Literary Movement: Puritan/Colonial Literature 1620-1750

1. Literary Movement:Puritan/Colonial Literature1620-1750

2. Historical Context • 1620 Mayflower lands at Plymouth • 1630 Great Migration of Puritans to New England • 1690 Slavery exists in all English Colonies in North America • 1721 Smallpox epidemic hits Boston • 1740-45 Great Awakening

3. Worldview • “Age of Faith” (to be followed by “Age of Reason”) • Religious authority and tradition as means of knowing truth • Puritanism was the dominant shaping force of the early American worldview. Puritans believed: • Humans are inherently sinful. • Salvation belongs to God’s elect, who are saved by grace. • A person should be hardworking, modest, and simple. • “Puritan Work Ethic” • Society should be modeled after the Bible.

4. Common Elements of the Literature • Characteristics of Puritan literature: • Authors modeled their writings after the Bible. • They used their writings to explore God’s workings in their inner and outer lives. • Diaries and histories were the most common forms of expression. • Puritans favored a “plain style” of writing.

5. Common Elements of the Literature • Narratives (both Puritan and non-Puritan) recorded a variety of individuals’ experiences in the New World • Travel 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

6. Famous Authors • William 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)

7. from Of Plymouth Plantation • About the Author: William Bradford • Came to the New World aboard the Mayflower in 1620 with a group of Separatists • Wife Dorothy either fell or jumped overboard • Was elected governor of the Plymouth Colony thirty times • Literary Concept: Plain style is a way of writing that stresses simplicity and clarity of expression.

8. From The History of the Dividing Line • About the Author: William Byrd • Born in Virginia in 1674 to a wealthy landowner and merchant • Educated in England and preferred London (lavish, intellectual community, gambling) • Shared the Cavalier perspective • Unlike the Puritans, the Cavaliers enjoyed British intellectual and social trends • “Renaissance Man”: translator, poet, mathematician, farmer

9. From The History of the Dividing Line • Literary 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 writer’s attitude toward the subject of the work, the characters, or the audience

10. From The Interesting Narrative of the Life of OlaudahEquiano • About the Author: OlaudahEquiano • Born in West Africa (Nigeria) • Kidnapped by slave traders at 11 years old and sent on a slave ship to Barbados • Soon transferred to Virginia • Bought his freedom in 1766 after 10 years of slavery • Worked in England as a servant, musician, and barber • Involved in the abolition movement • Published his autobiography in 1789 • Recent Debate: Did Equiano truly experience the Middle Passage?

11. From The Interesting Narrative of the Life of OlaudahEquiano • Literary Focus: A historical narrative is an account of a significant event in history. • Characterization is the process by which a writer reveals a character’s personality.

12. From A Narrative of the Captivity • About the Author: Mary Rowlandson (1636-1711) • Born in England, sailed for Salem in 1639 • Wife of Joseph Rowlandson, a Congregational minister in Lancaster, a frontier town thirty miles west of Boston • Taken captive by the Wampanoag after they raided her town, along with her three children • Literary Terms • Captivity 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.

13. From A Narrative of the Captivity • Historical Context • An estimated 7-18 million Native Americans north of the Rio Grande pre-1600 • Scholars have recently estimated a North American Indian population of 2-5 million pre-1600 • By 1890, an estimated 228,000 North American Indians • Following the arrival of European explorers and colonists, native populations dramatically decreased due to disease, starvation, and warfare. • King Phillip’s 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 Massasoit’s son. • Source of population statistics: A Population History of North America by Michael R. Haines and Richard H. Steckel

14. From A Narrative of the Captivity Review Questions • What happens to each of Rowlandson’s children? • What details reveal that Rowlandson’s 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 Rowlandson’s relationship with her captors change over time? • What role does Rowlandson’s faith play during her experience of captivity? • Why do you think this narrative was so popular at the time it was published?

15. From A Narrative of the Captivity Literary Skills Review • Explain the three allusions to biblical stories that are identified in your footnotes. In what specific ways do Rowlandson’s experiences resemble these biblical stories? • Rowlandson presents events in chronological order. Make a bulleted list of the story’s main events.

16. http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/rowland.htm • http://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,M1 • http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0827703.html

17. “Here Follow Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House, July 10, 1666” About the Author: Anne Bradstreet • An immigrant, teenage bride • Married to Simon Bradstreet, a zealous Puritan who became governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony • Exemplary Puritan wife and mother • Reputedly the first American poet • Battled with illness repeatedly; maintained steadfast faith

18. “Here Follow Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House, July 10, 1666” • Literary 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 friend’s face I see, happy I will be” (inverted) “When I see my friend’s face, I will be happy” (normal word order)

19. Practice with Inverted Sentences Rearrange the following opening lines to Bradstreet’s poem, “Here Follow Some Verses . . .”: In silent night when rest I took For sorrow near I did not look I wakened was with thund’ring noise And 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 . . .

20. “Here Follow Some Verses . . .”Assignment 1. Using Bradstreet’s 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.

21. “Here Follow Some Verses . . .”Discussion Questions 1. Look at number 6 on p. 71—are you convinced that Bradstreet means what she says? 2. What is Bradstreet’s attitude toward earthly suffering and the providence of God? 3. How does Bradstreet’s poem reflect the Puritan worldview, as discussed in your textbook and in our background lecture?

22. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” • About the Author: Jonathan Edwards • A “fire-and-brimstone” Puritan preacher, known for his extremism • Involved in starting the Great Awakening in the 1730s • “The Last Puritan”—Stood between Puritan America and modern America

23. “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.

24. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Discussion 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 God’s hands to describe God’s 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?