended Conceit (extended metaphor)metaphor)

Metaphor:

• Figurative Language• Compares two

unlike things• Does NOT use like

or as (That’s a simile)

Conceit:

• Continues a metaphor throughout several lines or an entire poem.

Edward Taylor

• Puritan who came to Boston in 1668.• Graduated from Harvard College and accepted a position as

minister and physician in Westfield, Mass. (Walked 100 in the snow to get there!)

• Hardships: • Local battles between Puritans and Native Americans• 5/8 children died and so did his young wife. • Did not allow poems to be published as they would have been

self-worship.

“Huswifery” by Edward Taylor

Make me, O Lord, Thy spinning wheel complete,

Thy holy word my distaff make for me.

Make mine affections Thy swift flyers neat

And make my soul thy holy spoole to be.

My conversation make to be Thy reel

And reel the yarn thereon spun of Thy wheel.

Describe the give and take between man and God in this conceit.


Make me Thy loom then, knit therein this twine:

And make Thy holy spirit, Lord , wind quills

Then weave the web Thyself. The yarn is fine.

Thine ordinances make my fulling mills.

Then dye the same in heavenly colors choice.

All pinked with varnished flowers in paradise.

Huswifery means house- keeping. Why use this conceit?


Then clothe there with mine understanding, will,

Affections, judgment, conscience, memory

My words, and actions, that their shine may fill

My ways with glory and thee glorify.

Then mine apparel shall display before Ye

That I am clothed in holy robes for glory.

How does he transition into a more common religious image?

HW: Read “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

• Look for examples of the following types of rhetoric (persuasion): • Ethos: Appeal to Credibility of Speaker• Pathos: Appeal to Emotions• Logos: Appeal to Logic• Imagery: Appeal to 5 senses

“Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards

• About the author:• One of the most significant religious intellectuals in American

history. (Went to what is now Yale @ 13 and was valedictorian)• Calvinist, believed in predestination• Gave this sermon with no emotion in his face or voice.

• A look at the American world at the time, along with The Great Awakening (11min)


• Re-read paragraphs 1-2• In paragraph 1: How does Edwards appeal to

the listener’s emotions (pathos)?• What Puritan belief does he reveal about

man’s part in his own salvation?

Paragraph 1

• Images of Hell: • “Burning Brimstone”• “Dreadful pit of glowing flames”•Audience shaming•Use of “you” (not we or he)


•Re-read paragraph 3• List all of the images

Images:

• “heavy as lead”• “black clouds”• “big with thunder”• “rough wind”•More!


• Re-read paragraphs 4-8• What re-occurring image does Edwards use

in paragraph 4? Why might this be especially persuasive? • List words with a negative connotation that

Edwards associates with God.

•Reoccurring image: •Water•Puritans made a difficult journey

across the Atlantic

Words with negative connotation•Wrath•Angry•Destruction•Loathsome•Abhor•Abominable•More


• Read paragraphs 9-12• How does Edwards describe God? Does this

sound like the God of your religion or of a religion you’re familiar with? Explain.

God is described as: • “Vastly disproportionate to your strength”• Ready to pity you for a limited time.• Omnipotent• Lamb• Eternal decision maker• Does this sound like your understanding of God?


• Finish the selection: •What shift of tone can be seen in the

end of Edwards’ sermon?

Shift in Tone• Starts: • Frightening, Angry, Negative

• Ends: • With a glimmer of hope: • “land of the living”• “opportunity to obtain salvation”• “extraordinary opportunity”• “rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God”• “Awake and fly from wrath”

Documents

Literature of the Puritans. Pilgrims/Puritans Sailed over on the **Mayflower** to Mass. 1620 Religious reformers Trying “purify” Church of England Trying

Literature of the Puritans. Pilgrims/Puritans Sailed over on the Mayflower to Mass. 1620 Religious reformers Trying “purify” Church of England Trying