Literary Movement:Puritan/Colonial Literature1620-1750

Historical Context1620 Mayflower lands at Plymouth1630 Great Migration of Puritans to New England1690 Slavery exists in all English Colonies in North America1721 Smallpox epidemic hits Boston1740-45 Great Awakening

WorldviewAge of Faith (to be followed by Age of Reason)Religious authority and tradition as means of knowing truthPuritanism was the dominant shaping force of the early American worldview. Puritans believed:Humans are inherently sinful.Salvation belongs to Gods elect, who are saved by grace.A person should be hardworking, modest, and simple.Puritan Work EthicSociety should be modeled after the Bible.

Common Elements of the LiteratureCharacteristics of Puritan literature:Authors modeled their writings after the Bible.They used their writings to explore Gods workings in their inner and outer lives.Diaries and histories were the most common forms of expression.Puritans favored a plain style of writing.

Common Elements of the LiteratureNarratives (both Puritan and non-Puritan) recorded a variety of individuals experiences in the New WorldTravel Narratives (Cabeza de Vaca)Tales of Life in North America (John Smith)Captivity Stories (Mary Rowlandson)Slave Narratives (Olaudah Equiano)

* See Elements of Literature p. 43

Famous AuthorsWilliam Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation (1620-47)Mary Rowlandson, A Narrative of Captivity (1682)William Byrd, The History of the Dividing Line (1728)Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (1741)Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789)

from Of Plymouth Plantation

About the Author: William BradfordCame to the New World aboard the Mayflower in 1620 with a group of SeparatistsWife Dorothy either fell or jumped overboardWas elected governor of the Plymouth Colony thirty times

Literary Concept: Plain style is a way of writing that stresses simplicity and clarity of expression.

From The History of the Dividing LineAbout the Author: William ByrdBorn in Virginia in 1674 to a wealthy landowner and merchantEducated in England and preferred London (lavish, intellectual community, gambling)Shared the Cavalier perspectiveUnlike the Puritans, the Cavaliers enjoyed British intellectual and social trendsRenaissance Man: translator, poet, mathematician, farmer

From The History of the Dividing LineLiterary Concepts:

Satire is a type of writing that ridicules the shortcomings of people or institutions in an attempt to bring about a change

Tone is the writers attitude toward the subject of the work, the characters, or the audience

From The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah EquianoAbout the Author: Olaudah EquianoBorn in West Africa (Nigeria)Kidnapped by slave traders at 11 years old and sent on a slave ship to BarbadosSoon transferred to VirginiaBought his freedom in 1766 after 10 years of slaveryWorked in England as a servant, musician, and barberInvolved in the abolition movementPublished his autobiography in 1789Recent Debate: Did Equiano truly experience the Middle Passage?

From The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah EquianoLiterary Focus: A historical narrative is an account of a significant event in history.Characterization is the process by which a writer reveals a characters personality.

From A Narrative of the CaptivityAbout the Author: Mary Rowlandson (1636-1711)Born in England, sailed for Salem in 1639Wife of Joseph Rowlandson, a Congregational minister in Lancaster, a frontier town thirty miles west of BostonTaken captive by the Wampanoag after they raided her town, along with her three childrenLiterary TermsCaptivity narratives related the experiences of colonists who were kidnapped by Native Americans.An allusion is a reference to someone or something well known from literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or some other aspect of culture.Chronological order presents events in the order in which they occurred.

From A Narrative of the CaptivityHistorical ContextAn estimated 7-18 million Native Americans north of the Rio Grande pre-1600Scholars have recently estimated a North American Indian population of 2-5 million pre-1600By 1890, an estimated 228,000 North American IndiansFollowing the arrival of European explorers and colonists, native populations dramatically decreased due to disease, starvation, and warfare.King Phillips War (1675-76) was the most devastating war between the Native Americans and the colonists in New England. Named after King Philip, the sachem (chief) of the Wampanoag, who was Massasoits son.

