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How did religion impact early american literature
How did religion impact early american literature
How did religion impact early american literature
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It’s a known fact that writers in different time periods reflect the era in which they are living through their works. The poems To My Dear and Loving Husband and Upon the Burning of Our House by Anne Bradstreet, and Jonathan Edwards’ sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God all reflect the heavy influence of religion on the Puritan way of life. Bradstreet and Edwards both paint pictures in their works of what the time period was like and they both portray God in their works frequently. However, the two authors share many similarities and differences when it comes to the images they are creating and the way they present them. These similarities and differences can be seen in the religious views they depict through their works and their similar …show more content…
but unique writing style. Every person has their own unique religious views, so of course authors have their own views that shadow their writings. In the case of Bradstreet and Edwards, their religious views are very strongly being shown in their works. Among Puritan writers, everybody had one similar view: God is an all great and powerful being that people should strive to please. Both Bradstreet and Edwards illustrate this common view through their works. However, aside from this generalized view of God, they have many differences in how they depict him in their writings. For example, Bradstreet has a much kinder and compassionate view of God. In her writings, she always makes him out to be someone who is loving, caring, and guiding her in the right direction. In the poem Upon the Burning of Our House Bradstreet writes, “Yet by His gift is made thine own;/ There’s wealth enough, I need no more,/ Farewell my pelf, farewell my store./ The world no longer let me love,/ My hope and treasure lies above./” (lines 50-54). Throughout these lines, Bradstreet is demonstrating her complete faith in God, and her certainty that she will be rewarded in heaven if she lives a Puritan life. In her writing, she also sounds very grateful to God for all the different things he has done for her. On the other hand, Edwards portrays God in a very scary light. Throughout his sermons, Edwards describes God as someone you should be very afraid of and afraid of upsetting. In his sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, he states, “You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment” (Edwards 127). He believes that God already despises you, and that he could drop you into the pit of hell at any moment if he wanted to. Aside from their religious views, Bradstreet and Edwards both have very distinct styles of writing. There are various styles of writing that different authors use to help express their beliefs to the reader.
A similarity between Bradstreet’s and Edwards’ writing style is how they were both able to connect to their audience at the time. They knew the right words that would grab the reader's attention and pull on their hearts and thoughts. Biblical allusions appear quite often in their works and helped their writings seem easier to agree with and relate to during their era. However, these two authors still have very profound differences in their writing styles as well. For example, Bradstreet uses a very simple style of writing that rhymes and is very heartfelt and hopeful. In her poem To My Dear and Loving Husband, Bradstreet says, “Thy love is such that I can no way repay,/ The heavens reward me manifold, I pray./” (lines 9-10). She says this while talking about her love for her husband and you can see how grateful she is to love him and how she hopes to be together in heaven. Bradstreet also uses her own experiences and feelings in her writings, making it feel very personal and relatable. It makes you want to live the life of a Puritan for the most pleasant reasons. Edwards however, has a more complex style writing, with very descriptive words and a great deal of imagery. In his writings, he discusses topics that are nerve-racking (like being thrown into hell), and uses a large amount of emotional appeal and weighted words. In his sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Edwards says “However you may have reformed your life in many things, and may have had religious affections, and may keep up a form of religion in your families and closets, and in the house of God, it is nothing but his mere pleasure that keeps you from being this moment swallowed up in everlasting destruction…” (126). His writing makes you doubt yourself and fear what will happen if you don’t change your lifestyle to a Puritan one. These two authors’ writing styles contributed to the
list of the many similarities and differences between them. Despite Bradstreet’s and Edwards’ various similarities and differences in both their writing styles and religious views, both of them displayed a very strong Puritan influence through their works and helped the readers to make an excellent mental image of what the Puritan lifestyle was like.
Anne Bradstreet’s inability to perfect her work before it was released frustrated her to the point where she internalizes the book’s imperfections as a reflection of herself. Bradstreet uses an extended metaphor of a mother and a child to compare the relationship between herself as the author and her book. Rather than investing her spirit in God, she repeatedly focuses on trying to improve the quality of her writing with no success, “I washed thy face, but more defects I saw” (Bradstreet 13). Like a mother protecting her child, Bradstreet’s attempts to prevent critics from negatively analyzing her work of art (20). Her continuous obsession about people’s opinions consumed in the Earthly world and essentially distracted her from developing a spiritual relationship with God. Bradstreet was enveloped by her dissatisfaction with her to the point of ridiculing herself, “Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble mind” (1). It was obvious that her mind and spiritual
In the sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards, he preached about a stricter Calvinist theology of Puritanism. Edwards delivered it at the Massachusetts congregation on July 8, 1741. He blatantly uses rhetorical strategies to instill fear into his audience if they are to continue to not be active Puritans in religion. Edwards uses polysyndeton, harsh diction and tone, and the appeal to emotion along with the use of semicolons to develop his message.
In his sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, by Jonathan Edwards he displays the Puritan belief that men are saved by grace. Edward, however, use rhetorical devices to make his sermon persuasive by using vibrant images and figure of speech to make these men repent.
In the 1700’s the Puritans left England for the fear of being persecuted. They moved to America for religious freedom. The Puritans lived from God’s laws. They did not depend as much on material things, and they had a simpler and conservative life. More than a hundred years later, the Puritan’s belief toward their church started to fade away. Some Puritans were not able to recognize their religion any longer, they felt that their congregations had grown too self-satisfied. They left their congregations, and their devotion to God gradually faded away. To rekindle the fervor that the early Puritans had, Jonathan Edwards and other Puritan ministers led a religious revival through New England. Edwards preached intense sermons that awakened his congregation to an awareness of their sins. With Edwards’ sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” he persuades the Puritans to convert back to Puritanism, by utilizing rhetorical strategies such as, imagery, loaded diction, and a threatening and fearful tone.
