Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Study Guide/Worksheet

How does he develop a simile in paragraph 5? Discuss the power of imagery. Why does he use it?

"Like great waters damned for the present"; it's purpose is to illustrate and symbolize the wrath of God. Compares the wrath of God to horrifying floods.

In the first paragraph, "appease" means "to pacify"; using this definition as a contextual clue, approximate the meaning of "abate."

Abate means to become less intense. Its purpose is to increase the main point.

In the second paragraph, Edwards begins three clauses with "there is." This technique is anaphora. Why does he use this repetitive structure?

Anaphora is used to intensify and make Edwards point more clear.

tone

technique by which the author conveys attitude toward the subject

simile

the comparison of one thing with another thing using "like" or "as"

anaphora

the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses

imagery

visually descriptive or figurative language in a literary work

What does Edwards men by "natural men"? How do you know? Describe his primary audience

"Natural men" is used to describe all men since men were majority if not all the crowd he was speaking to, he meant everyone.

"That lake of burning brimstone" is an appositive. What purpose does the clause serve in the sentence? Can you find any other appositives in the sermon?

"The lake of burning brimstone" is used to modify "world of misery." It gives the audience something to picture and symbolism. There are other appositives in the sermon

Briefly define the historical context of Edwards' speech. What does Edwards hope to accomplish with this sermon? Define his purpose

A sermon presented by Jonathan Edwards to a congregation of Puritans. His purpose was to warn mainly Puritans and other Christians to repent their sins

Describe the nature of the appeals Edwards employs.

Ethos comes from his background as a minister. Logos comes from cited bible verses. Pathos comes from fear he ignites within the audience.

Why do you think Edwards uses semicolons to connect the series of independent clauses rather than dividing them into separate sentences? Why does he repeat "not willingly"?

He uses semicolons to separate independent clauses because they consist of the same ideas. "Not willingly" is repeated because the idea is saying the world doesn't exist and thrive for you.

Many in his congregation were said to have fainted and cried out as he delivered his sermon. What parts of the sermon do you believe might have even evoked such a response? Why?

His repetitiveness of certain imagery can make people fearful and make them consider their true ways. Examples can be found in paragraphs 6,7, and 8 and can be terrifying when overthinking.

Describe the figurative language and images in the subsequent three paragraphs. Do you notice a progression? What point is he making through this imagery?

Images include bow and arrow, holding a spider over fire, and God's wrath raining on sinners. Edwards uses painful imagery to ignite fear in the audience.

Edwards' sermon is persuasive. Although he conveys an argument, how is his texts persuasive? Is it effective? How do you define a persuasive text?

Persuasion relies on pathos appeal. Speaking in second person can have the audience relate to the speech and get into their heads. Descriptive images can stick with them after Edwards gets his point across

As Edwards lists items, he uses the conjunction "and" before each one. The technique of repeating conjunctions in close succession is polysyndeton. What is the rhetorical effect?

Polysyndeton is used throughout the sermon and its purpose is to add power to ams build up on the oncoming words.

Edwards' intended his sermon, a speech, be heard rather than read. What do you notice about texts meant to be heard? Contrast them to texts meant to be read.

Text speech is more proper when it comes to diction and usually speaks in third person. Auditory speech speaks directly to audiences usually speaking in second person.

Tone is the technique by which the author conveys his attitude toward his subject. Describe Edwards' tone. List some words or phrases that help create the tone. Does the tone change? Where? How do you know?

Tone comes from Edwards anger and disapproval of people and their sins. Ignites the fear in the audience with phrases such as "wrath of God." The tone turns from condemnation to hopeful as he says its not to late to repent your sins.

polysyndeton

a technique in which conjunctions are repeatedly used in quick succession

ethos

appeals to credibility of the author or to authority

pathos

appeals to emotions of audience

logos

appeals to the logic of the text

figurative language

language that uses words or expressions with a meaning that is different than the literal interpretation

appositive

when a noun or word is followed by another noun or phrase that renames or identifies it