Source of population statistics: A Population History of North America by Michael R. Haines and Richard H. Steckel

From A Narrative of the CaptivityReview QuestionsWhat happens to each of Rowlandsons children?What details reveal that Rowlandsons captors are themselves desperate for food?What item does an Indian give Rowlandson that is a source of comfort to her?What useful skill does Rowlandson use to please the Indians?How does Rowlandsons relationship with her captors change over time?What role does Rowlandsons faith play during her experience of captivity?Why do you think this narrative was so popular at the time it was published?

From A Narrative of the CaptivityLiterary Skills ReviewExplain the three allusions to biblical stories that are identified in your footnotes. In what specific ways do Rowlandsons experiences resemble these biblical stories?Rowlandson presents events in chronological order. Make a bulleted list of the storys main events.

http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/rowland.htmhttp://books.google.com/books?id=BPdgiysIVcgC&pg=PA24&lpg=PA24&dq=native+american+population+1600s&source=web&ots=rSANuGcW26&sig=aU51jkMr1uy_XdCAz0OX_krba2s&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result#PPA24,M1http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0827703.html

Here Follow Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House, July 10, 1666About the Author: Anne BradstreetAn immigrant, teenage brideMarried to Simon Bradstreet, a zealous Puritan who became governor of the Massachusetts Bay colonyExemplary Puritan wife and motherReputedly the first American poetBattled with illness repeatedly; maintained steadfast faith

Here Follow Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House, July 10, 1666Literary Concept: An allusion is a reference to someone or something that is known from history, literature, religion, politics, sports, science, or some other branch of culture.

Literary Concept: In an inversion, the words of a sentence or phrase are wrenched out of our normal English syntax, or word order.Example:When my friends face I see, happy I will be (inverted)When I see my friends face, I will be happy (normal word order)

Practice with Inverted SentencesRearrange the following opening lines to Bradstreets poem, Here Follow Some Verses . . .:

In silent night when rest I tookFor sorrow near I did not lookI wakened was with thundring noiseAnd piteous shrieks of dreadful voice.That fearful sound of Fire! and Fire!Let no man know is my desire.I, starting up, the light did spy,And to my God my heart did cry . . .

Here Follow Some Verses . . .Assignment1. Using Bradstreets own words, rewrite lines 1-10 and 27-30 without any inversions.2. Use your footnotes to identify and explain the allusion in the first half of the poem.3. Write a line-by-line paraphrase of the poem.

Here Follow Some Verses . . .Discussion Questions1. Look at number 6 on p. 71are you convinced that Bradstreet means what she says?2. What is Bradstreets attitude toward earthly suffering and the providence of God?3. How does Bradstreets poem reflect the Puritan worldview, as discussed in your textbook and in our background lecture?

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

About the Author: Jonathan EdwardsA fire-and-brimstone Puritan preacher, known for his extremismInvolved in starting the Great Awakening in the 1730sThe Last PuritanStood between Puritan America and modern America

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

This is a sermon that Edwards delivered at a church service in Connecticut in 1741.

Edwards audience was members of his congregation who had not been born again, or who had not accepted Christ as their Savior.

Literary Concepts: Imagery is language that appeals to the senses.Figures of speech are words or phrases that compare one thing to another, unlike thing. The most common figures of speech are metaphors, similes, and personification.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry GodDiscussion and Review

According to Edwards, what keeps sinners out of hell?According to Edwards, how can sinners obtain salvation?What is the overall tone of the sermon? How do the images of Jesus Christ opening the doors and the sinners flocking to him for mercy (second to the last paragraph on p. 111) affect the mood of the sermon?Why do you think Edwards uses the image of Gods hands to describe Gods power? What makes this an effective image?Judging from his sermon, what underlying philosophical beliefs does Edwards hold? What underlying assumptions does he have about the nature of both humans and Gods?Edwards uses fear to motivate his congregation. In your opinion, is this an appropriate tactic? Can you think of situations in which fear has been or could be used in a positive way to motivate a person? Negative?

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