1. Movements In American Literature
The Puritans
Movements In American Literature

2. New England Primer A: In Adam’s Fall We Sinned all B: Thy Life to Mend
This Book Attend
H: My Book and Heart
Shall never part
Source

3. What can we tell about Puritan culture from The New England Primer?
F: The Idle Fool
Is whipt at School
Y: Youth forward slips,
Death soonest nips
G R T X Y all about Death
Idea for Class: have them make a primer that would capture the ideals of today’s society with picture and quick saying
Benjamin Harris, Puritan Minister, late 17th century
What can we tell about Puritan culture from
The New England Primer?

4. Puritans
Key Beliefs
Total Depravity – through Adam and Eve's fall, every person is born sinful – concept of Original Sin.
Unconditional Election – God "saves" those he wishes - only a few are selected for salvation – concept of predestination.
Limited Atonement –Jesus died for the chosen only, not for everyone.
Irresistible Grace - God's grace is freely given, it cannot be earned or denied. Grace is defined as the saving and transfiguring power of God.
Perseverance of the "saints" - those elected by God have full power to interpret the will of God, and to live uprightly. If anyone rejects grace after feeling its power in his life, he will be going against the will of God - something impossible in Puritanism.
--Paul Reuben

5. Legacy Lasting Effects of Puritan Ideas
The need for moral justification for private, public, and governmental acts.
The Desire for Freedom - personal, political, economic, and social.
The Puritan work ethic.
Elegiac verse - morbid fascination with death.
The city upon the hill - concept of manifest destiny .

6. Puritan Writing The Function of Puritan Writers
To transform a mysterious God - mysterious because God is separate from the world.
To make God more relevant to the universe.
To glorify God.
The Style of Puritan Writing
Protestant: against ornateness; reverence for the Bible.
Purposeful: to glorify God and make God relevant in the universe
Reflective of Reading Public: literate and well-grounded in religion.

7. Puritan Art
Unidentified artist, Elizabeth Clarke Freake (Mrs. John Freake) and Baby Mary, about and 1674, oil on canvas
What seems important in this painting?
What seems out of place?
What colors dominate?
What can you tell about the home life?
What can you tell about Mrs. Freake from the way she is dressed?
Source

8. Puritan Art
Thomas Smith, Self-Portrait, about 1680, oil on canvas

9. Writers for Study Anne Bradstreet Edward Taylor Jonathan Edwards
“Verses on the Burning of Our House” (3)
“To My Dear and Loving Husband” (4)
Edward Taylor
“Huswifery” (8)
Jonathan Edwards
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (10)

10. Puritan Furniture
What do you notice about the structure of the chairs?
How might the structure reflect the philosophy of the Puritans?
Not comfortable, looks like church, points to heaven, not conducive to sitting for long periods of time, no idleness