1. The Colonial Period in American Literature
English 11
Mrs. Bozinko

2. The Time Period
Mid 1600’s – 1750
Colonization and survival
Religious thought
Moral judgment

3. Northern Settlers: The Pilgrims
Led by William Bradford
Fall of landed in Plymouth, MA
Spring of 1621 only 50 survivors
Religious reformers
Withdrew from church of England
Nickname: Separatists (protestant)
101 people came
Reformer: a person who changes things– they wanted to get away from Church and start new

5. The Puritans: A Social and Cultural Force
Led by John Winthrop
Established Massachusetts Bay Colony 1628
Religious Reformers
Stayed within Church of England to PURify from within
THEOCRACY
Radical
Conservative
Nickname: Calvinists
Reformers: change in church of England from within. Get rid of glitz and glamour in the church and wanted a simple, plain, pure religion
Theocracy: Created a successful government that the church dominated—religions is law, law is religion
Radical: to do something to the extreme—to change something
Conservative—proper, does not want change, does normal things
Puritans were both radical and conservative because they wanted change in the church and wanted a plain and simple life

6. Most important in American Literature Well educated
The Puritans
Most important in American Literature
Well educated
Primarily middle class
Grounded in religious beliefs
Believed in Pre-Destination and election
Wanted ideal society
Is there somewhere better than here?
The Puritans believed in the innate depravity of man. They also believed that some people were “predestined” to experience an afterlife with God. Only the “elect” or “chosen” were in a good relationship with God. Idealism.

7. THE SAVED The prominent The clergy The wealthy The healthy THE DAMNED
Pre-Destination
THE SAVED
The prominent
The clergy
The wealthy
The healthy
THE DAMNED
The poor
The sick
The lower class
You must lead a good and saintly life to be chosen because God already picked and you don’t know if you are it! Pray constantly because you can be tempted and fall from grace! The prominent= kings, rulers, etc. The sick=mentally and physically

8. Puritan Beliefs Believed in omnipotent God Believed in unmerciful God
Believed in the Bible
Believed in Original Sin
Believed in Pre-Destination
Believed in Education for men AND women
Believed in daily workings of God
Believed in Puritan work ethic
Puritan Work Ethic: work hard, self discipline

9. Puritan Beliefs
God
Community
Self

10. Great Awakening 1730’s Led by Jonathan Edwards and clergy
Bring Puritans back
Series of tent meetings
Greater importance on individual and spiritual experience
Great Awakening
Designed to bring back puritans who didn’t like some of the beliefs as puritanism began to die out around mid 1700’s. The Great Awakening arose at a time when man in Europe and the American colonies were questioning the role of the individual in religion and society. It began at the same time as the Enlightenment which emphasized logic and reason and stressed the power of the individual to understand the universe based on scientific laws. Jonathan Edwards is famous for "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," delivered in In this sermon he explained that salvation was a direct result from God and could not be attained by human works as the Puritans preached.

11. Covenant Theology Second religious movement
Soften idea of pre-destination
Gives control
Must do TWO things:
Believe in deity
Do good deeds on earth
Covenant is a promise, theology is the study of religion. Your deity made two agreements, one with Adam which was broken and second with Abraham, which if man does will give him a shot at salvation. Must have spirit of moral righteousness!

12. The Literature of the Puritans
NO novels
NO short stories
NO drama
Little poetry
Mostly ALL nonfiction!
Anne Bradstreet, Edward Taylor, Jonathan Edwards
NO fiction because they thought it was sinful.

13. The Function of Puritan Writers
1. To instruct people about secular things on a religious level
2. To make God more relevant to the universe.
3. To glorify God.
Secular = worldly

14. Simple style of writing
Subject and Style
RELIGION AND GOD
Daily life
Simple style of writing
Simple then, simple now, but may be complex to us because of language, structure, etc.

15. What did they write? Autobiography Religious studies Journals Hymns
Diaries
History
Biography
Autobiography
Religious studies
Hymns
Sermons
Some metaphysical poetry

16. England had romantic poetry Difficult and thought provoking
Metaphysical Poetry
England had romantic poetry
Difficult and thought provoking
Shows man’s place in universe
Puritan’s plagiarized English Metaphysical poetry
Puritan Poetry = English Metaphysical Poetry
Puritan’s began writing in European poetic styles. Rebel group of writer’s revolted and came to the colony’s and composed ENGLISH MATAPHYSICAL POETRY.

17. Characteristics of Metaphysical Poetry
1. Follows a logical pattern; poem as argument POET VS. GOD POET VS. LOVER POET VS. HIMSELF 2. Can be intellectual, analytical, psychological 3. Theme: physical death, religion, physical love 4. Diction: Simple word choice 5. Deals with IMAGERY: common place, ordinary 6. Conceit = extended metaphor
Intellectual—reader thinks about, analytical—critical thinking, psychological—the mind. Diction = author’s choice of words. Imagery = authors use vivid description words that appeal to the 5 senses to create a mental picture in the reader’s mind.

18. The Puritan Legacy
Frivolity = not serious

19. The Real Puritan Legacy
First free public school
Founded Harvard and Yale
Set up first printing press in colonies
The need for moral justification for private, public, and governmental acts.
The Questing for Freedom
The Puritan work ethic.
fascination with death.
The city upon the hill
Bay psalm book