Puritan General Info
What is The Author to Her Book About?
- bradstreet compares her poems to an ill formed baby that is sent abroad (published in London), returns to america, she tries to make it better but cant (held back by puritan plain style) -apology for being a woman who writes poetry in a world where men are seen as more intelligent/ its not womans place to write poetry
Why was Martha targeted?
- didint fit role of women -strong willed, spoke her mind, stood up to men
Describe Bradfords story about the sailor
- sailor is mean and rude and curses - makes fun of sick ppl and says he hopes they die to he can take their things -just god curses him with a disease, he dies and is thrown overboard
Puritan intollerance
- though came to America to escape persecution, they persecuted quakers, catholics andothers
What was the Modoc story of creation called? How was it communicated?
-"When Grizzlies Walked Upright" -oral tradition, later written down
why has puritan plain style persisted
-"plain" mirrors democratic values of nation & appeals to common man
Puritan Beliefs: Education
-"the godly" needed to be able to read and interpret the Bible -ie Harvard est. as Puritan school -Puritans began free public edu in America
The first Thanksgiving - "Thanksgiving"
-1621: Gov. William Bradford proclaimed day of thanksgiving to celebrate the first harvest
Salem Witch Trials - How many accused? How many killed?
-1692 -over 100 ppl accused of witchcraft -20 kill (+ two dogs)
The Great Awakening
-1734-50 -revivalist movement of Puritans -traveling preachers gave sermons about conversion -Converts would cry out and faint, shout, tremble, grovel on the ground, and fall unconscious
The first Thanksgiving
-90 NA accompanied the Wampanoag Chief Massasoit to visit Plymouth for 3 days of fish, foul and venison -only about 50 of original 100 pilgrims had survived so far
Puritan Legacy
-American dream: forge new paths, attain goals -work ethic: , frugality, industry, self-discipline, practicality, and self reliance; the beginnings of capitalism -religion: personal belief in God, and the conjunction of church and state -destiny: fulfill as a beacon to the world, an idea invoked by many presidents, including, recently, Clinton, Bush, and Obama -freedom from oppression, duty to country, and patriotism -democracy: representative gov -plain, straightforward style of writing - influenced the American literary tradition (Twain and Hemingway)
How does Byrds perspective add to question, what is an American?
-American enjoys fruit of labors: eats good food, plays games, sleeps with wife, reads for pleasure
How does Mathers descrip of trials redefine the American
-American is both the outside and punishes the outside -scared of being targeted himself, uses scapegoat for natural things he cannot understand
What did Increase Mather write?
-An arrow against profane and promiscuous dancing: christian cannot dance and pray to god
Puritan Beliefs: Original Sin
-Born innately evil and imperfect through the spiritual deformity sin inherited from Adam, the original sinner -Perfectible only through God's grace through which he is saved -focus should be on afterlife rather than on earthly, physical life.
What is Versus upon the Burning of our House about?
-Bradstreets house burns down -she accepts the fire as justice: god gave her the material things and can just as easily take them away - she should not have material things -extravagance is to be saved for heaven and god
How is Byrds writing different from puritan literature in content and style?
-Byrd's writing does not reflect simple puritan lifestyle -Byrd talks blatantly about having slaves, punishing slaves, and sleeping with his wife -Byrd apologizes for sin casually and assumes his apology is accepted -Byrd indulges in pleasures of relaxing, eating food, playing games, reading for pleasure
What holiday in particular did they ban and why?
-Christmas -is a human invention and not in the Bible -is closely linked to pagan beliefs -involves the Catholic idea of "mass"
Where and when did Puritanism begin?
-England -1500's -part of English Reformation (King Henry I broke from church b/c wanted to divorce wife)
What style did Edward Taylor write in?
-English metaphysical -but still uses puritan plain style asthetic and homely metaphors
seven deadly sins
-Envy -Sloth -Gluttony -Wrath -Pride -Lust (adultery) -Greed (burglary)
Who is the worker in Huswifery? What role does the speaker play? What does speaker say about relationship with God?
-God -clay in hands of god to be shaped into good person -speaker needs god to become good person
puritan reason for using plain style?
-God's word cant be improved by mans artful writing -convey gods word in lanuage all can understand
In Preparatory Meditations 6, Taylor compares what to what?
-God's work on his soul to the making of a new, non-counterfeit gold coin
Core Puritan Beliefs
-God, not pope, as supreme authority -personal interpretation of the bible without the intervention of a priest figure
Who began active persecution of puritans in England? What did this entail?