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards and “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne are both 1700s Puritan works of literature with similarities, as well as differences, from their theme to tone and to what type of literary work they are. Edwards and Hawthorne are both expressing the topics of how people are all sinners, especially in regards to their congregation and that questions their congregation’s faith.
Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards were both Christians who had great faith in God and put Him first in their lives. They were both aware of God’s almighty power and that God had greater plans for mankind than what was visible on Earth. Their core way of thinking was similar but their personal understanding of God’s nature was strikingly different. Bradstreet saw a kind and compassionate God and Edwards saw a harsh and jealous God. However, both knew that eternal life awaited those who accepted God into their hearts.
Bradstreet also made it appoint to compare the sudden death of her grandchild to nature stating, “But plants new set to be eradicate, / And buds new blown to have so short a date, / Is by His hands alone that guides nature and fate”( lines 12-14). Conversely, Edward describes his loss of his child as a honor from God. Taylor states, “ Lord take’t. I thank Thee, Thou tak’st ought of mine: / It is my pledge in glory, part of me / Is now in it, Lord glorified with Thee” revealing his honor to have his child sitting with the lord (Edward lines 28-30). Both authors took their faith into great consideration when speaking of the loss of a family
John Edwards purpose in writing, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was to wipe out any doubts the Puritans had about the existence of hell. To give affirmation of the truth of hell he uses anaphora, drilling the presence of this fiery world into his audience’s mind. Edwards also uses metaphors and polysyndeton to turn the imaginary world into the earthly world which then instills fear into the colonist’s minds, therefore making his argument stronger and more
Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor are two of the most recognizable poets from early American History; they were also both American Puritans, who changed the world with their poetry. We can see many similarities in their poetry when it comes to the importance of religion and also on having children and losing children. There are however differences in the audience of their poetry and their personal views on marriage. Bradstreet and Taylor both came over to America in the 17th century and settled in New England. Though Taylor came years later we can see the similarities through their poetry.
Reynolds, David S. Faith in Fiction: The Emergence of Religious Literature in America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1981.
Religion was the foundation of the early Colonial American Puritan writings. Many of the early settlements were comprised of men and women who fled Europe in the face of persecution to come to a new land and worship according to their own will. Their beliefs were stalwartly rooted in the fact that God should be involved with all facets of their lives and constantly worshiped. These Puritans writings focused on their religious foundations related to their exodus from Europe and religions role in their life on the new continent. Their literature helped to proselytize the message of God and focused on hard work and strict adherence to religious principles, thus avoiding eternal damnation. These main themes are evident in the writings of Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Mathers, and John Winthrop. This paper will explore the writings of these three men and how their religious views shaped their literary works, styles, and their historical and political views.
Jonathan Edwards was a man who could petrify any eighteenth century Puritan. He was born in East Windsor, Connecticut and was raised in a household with strict religious beliefs. In 1727 he began his preaching career as an assistant to his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, the pastor at the church at Northampton, Massachusetts. When his grandfather died two years later, Edwards became the pastor of the Church at Northampton and began preaching all over New England. He then emerged as one of the leaders of the Great Awakening with his determination to return to the orthodoxy of the Puritan faith. That is when he adopted his “fire and brimstone” emotional style of sermon. Although people often ran out of the church in hysterics, most stayed in the church captivated by his speeches. He had always purposely chose to address his congregation with a sermon, using all of the elements of an oratory. In Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards displays all elements of an oratory by appealing to emotions, including expressive and rhythmic language, addressing the needs and concerns of his audience, and inspiring others to take action.
Bradstreet’s poetry is fully religious. Being a pious woman, as everyone was at that time period, she wrote poems claiming high morals and religious motifs. Her writings were very popular among puritans who started colonizing America. His Puritan belief was the reason of her special attitude to her life, soul and sufferings. “She thought that God was so hard on her because her soul was too in love with the world. She also wrote some poems where she asked God to watch over her children and husband” (Gonzalez, 2000).
Death is a concept that every human being must accept eventually. Some fight against death while others embrace it. There are even instances in which one may be living but already feel dead. Death is a common topic used in the writing world. Being that it is so universal it gives the reader a real life connection to the characters in a story. Beliefs of death are different amongst human beings. Some people see death as an ending where others see it more as a beginning. The story “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and the poem “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” by Dylan Thomas both express similar and different feelings towards death. “A Rose for Emily” is a story about an elder woman who was not living when she died. Certain life events cause this woman to refuse and ignore change. Death is an ultimate form of change so it was only natural for Miss Emily to ignore it.
By reading Bradstreet’s work, a fair sense of what Mrs. Bradstreet was like can be grasped. She clearly stated her opinion of those who objected to her writing: “I am obnoxious to each carping tongue, / Who says my hand a needle better fits.” (Bradstreet,“ The Prologue”155). Bradstreet refused to give up her passion for writing even if it meant going against the opinions of anyone in her colony, including religious leaders. Although Bradstreet referred to herself as being obnoxious, her written works portray an entirely different Bradstreet. She seeks no reward or fame for her writing: “Give thyme or parsley wreath, I ask no bays” (155). Bradstreet seeks no reward for her writing because she doesn’t think her work is very good: “My foolish, broken, blemished Muse so sings” (154). She refers to her writing as her: “ill-formed offspring” (“The Author To Her Book”165). Even after her work is published she is ...