Puritan Poetry

1. Puritan Poetry Tim Reidlinger Allie Alexander

2. 17th Century English Background • Beginning of 17th century marked change from the reign of an age of Faith to that of an age of Reason • Previously, religious tenets were strictly followed without regard to intellectual thought or reason • Secular revolt somewhat freed England from the stranglehold religion had on them • Under Queen Elizabeth, social classes gained more freedom and there was less strain amongst the people • However, several classes formed that became intolerant of each other • The English Churchmen, the Roman Catholics, and the Puritans were the three distinct classes • To avoid confrontation and seek freedom, many people from each class decided to move to America • The quality of life in England greatly increased from that of the 16th century; streets were cleaner, people lived longer, and there was less disease with the cleaner cities

3. Puritan Background • Puritans was the name given in the 16th century to the more extreme Protestants within the Church of England who thought the English Reformation had not gone far enough in reforming the doctrines and structure of the church • They wanted to purify their national church by eliminating every shred of Catholic influence • In the 17th century many Puritans emigrated to the New World, where they sought to found a holy Commonwealth in New England • Puritanism remained the dominant cultural force in that area into the 19th century

4. Puritan Characteristics in Poetry • Puritan literature included characteristics of the everyday life of a Puritan • It often describes Puritans as modest, hard-working, deeply religious people • Writing reflects their beliefs that God is directing them in their lives •  Roger Williams was a Puritan author who used some major characteristics in his writing; he used convuluted, involved sentences, far fetched similes, and laborious puns • Literature and poetry often had the intent to scare people into following their beliefs • Anne Bradstreet was one of the few woman writers of this time  • She preferred long, religious poems on conventional subjects, but also wrote witty poems about her daily life

5. John Milton • Born December 9, 1608 in London, England • Milton first dabbled in poetry while on suspension from the college he attended, which was Christ’s College, Cambridge • Wrote one of his first poems while at college, called “On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity,” on Christmas day, 1629 • Traveled Europe when he was a young man, which was customary of those who were fortunate enough to have money • Married Mary Powell, who was 17 to his 34 • After the civil war and public execution of Charles I in 1649, Milton wrote and published Tenure of Kings and Magistrates • In 1652, Milton lost his sight, had a child die in infancy, and had another child die at the age of one • After losing his sight, Milton wrote “When I Consider How My Light is Spent” • He eventually divorced Mary and then married Elizabeth Minshull in 1663 • He worked for the rest of his life tutoring students and working on his epic Paradise Lost • Paradise Lost was published in 1667 and met with instant success • Milton died in November, 1674 of gout

6. Anne Bradstreet • Born in 1612, in Northampton, England • She married Simon Bradstreet, 25, when she was 16 • Anne and her family emigrated to America in 1630 on the Arabella, one of the first ships to bring Puritans to New England in hopes of setting up plantation colonies • Life in the New World was difficult, many died of disease and lack of food • Anne herself was infected with smallpox twice, which left her limbs in constant paralysis • She still was able to mother eight children which she took care of • Her husband was a political official, so he was away from her very often • During his absences, she read… a lot; reading gave her knowledge on a broad variety of topics that she would later used in her poems • Bradstreet intended her poetry to always be kept private, but her brother-in-law copied her works and took them to England where they were first published • Many of her poems were about her home life and her family which she loved dearly • The last of her poetry to be published during her lifetime was in 1650 and it was called, "The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, By a Gentlewoman of Those Parts“ • Anne died on September 16th, 1672 of many lifelong ailments

7. “Upon Some Distemper of Body”Anne Bradstreet In anguish of my heart replete with woes,  And wasting pains, which best my body knows,  In tossing slumbers on my wakeful bed,  Bedrenched with tears that flowed from mournful head,  Till nature had exhausted all her store,  Then eyes lay dry, disabled to weep more;  And looking up unto his throne on high,  Who sendeth help to those in misery;  He chased away those clouds and let me see  My anchor cast i' th' vale with safety.  He eased my soul of woe, my flesh of pain,  and brought me to the shore from troubled main.

8. “When I Consider How My Light is Spent”John Milton When I consider how my light is spent, Ere half my days in this dark world and wide, And that one talent which is death to hide Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent To serve therewith my Maker, and present My true account, lest He returning chide; "Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?" I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need Either man's work or His own gifts. Who best Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state Is kingly: thousands at His bidding speed, And post o'er land and ocean without rest; They also serve who only stand and wait."

9. “On His Having Arrived at the Age of Twenty and Three”John Milton How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, Stolen on his wing my three-and-twentieth year! My hasting days fly on with full career, But my late spring no bud or blossow shew'th. Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth That I to manhood am arrived so near; And inward ripeness doth much less appear, That some more timely-happy spirits endu'th. Yet, be it less or more, or soon or slow, It shall be still in strictest measure even To that same lot, however mean or high, Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven. All is, if I have grace to use it so, As ever in my great Task-Master's eye.

10. from Paradise Lost lines 1-26John Milton Of man’s first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste Brought death into the World, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful Seat, Sing, Heavenly Muse, that, on the secret top Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire That Shepherd who first taught the chosen seed In the beginning how the heavens and earth Rose out of Chaos: or, if Sion hill Delight thee more, and Siloa’s brook that flowed Fast by the oracle of God, I thence Invoke thy aid to my adventrous song, That with no middle flight intends to soar Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme. And chiefly Thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer Before all temples the upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for Thou know’st; Thou from the first Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread, Dove-like sat’st brooding on the vast Abyss, And mad’st it pregnant: what in me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support; That, to the highth of this great argument, I may assert Eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to men.

11. from Paradise Lost lines 242-270John Milton “Is this the region, this the soil, the clime,” Said then the lost Archangel, “this the seat That we must change for Heaven?—this mournful gloom For that celestial light? Be it so, since He Who now is sovran can dispose and bid What shall be right: fardest from Him is best, Whom reason hath equalled, force hath made supreme Above his equals. Farewell, happy fields, Where joy forever dwells! Hail, horrors! hail, Infernal World! and thou, profoundest Hell, Receive thy new possessor—one who brings A mind not to be changed by place or time. The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven. What matter where, if I be still the same, And what I should be, all but less than he Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least We shall be free; the Almighty hath not built Here for his envy, will not drive us hence: Here we may reign secure; and, in my choice, To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell: Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven. But wherefore let we then our faithful friends, The associates and co-partners of our loss, Lie thus astonished on the oblivious pool, And call them not to share with us their part In this unhappy mansion, or once more With rallied arms to try what may be yet Regained in Heaven, or what more lost in Hell?”

12. “Upon a Fit of Sickness”Anne Bradstreet Twice ten years old not fully told since nature gave me breath, My race is run, my thread spun, lo, here is fatal death. All men must die, and so must I; this cannot be revoked. For Adam's sake this word God spake when he so high provoked. Yet live I shall, this life's but small, in place of highest bliss, Where I shall have all I can crave, no life is like to this. For what's this but care and strife since first we came from womb? Our strength doth waste, our time doth haste, and then we go to th' tomb.  O bubble blast, how long can'st last? that always art a breaking, No sooner blown, but dead and gone, ev'n as a word that's speaking. O whilst I live this grace me give, I doing good may be, Then death's arrest I shall count best, because it's Thy decree; Bestow much cost there's nothing lost, to make salvation sure, O great's the gain, though got with pain, comes by profession pure. The race is run, the field is won, the victory's mine I see; Forever known, thou envious foe, the foil belongs to thee.