-James I, Elizabeth I's successor -demanded that anyone who did not support the Anglican Church be tortured or killed
What is the "City Upon the Hill" literally and figuratively? who began use of this term?
-John Winthrop -Mass. Bay Colony -utopian place of complete reform (God found in scripture, stern work ethic) -example of perfect Protestant community of Christian soldiers for the sinful world
What did Puritans coming after the Pilgrims found?
-Massachusetts Bay Colony -first permanent settlement in New England near Boston
How does Bradford describe Native Americans?
-NA = rude, uncivilized - stole tools, watched pilgrims, sulking
Does puritan "plain" mean short simple sentences?
-NO -long and complex with multiple syntactical units -"Plainness" refers to the lack of figurative, "flowery," and otherwise imaginative language
The first Thanksgiving - Samoset and Squanto
-Native AMericans who taught Puritans how to farm
Is the treaty with the Indians fair to both groups?
-No, only protected pilgrims for the most part -suggests war to come
What biblical allusions does Bradford make?
-compares hard pilgrimage to Pauls challenges while on missionary trips for Christ -compares pilgrims seeing Americas to Moses seeing Promise Land
Pilgrims vs Puritans more ppl? when arrived? socio-economic class? education? society? attitude towards other religions? Loyal to Church of England? Settled where?
-Pilgrims: Few (about 100) Early (1620) Poor class Uneducated Fun-loving and less strict Tolerant of other religions Separatists from Church of England Settled in Plymouth -Puritans: Many (about 40-50,000) Later (late 1620's - 1630's) Upper middle class Educated Fundamentalist and more strict Intolerant and repressive of other religions Loyal to Church of England Settled in Salem and Boston
Coton Mather
-Puritan minister and writer -supported execution of witches -urged judges to consider spectral evidence (dreams/visions) and confessions of the accused -wrote about Salem Witch Trials in Wonders of the Invisible World -very well educated -father = Increase Mather (another puritan writer)
Difference between separatist Puritans vs Puritans
-Puritans: willingly joined the Anglican Church w/ hope of reforming from w/in -Separatists: did not join Anglican Church (felt it was Catholic Church with King as Pope)--> suffered more prosecution, left for America -->New England Way of religion=example they hoped England would follow
How is it similar to the Christian creation story
-Sky spirit touched earth to grow trees --> god made plants and land and sea on third day -sky spirit made animals from stick --> god made animals on sixth day -daughter of sky spirit falls down mountain b/c of curiosity to see ocean--> eve and Adam eat apple and fall from grace -Sky spirit cursed all bears -->original sin
What did Cotton Mather write about?
-The trial of Martha Carrier -The Devil in New England
Puritan Beliefs: Theism and Theocracy
-Theism = God is center of the universe. life and society are founded on faith in God -Theocracy = type of gov. based on God's law with God as the "head of state" in which the church controlled the government
Puritan Literary Genres -what was poetry about? thoughts on drama and fiction?
-Theological studies -hymns -sermons -personal narratives -narrative accounts -biographies -autobiographies -histories -diaries -journals -poetry: had spiritual or reflective purpose and glorified God -drama/fiction: considered to be for entertainment, therefore forbidden
What poems did Anne Bradstreet write?
-To my dear and loving husband -The Author to her book -Verses upon the Burning house
Puritan Beliefs: Women as Subordinate
-Women = descendants of Eve --> formed from Adams rib -made to be mans complement -inferior to men (Eve cause Adam's downfall) -symbol of shame -God punished through painful, sometimes deadly childbirth
Who were the pilgrims?
-a group of Separatist Puritans who left for the New World in 1620 on The Mayflower -founded Plymouth Colony (first went to Holland, then to Plymouth
Define Purtianism
-a reform movement within the Church of England to "purify" the Anglican Church of Catholic practices -break away from Roman Catholic Pope -had many political motivations
Puritan Beliefs: Work Ethic
-achieve good through hard work and self dicipline -Saving $, self-reliance, and self-improvement are central to the American ethos -puritan work ethic-->capitalism of AD
Anne Hutchinson
-advocate of religious freedom and direct connection btwn God and individual (no gov or preacher) -held prayer meetings to discuss her views -put on trial 1637 - for dissent and stepping outside of woman's role-> banished from community
What things does Bradstreet, as a dedicated Puritan woman and wife, struggle with?
-affection for things of this world (home, family, natural beauty) vs puritan commitment to shunning earthly concerns to focus on spiritual -love for husband and children vs puritan belief that this love should be second to love for christ -constraints as puritan woman vs freedom she felt as a writer
How does Bradstree contribute to central question: what is an american?
