Handout_1_The Puritans.pdf

Dr Katarzyna Macedulska email: [email protected] History of American Literature, II BA THE PURITAN PERIOD a) William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation (fragments) b) Edward Taylor, “Upon a Spider Catching a Fly”, “Huswifery” c) Anne Bradstreet, “The Author to her...

Dr Katarzyna Macedulska email: [email protected] History of American Literature, II BA THE PURITAN PERIOD a) William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation (fragments) b) Edward Taylor, “Upon a Spider Catching a Fly”, “Huswifery” c) Anne Bradstreet, “The Author to her Book,” “To My Dear and Loving Husband,” “The Flesh and the Spirit”, “Verses Upon the Burning of Our House” (also in the 1at class: “The Iroquois Creation Story”) I. The Puritans: - REFORMATION. After the accession of James I, 1603, the Puritan element in England slowly gained in strength and in intensity of conviction - the Puritans wanted to introduce further reforms than those adopted by the Elizabethan Religious Settlement. In England, most remained Non-separatist Puritans, others left (Separatists). - the impulses to early migration to America were (in general) twofold – commercial and religious: desire to acquire land, to keep the (religious) community together, the love of adventure, political ambition to extend the realm of England (Virginia), escape Protestant persecution (Maryland), Dutch settlement on the Hudson River (originally a trading post), the Puritan settlements at Hartford, New Haven, Plymouth, and Boston were intended to be refuges for those who made a certain fashion of religious worship a matter of conscience - Jamestown 1607 - the first permanent English settlement in North America, the help from the Powhatan Native Americans, the myth of Pocahontas, - the settlement in Plymouth (1620); the ship of the Mayflower, “Mayflower Compact,” celebration of Thanksgiving (first in 1621) - the first settlers – built the legal, social, and religious framework of the colonies according to English models, and made the English language the national speech of a great community - rocky and sterile country, it was hard work to settle down; in the beginning many of those who came died within a year or two of exposure and privation - discovery of America was mutual – Native Americans discovered the Europeans as much as the Europeans discovered them (enslavement, brutal treatment, diseases, despair, fight for land and authority) - the Native Americans had no written culture, but had oral culture (treated as inferior), which is different, e.g. they organize themselves primarily in relation to nature rather than to society; they imagine time cyclically and stress continuity over change, therefore – there were numerous 1 misunderstandings, especially with relation to land (check – e.g. the purchase of Manhattan in 1626) - printing: 1638 – the first printing press, installed in the colony’s new college – Harvard (which itself was founded in 1636) II. Religion (of the Puritans, English Reformed Protestants; a devout Protestant community) Criticism of the Anglican Church (wanted to reform it extensively): The wish to “purify” the Church of England from its “Catholic” practices Impact of Lutheranism on Puritanism - Priesthood of all believers – God is equally accessible to all the faithful, there is no need for church hierarchy, Christ as the only mediator between people and God - God’s supreme authority of human affairs - the Bible is God’s written words, self-authenticating, clear to the rational reader, and sufficient of itself to be the final authority of Christian doctrine - personal piety, personal conversation - a sense of mission, the idea of the Promised Land, the New Canaan, the Puritans as the New Israelites - priests allowed to marry; the emphasis on having many children; emphasis on prayer before meals Impact of Calvinism on Puritanism - the notion of predestination - the five doctrines (TULIP) 1. total depravity (as a consequence of the Fall of Man, every person born into the world is enslaved to the service of sin and, apart from the grace of God, is unable to choose to follow God; thus: we are not sinful because we sin, we sin because we are [born] sinful, the original sin has to do with the fallen nature of mankind; accordingly: our sin is something that comes from our hearts, from the very core/center of our existence), 2. unconditional election (God chose to save some people [even before they are born] according to his own purposes and apart from any conditions related to those persons; therefore, our salvation does not rest on us; it rests on the gracious, sovereign decision of God [but you need to believe- see the point below), 3. limited atonement (Jesus Christ's atonement on the cross is limited in scope to those who are predestined unto salvation, its benefits are given to the believers; the gospel is offered to those who believe), 4. irresistible grace (It's grace that brings about what God wants it to bring about; God's grace is so powerful that it has the capacity to overcome our natural resistance to it; the Holy Spirit does not drag people to Christ against their wills, instead the Holy Spirit changes our inclination and the disposition of our wills), 5. perseverance of the saints (none who are truly saved can be condemned for their sins or finally fall away from the faith; the promise of God that what He starts in our souls, He intends to finish; If you have it—that is, if you have genuine faith and are in a state of saving grace—you will never lose it. If you lose it, you never had it). 