Puritan Unit NotesPilgrims Going to Church-George Henry Boughton

Huswifery-Edward TaylorTo My Dear & Loving Husband-Anne Bradstreet

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God-Jonathan EdwardsMrs. Rivers

George Henry BoughtonPilgrims Going to Church

He was born in England but lived in Albany, NY

At first concentrating on landscape painting.

After a year in NYC, he moved back to Europe and settled back in England in the 1860’s.

Later, he became known primarily as a painter of “subject pictures” like Pilgrims Going to Church

Pilgrims going to Church

1. What does the way people are looking around and holding their guns tell you about their state of mind as they go to church? Why might they feel this way?

2. What do the details of the painting-the weather, the posture of the people-reveal about life in the early days of Puritan settlement?

Puritan Plain Style

Puritans, unlike most of us today, had few possessions, dressed uniformly, and frowned on creative expression.

Puritans’ writing style reflected the plain style of their lives-spare, simple, and straightforward.

It is characterized by short words, direct statements, and references to ordinary, everyday objects

Puritans believed that poetry should serve God by clearly expressing only useful or religious ideas

Poetry appealing to the senses or emotions was viewed as dangerous.

Puritan People

Edward Taylor & Anne

Bradstreet

HuswiferyTo My Dear and Loving Husband

Edward Taylor Anne Bradstreet Edward Taylor’s poetry expresses

intensity and a love of language that contradicts the joyless Puritan creed.

Taylor thought of his poetry as a form of personal worship.

His work was generally unknown during his lifetime because he chose not to publish his poems because their joyousness and delight in sensory experience ran counter to Puritan attitudes that poetry be for moral instruction only.

Most of his poetry, like “Huswifery” uses extravagant comparisons, intellectual wit and subtle argument to explore religious faith and affection.

Anne Dudley was 16 when she married Simon Bradstreet. The couple emigrated to America and lived in Massachusetts

Bradstreet knew that writing was considered an unacceptable activity for women, but she persevered nonetheless, writing while children slept or in moments between household chores.

Her best poems are those inspired by the rhythms of daily New England life.

Her later poems reveal her spiritual growth as she came to embrace Puritan beliefs

“To My Dear and Loving Husband” expresses her feelings about the joys and difficulties of everyday Puritan life

Her poetry reflects the Puritans’ knowledge of the stories and language of the Bible, as well as their concern for the relationship between earthly and heavenly life.

“Huswifery” Edward Taylor focus on the simple, spare and straightforward writing focus on author’s use of short words, direct statements, and references

to ordinary, everyday objects Taylor’s apparent “extravagance” of his extended metaphor is offset by

the humble nature of the items he uses in his comparison.

-What is the poem about? 

-Make a list in your notebook of cloth-making words 

*Classwork**Questions for Review & Assess in pp. 101

HuswiferyApostrophe is a figure of speech in which a speaker directly addresses an absent person or a personified object, quality, or ideaE.g. Huswifery Line 1: Make me, O Lord, Thy spinning wheel complete

Line 8: And make Thy holy spirit, Lord, wind quills

The extended metaphor may act as a central theme, for example where it is used as the primary vehicle of a poem and is used repeatedly and in different forms. Although Taylor’s poem uses

simple words to describe common household items, Taylor creates a rich, multi-layered metaphor.

Increasingly complex connections-spinning wheel to yarn to loom to cloth to holy robes-represent steps the speaker hopes he can follow in life to glorify God and to achieve a state of grace.

“To My Dear and Loving Husband” Anne Bradstreet

Direct Address is when the speaker in a poem talks directly to someone or something. Commas are used to separate the word or phrase of the direct address from the rest of the sentence, regardless of its position in the sentence.

E.g. May you be rewarded for your love, dear husband.

-What is the poem about? 

-How would you paraphrase the first two lines?