-an american is constricted by social or religious norms, but resists these restrictions in any way they can -an american speaks out their beliefs even when it is not their place
What does Taylor pray for in his poems? What lit dev does he use?
-asks for God's grace, favor, kindness, salvation--> speaker hopes to be one of god's chosen -uses metaphors involving common household tasks to portray God's granting grace
What is compared in Huswifery?
-asks god to spin him like a spinning wheel to make thread (soul compared to spool) -asks god to make him like a loom to make cloth (holy spirit compared to fulling mills) -asks god to cloth him in a robe of good qualities (robe symbolizes grace)
lyric poem definition
-brief poem expressing thoughts and feelings of the speaker -lively, musical language
Puritan Beliefs: Grace
-cleansing and purification of individual -granted by God alone (can't be earned) -predestination: G arbitrarily chooses the elect, a special few, to receive grace -requires self exmaination to see signs of God in self --> -Pure thought and behavior = evidence that God's grace had been granted -Sinful thought and behavior = evidence that it had not
Puritan Plain Style - subject matter
-concerns exploration of the self and one relationship with god
How were humans created?
-daughter of sky spirit had children with bears
What did Mass Bay colony lay basis for in later America?
-democracy (based on ideas of social contract and majority rule)
How do Bradfords content and use of Puritan Plain Style language answer the question "what is an American?" and define the "american character"?
-description of hard life on ship shows that American persevers and is determined despite hardship. faith (either in God or for a better future) makes the American strong -simple writing about god conveys that the American is the common man but is capable of great things -factual definition of wild, untamed frontier land shows that an American is a stranger in his own land, but perseveres -simple language = equal opportunity, any can read and understand, accessible to all classes
Puritan Belief: Sin
-devil tempts evryone towards sin -pleasant = sinful -women = prone to sin -sinner required to: publicly confess sin, preform act of penance
Reason for Decline of Puritanism
-early 1700s -coming of Enlightenment period - rejection of human kinds total depravity, rely on reason over faith -Materialism/more prosperous lifestyle
Anne Bradstreet
-educated and well read female poet (exception) -poetry reinforces Puritan views -shows ambivalence btwn Puritan doctrine/her love of God and her inner yearnings for freedom/self-expression -to justify writing she purposely diminishes her worth as a poet by using self-effacing apologies.
What did puritans embrace
-embraced simplicity in religious worship -condemned as idolatry many catholic practices -did not celebrate many traditional religious holidays because they are not explicitly commanded in the Bible
What was Mass. Bay Colony considered?
-first utopian Experiment in Americas
5 Purposes of Puritan Plain Style
-glorify God and record instances of his presence in world -ref. to ordinary, everyday obj., experiences, and situations -simple, unadorned lanuage (little fig. language) -factual and conversational in tone - "from the wilderness" -Biblical ref. and allusions to highlight Puritans holy mission
How does Bradford glorify god?
-god = fair, punishes the sinful -ppl were discouraged when getting ashore was so challenging and the New world looked so daunting --> god gave them hope
does taylor think one can acheive grace through ones own efforts or must it come as gift from god?
-god must grant, but you must be good person too
What is god's grace? What stands for gods grace in Huswifery?
-grace = chosen by god to be great person, cleansed, pure, with good traits -grace = robe
The first Thanksgiving - the "starving time"
-harsh winters made it hard for Puritans to grow crops
Purpose of Bradford's Work?
-historical accuracy -religious account of Puritan Experience in America
Where was the Tenth Muse by Anne Bradstreet originally published?
-in london by admiring brother in law -big success there and back in america
How does Bradford describe the Indians during war? How does this complicate the Puritans Utopian vision?
-indians = blood thirsty, cheat in war, kill women and children -not utopian: puritans looking for revenge, puritans savagely slaughtering NA - not accounting for better weapons--> killing senselessly
What did Squanto do for the pilgrims? What did they interpret this as?
-interpreted for them -showed them how to farm -instrument sent by god for their good
What were some of Martha's supposed powers according to Mather
-kill ppl with a look, bring them back to life with a touch -cause pain w/o touching -cause sickness -kill cattle -make wounds/sickness unhealable -make ppl deaf
William Byrd: how is he different frm puritans?
-lifestyle different: focused on secular rather than spiritual concerns, his attitude toward self-improvement -morally flawed: made vows of repentance in his Diaries and then quickly breaking them w/out remorse
What is To My Dear and Loving Husband about?
