• A poet of different styles whose work was discovered and published in 1939. • Most known for his Preparatory Meditations, verses written before his giving of communion during his religious services.
Here is a stanza from his “Meditation 1”: Oh! that thy Love might overflow my Heart! To fire the same with Love: for Love I would. But oh! my streight'ned Breast! my Lifeless Sparke! My Fireless Flame! What Chilly Love, and Cold? In measure small! In Manner Chilly! See. Lord blow the Coal: Thy Love Enflame in mee
2.2.4 Preachers
Cotton Mather (1663-1728) • He wrote some 400 works, but his most famous is the Magnalia Christi Americana , a super-long, seven-volume nostalgic work of the history of New England in a Christian context, how God helped people become civilized in the New World (yes, people are already feeling nostalgic about 1620).
• He speaks of Bradford and Winthrop (remember the founders?) • He represents the old order of Puritan preachers, like his father.
Cotton Mather (1663-1728) Some of his ideas in his writing were ahead of this time: • He promoted inoculation against smallpox (he entertained the thought of becoming a doctor before he was a preacher), which was in stark contrast with his spiritual ideas (he believed in witchcraft and was indirectly involved in the Salem Witch Trials).
• He promoted the “carrot” over the “stick” in school discipline. • He promoted the mental as well as the physical state of health.
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) • A Puritan preacher of great repute and fire • He was influenced by the Enlightenment • Worked in Northampton, Massachusetts as a preacher, replacing his grandfather.
• He was part of the Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s, which strived to resuscitate American spiritual values • He published many of his sermons. His most famous is “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” in 1741
Jonathan Edwards “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” (1741) • Poetic language and imagery • Sense of urgency
• Tone of the sermon and the message it entails, that God has a negative view on mankind • Contrast to some of his other optimistic sermons that about salvation
If you cry to God to pity you, he will be so far from pitying you in your doleful Case, or shewing you the least Regard or Favour, that instead of that he’ll only tread you under Foot: And tho’ he will know that you can’t bear the Weight of Omnipotence treading upon you, yet he won’t regard that, but he will crush you under his Feet without Mercy; he’ll crush out your Blood, and make it fly, and it shall be sprinkled on his Garments, so as to stain all his Raiment. He will not only hate you, but he will have you in the utmost Contempt; no Place shall be thought fit for you, but under his Feet, to be trodden down as the Mire of the Streets.
On genres We have seen various genres of the New World: • Explorers chronicles • Poetry • The captivity novel • The sermon
• Another genre closely related to religion is the spiritual autobiography, which are written by individuals to show how they have attained grace through God and worked their way up the spiritual ladder from a state of sin. An example of this is Jonathan Edward’s Personal Narrative.
2.3 The Early National Period (1750-1820)
2.3.1 The Early National Period Part 1 2.3.2 The Early National Period Part 2 2.3.3 The Early National Period Part 3
2.3.1 The Early National Period Part 1
Much of the work of this phase in history was influenced by the Age of Enlightenment.
The Enlightenment was a major movement in Western culture in which the power of reason and objective thought influenced political, religious and institutional beliefs.
General thought moved away from a strict adherence to the Bible and Puritan thought.
With the Enlightenment, the former, Puritan views on God, life and human interaction were put aside to open discourse to a new way of seeing the world. General thought moved away from a strict adherence to the Bible, and many influential thinkers considered themselves Deists.
Although some might dispute this claim, some prominent Deists of the time were Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, to name a few.
Deists believed that God created the world but has since been detached from it, which has let humans create their own path in life. This is different from the Puritan belief in which individuals are directly chosen or punished by God.
The Enlightenment influenced this change of thought because Deists rejected supernaturalism and relied on reason, evidence and natural phenomena to explain the existence of God and themselves.
2.3.2 The Early National Period Part 2
Cadwallader Colden (1688-1776) • Lieutenant governor of the state of New York, physician, scientist • He wrote on botany and science • Had a long-time epistolary relationship with Benjamin Franklin
• Wrote The History of the Five Indian Nations (1727), when he was appointed as first colonial representative of the Iroquois. It is an important work because it criticizes the English treatment of them.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) • Printer, publisher, scientist, inventor, diplomat, author, etc.
• Influenced by the Enlightenment, his style of memoir was a radical change from previous memoirs. His perspective of the self is more worldly and non-deterministic, and happiness can be found here and now in the autonomy of human rationale and reason.
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