Paraphrase Assignment*Paraphrase means to restate in your own words. Although these poems capture the simplicity of Puritan life, they are not necessarily easy to understand. To help absorb the meaning, take time to paraphrase.

Paraphrase these passages from the poems as though you were explaining their meaning to a friend “To My Dear and Loving Husband” lines 9-12 AND “Huswifery” lines 9-12

*Questions on pp. 102 Review & Assess

*Questions #2 & #4 on pp. 103

Sermon and OratorySinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Jonathan Edwards

SERMON Sermon is broadly defined as

a speech given from a pulpit in a house of worship.

It conveys to an audience the speaker’s message or point of view.

In colonial America’s religious atmosphere, the sermon flourished as a popular literary form.

ORATORY Oratory is defined as formal

public speaking. Sermons are one example.

The best oratory almost always displays the following elements:

-It is persuasive, inspiring listeners to take action.

-It is emotionally appealing.-It addresses the needs and

concerns of its audience.-It involves the use of

colorful or rhythmic language. Although oratory is less common

in today’s society, it can still be heard in Senate chambers, courtrooms, and houses of worship.

Jonathan Edwards

As he toiled to strengthen Puritanism against what he saw as new waves of liberalism and rationalism, Jonathan Edwards deeply influenced American religious history. He wrestled continually with the theological issue of free will: if God determines all, how is human free will possible? Edwards concluded that since God gives people the power to choose, they hold responsibility for their acts and will ear God’s praise or wrath accordingly. Edwards was born in Connecticut and raised in a devout atmosphere. He went to the Collegiate School of Connecticut (now Yale University) at the age of

thirteen and graduated four years later as the valedictorian of his class. He went on to earn a masters degree in theology.

He began his preaching career in 1727 as his Grandfather’s assistant who was a pastor of a Massachusetts church and later became church pastor after his grandfather’s death.

He became one of the prominent leaders of the “Great Awakening” – a religious revival that swept the colonies in the 1730’s and 1740’s committed to a return to the orthodoxy and fervent faith of the Puritan past.

His sermons were filled with “fire and damnation” and stimulated religious zeal and sparked conversions, often in a frenzied atmosphere.

As pastor, he started disciplinary proceedings against members of his congregation for reading improper books and denounced by name those he considered sinners in his sermons.

In 1750, he was dismissed as pastor, moved to Stockbridge, Mass and preached to Native Americans.

 

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Edwards’ most famous work It was delivered to a congregation in Connecticut in 1741 Surprisingly, Edwards preached this fire and brimstone sermon in a

quiet, restrained style. According to one account, he read the six hour work in a level voice, staring over the heads of the congregation at the bell rope that hung on the back wall.

It is said to have caused listeners to rise from their seats in a state of hysteria, scream in terror, and Edwards stopped several times to ask for silence.

It demonstrates Edwards’ power of persuasion and captures the religious fervor of the “Great Awakening”

*Biblical Imagery Edwards’ frightening imagery of God’s potential for wrath and

destruction recalls stories of fires, floods, and divine retribution in the Old Testament of the King James Bible.

While this imagery terrified his audience, they would have been quite familiar with it as this Bible with its haunting language and powerful imagery would have been common daily reading for most of his listeners.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Remember: Edwards conceived the work

as a piece of oratory-spoken text

This is an excerpt from one of the most famous sermons in American history

To look for colorful language, the use of repetition and alliteration.

That the idea that the concept of guilt, redemption, and mercy do not become outdated.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry GodQuestions to be Answered in Notebook What is the foundation of Edwards’ sermon? his intention? What

idea do you think his listeners found most dreadful?  Make a list of images involving water. In what ways do the images

of the fury of water help convey Edwards’ message?

What does Edwards say is the state of his congregation?

What does Edwards say will happen when the day of mercy has passed?

On pp. 111, what action is the passage beginning “How dreadful is the state…” designed to inspire?

  Questions for Review and Assess pp. 112 AND Questions for

Review and Assess pp. 113 #1-7