-lyric poem -love for husband -talks about it in terms of riches --> puritans saw wealth as sign of grace from god -paradox: to love in life, love survives after mortal death -central tension: love for husband vs love for christ - Bradstreet uses love for husband as metaphor for love for christ (never ending)
Puritan Plain Style - Purpose
-moral instruction -make light of God's presence in the material world
Jonathan Edwards
-most famous Great Awakening preacher -"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" - god=vengeful and angry, loving and forgiving -grad of Yale -combined Enlightenment ideals (free will) with Puritan Beliefs -sermons = sober and rational (Age of Reason)
Puritan Beliefs: Nature
-nature=God's living work/glory of his creatioin -nature (forests/wilderness) = sin, satan, fear (b/c of hard time w/ nature during settlement)
What two works did Bradford write?
-of plymouth plantation -treaty with the indians
What communal psychological forces drove witch hysteria?
-oppressive views of women -fear of the unknown -resentment of and rivalry between neighbors -dislike of the outsider/ the person who is different
What are conceits?
-ornate comparisons -two things you would never think to compare, two things not considered poetic --> its a stretch -not just extended metaphor
Who was William Bradford? What was his journal called? what was his style of writing?
-pilgram, arrived on Mayflower -became governor of Plymouth -Chronicled hardships of Pilgrims voyage and settlement in New World in journal: Of Plymouth Plantation -wrote in Puritan Plain Style Writing
Edward Taylor
-puritan Minister -poetry reps. his personal search for God -similar to English metaphysical poetry of the day = meaning depends on elaborate conceits (clever extended metaphors comparing physical object, ie spinning wheel with a religious concept, ie God's grace)
Puritan Plain Style
-reflects spare style of puritan life -simple, straightforward, and unadorned -little or no figurative or poetic language -short words, direct statements, references to everyday, ordinary objects and situations
What ordinary, everyday things does Bradford talk about?
-seasons affecting life on frontier -weather no ship
William Byrd
-southern planter and slave holder -edu in England wrote "Secret Diaries" re. daily thoughts and activities: romantic trists w/ Lucy and others, impassioned conflicts w/ Lucy, cruel treatment of slaves, readings in Latin and Greek/love of library -Writing style: b/c just for himself he used wit, interest, keen obs., style
Puritan Plain Style - Tone
-straightforward and factual
how does Taylor use Puritan Plain despite elaborate metaphor? examples?
-talks about ordinary things: -coin making, metallurgy -blindness/sight/need for glasses -writing/ images/ prints on money
What was the Mayflower Compact?
-the governing document of Plymouth Colony based on: --majority rule --religious tolerance
What natural phenomena does "When Grizzlies Walked Upright" reference?
-the huge Mount Shasta -storms -wind -volcanoes with smoke
Bradfords opinion of non Puritan sailors of Mayflower?
-thinks Puritans are better + holier than others -elivates/ highlights that puritans are better
Puritan Beliefs: Community three parts of covenant?
-three-way covenant: community plays central role -The First Covenant: btwn the individual and God—self-examination for signs of God's grace -The Second Covenant: between the individual and the community, or congregation—the individual must follow the community rules and beliefs and accept punishment by community for transgression; the entire community could be punished for one person's sins. -The Third Covenant: between the congregation and the state= theocracy
Puritans Beliefs: Witchcraft
-used Moses quote in bible to justify execution -both men and women could be witches, but women more commonly
Puritan Beliefs: Simplicity and Plainness
-valued Plain, shunned excess and decoration -plain clothes, church, etc
Womens roles
-wives and mothers -confined to home -educated only to read bible (not considered intelligent) -not allowed to vote or have role in church -Denounced as whores or witches, punished publicly, and/or banished from community if they rebelled
Describe Bradford's story about the condition of the boat
-wooden beam bending -sailors scared and fighting over what to do -master of ship puts in metal screw -they continue trip, accepting will of God -when they arrive on shore, they thank god for saving them
Puritan Belief: the Devil
-works w/ helpers: witches -person becomes witch by entering covenant with devil -witches attack innocent, enter another's body
Puritan Beliefs: God providence definition?
-world is God-directed -Providence: God plays a role in everythinf from history to everyday life -god = omnipresent and omnipotent -God = inscrutable, acts on whim, wrathful, imminent
What is Preparatory Meditations 6 about, stanza by stanza?
1) doesn't trust himself to judge his own value/ dedication to god, wants god to judge 2)wants god to help him become worthy and pure and put stamp of validity on him 3) wants to be angle of god, valuable to god like a coin is
Where were Modoc tribe located?
Oregon and Northern California
where they pro or anti catholic?
anti catholic
