Literature to 1700/American Puritanism
The Marvels of Spain--and AmericaI. "World of Wonder"
A. Diego Colon
B. Christopher Columbus
***Both "descanted on the green beauty of the islands--evoking a mood that has remained strong in American writing ever since: he saw 'trees
of a thousand kinds,' trees that seemed to 'touch the sky. . . as green and as lovely as they are in Spain in May.'"
II. "Image of Ethiopia itself"
A. John Underhill/Newes from America (1638)
***Says that "the English manner of fightling '[was] too furious, and slay[ed] too many men.'"
*** "Each people used its own traditions or elements recently borrowed from others to endure or conquor or outwit its opposite numbers, and
violence often swallowed up the primal wonder glimpsed in the earliest documents."
Native American Oral LiteratureI. Orature (oral literature)
A. The North American Cultures were oral cultures, relying on the spoken word, whether changed, sung, or presented in lengthy narratives, and teh memory of those words to preserve important cultural information
B. These expressions were various--similar to the the Europeans' definitions of tragedy, comedy, epic, ode, etc.
C. Traditional Native American literatures originate as oral performances and are offered as dramatic events in time, language for the ear, rather than objects in space for the eye.
D. From a Western perspective, these oral literatures were not considered as "literature" until the period of Romanticism when the concept of literature shifted away from being defined by the medium of expression to the kind of expression (texts that emphasized the imaginitive and emotional possibilities of language)
Voyages of Discovery
I. Voyagers
A. Columbus
B. John Cabot
C. Amerigo Vespucci
D. Pedro Cabral
**Such voyages are captured in Richard Hakluyt's The Principall Navigations (1598-1600)--"brought the literary productions of countless European
mariners to the attention of a puboic newly stirred by what Shakespeare soon was to call this "brave new world" of Euro-America.
Literary Consequences of 1492
I. Body of Literature
A. European explorations produced a significant amount of literature, rich with imagery that stirred the individual imagination and national ambition
B. Most literature came from the Europeans/an exception would by anonymous native writers working in the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs in
1528; foregrounds the obvious split between European policy and action (and the justification of that action)
C. This split is mirrored in and influenced by the character of the writing that survives from that period
American Puritanism
I. Basic Puritan Beliefs
1. Total Depravity - through Adam's fall, every human is born sinful - concept of Original Sin.
2. Unconditional Election - God "saves" those he wishes - only a few are selected for salvation - concept of predestination.3. Limited Atonement - Jesus died for the chosen only, not for everyone.
4. 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.
5. 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.
II. The Function of Puritan Writers1. To transform a mysterious God - mysterious because he is separate from the world.
2. To make him more relevant to the universe.3. To glorify God.
III. The Style of Puritan Writing
1. Protestant - against ornateness; reverence for the Bible.
2. Purposiveness - there was a purpose to Puritan writing - described in Part II above.3. Puritan writing reflected the character and scope of the reading public, which was literate and well-grounded in religion.
IV. Common Themes in Early Puritan Writing
1. Idealism - both religious and political.
2. Pragmaticism - practicality and purposiveness.Two Important New England Settlements
The Plymouth Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony Flagship Mayflower Arrives--1620 Flagship Arbella Arrives--1630 Leader-William Bradford Leader--John Winthrop Settlers known as Pilgrim Fathers Settlers are mostly Puritans The Mayflower Compact provides for social, religious, and economic freedom, free of ties to Great Britain The Arbella Covenant clearly establishes a religious and theocratic settlement while sill maintaining ties to Great Britain TheSeparatists--Pilgrims The Congregational Puritans The Mayflower Compact (1620)
(The Mayflower Compact and the Arbella Covenant shaped the politics, religion, and social behavior of those who first landed and settled in the New England. These were the early constitutions and they will eventually influence the shape, style, and content of the U. S. Constitution.)
In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain. France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, & etc. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and the advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the first Colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these Presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together in a civil body politick, for our better ordering and preservation, and the of the ends aforesaid: and by virtue hereof do enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient of the general good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the eleventh of November, in the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland, the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini 1620.
From The Arbella Covenant or "A Modell of Christian Charity" (1630)
God Almighty in His most holy and wise providence, hath so disposed of the condition of mankind as in all times some must be rich, some poor; some high and eminent in power and dignity, others mean and in subjection. First, to hold conformity with rest of His works, ... Secondly, that He might have the more occasion to manifest the work of His spirit, ... Thirdly, that every man might have need of other, ... All men thus (by divine providence) ranked into two sorts, rich and poor, under the first are comprehended all such as are able to live comfortably by their own means duly improved, and all others are poor, according to the former distribution. There are two rules whereby we are to walk, one toward another; justice and mercy. ... There is likewise a double law by which we are regulated in our conversation, one towards another; in both the former respects, the law of nature and the law of grace, or the moral law of the Gospel. (1) For the persons, we are a company professing ourselves fellow members of Christ; (2) the care of the public must oversway all private respects by which not only conscience but mere civil policy doth bind us; (3) the end is to improve our lives to do more service to the Lord, the comfort and increase of the body of Christ whereof we are members; (4) for the means whereby this must be effected, they are twofold: a conformity with the work and the end we aim at. ... Thus stands the cause between God and us: we are entered into covenant with Him for this work; we have taken out a commission, the Lord hath given us leave to draw our own articles, ... if we shall neglect the observation of these articles ... the Lord will surely break out in wrath against us. ... Therefore, let us choose life, that we, and our seed may live; by obeying. His voice and cleaving to Him, for He is our life and our prosperity.
(John Winthrop is supposed to be the principal author of the Covenant)
IV. Important Puritan Personalities
A. William Bradford
1. History of Plymouth Plantation, (1620-1647)
B. John Winthrop
1. Journal in 1630, "A Model of Christian Charity"
C. Anne Bradstreet
1. The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, 1650
D. Michael Wigglesworth
1. The Day of Doom, 1662
2. God's Controversy with New England, 1662, first American bestseller, expression of basic Puritan beliefs
E. Samuel Sewell
1. Diary, (1673-1729), representative of a new breed of Puritans who took more interest in secular matters like business, politics, and good living
F. Anne Marbury Hutchinson
1. **stressed the individual's intuition as a means of reaching God and salvation, rather than the observance of institutionalied beliefs and the
precepts of ministers; her criticism of the Massachusetts Puritans for what she considered to be their narrowly legalistic concept of morality and
her protests against the authority of the clergy were strongly opposed after the election of John Winthrop as governor in 1637; she was
officially excommuniated .
G. Mary White Rowlandson
1. Narrative, 1682***"Although the published items from this half decade of the seventeenth century also comprised almanacs and government publications, such items contributed as well to the establishment of print culture and, ultimately, of literary traditions in British America. It was to be the almanac that helped make Benjamin Franklin's fortune as a printer, and it was Franklin who converted that everyday form into a vehicle of rare wit and sturdy English" (Norton Anthology)
V. Implications of Puritanism on American Literature
A. Critics blame the Puritan heritage for much that seemed to limit American writing: it's heavily allegorizing disposition, its failure to open out
to experience or the ambiguity of the symbol, its lack of inclusiveness, its dull response to the world of nature, its rigorous moralism and its
Anglo-Saxonism. However, this heritage also opened up the doors of American literary discovery. The Puritans' cosmic, transcendental, and
providential vision, their faith in an escape from a dead Old World to a redemptive New one, their "exceptionalist" belief in the powerful
recovery of history, and the conviction that Americans had a special purpose and would speak it in a special voice lingers in American culture
and literature.