2 III. Art and Literature in the Puritan Period - strictly speaking, there cannot be a national literature till the national consciousness is evolved or at least till the colonists have taken a firm root and become a distinct body - in the beginning there was a strong influence of English literature – the Americans are heirs to a rich literary tradition - distrust of senses and imagination, highly suspicious of all forms of art; literature was supposed to have moral and didactic purposes - kinds of writing: histories (writers expressed the claim that they are the new, elected, and chosen nation, whom everyone is looking at and thus should set example for others – “a City upon a Hill” – John Winthrop), biographies, journals, diaries, travel writings; no theatre (distrust of performative art and embellishments); there is no Puritan novel - the sermon – characteristic genre, directed to the intellect; exquisite formal structure; written in the form of proof; contained also real life events resembling those written down in the Bible, characterized by realism, transparency, and clearness - 1640 – The Bay Psalm Book – the American version, as the British was considered too poetic, the Puritan “plain style” - the Puritan period was rather unapproving of art and little of literary worth sprang directly from its influence; even so: it has a profound literary significance as without it there would be no American writers such as Poe, Cooper, Irving, and others. American national literature is rooted in this (Puritan) moral subsoil. - Colonial Period and National Period in American literature - characteristic already of Puritan literature – the habit of self-inquiry (extensive self-scrutiny, psychic tension, therapeutic process and effect); specific way of thinking – symbolism; ethic interpretation; Manichean and pastoral elements; the impact of the sermon; episodic, symbolic seeing of history; concentration on the psychic time (check others!) IV. Impact of Puritanism on American literature and culture Ø Puritanism as a certain code of values, a philosophy of life, and a point of view Ø USA’s moral judgment and religious beliefs still can be traced back to Puritanism’s strict moral and religious values; these also laid foundations for the political order in the colonial and later the national period of the US history Ø invested literature and culture with (the incipient) mythology of its own, which later texts refer to as well as survey and critique (and criticize as well) Ø life as religion, individual responsibility to God (writing, initially, was about glorifying God and strengthening one’s relation with God) Ø God as a writer sends messages whereas people need to interpret them – from here stems the idea of re/interpreting reality, of paying attention to what happens Ø Protestant work ethic (initially it was about fixing their eyes on heavenly goal): work as worship, work as the essence; included here are also the notions of individual and collective responsibility Ø emphasis on education (back then: to know and interpret the Bible) 3 Ø emphasis on self-scrutiny/self-examination/self-analysis and self-control (hence also the ‘inward journey’ – life-writing inclinations that revolve around recording the self) Ø family oriented culture Ø simplicity of language Ø pragmatism V. Some sample discussion questions: 1. Oral literature of the Native Americans 2. Discuss Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford as a Puritan text (representation of God and man; the Puritan understanding of the world, the voyage as a mission, style of writing/form/structure/themes, … [other aspects]). 3. Features of Puritan poetry (refer to particular texts and discuss their form/structure, content, themes, ways and means of representation, Biblical allusions, … and others). 4. Discuss the poetry of Anne Bradstreet: structure, content, themes, symbols and metaphors, the use of extended metaphor, domestic imagery; the status of women, the voice of the lyrical I, interpretation of the world and events in one’s life; The sinful self/depraved self and the redeemed self, the idea of love, intimacy and freedom in/of her poetry; reliance on iambic pentameter, iambic tetrameter; how did her religious beliefs inform her writing? 5. Discuss the poetry of Edward Taylor: structure, content, themes, symbols and metaphors, the use of extended metaphor, housework and domesticity, metaphysical conceit, paradox, language as the bridge between the human mind and God, the voice of the lyrical I, interpretation of the world and events in one’s life; The idea of poetry as a preparation for sermon/preaching; God as a Master Weaver, who clothes people in grace – supreme creator and spinner of human destiny; how did Taylor’s religious beliefs inform his writing? 4