Puritans Influence On Early American Literature

In early American literature, religion is one of the more consistent as well as prevalent themes. This is primarily due to the fact that early settlers of the American colonies were seeking to escape religious persecution, as well as to find a place to freely develop and expand their religious convictions. Despite sharing common English heritage as well as branching from the Anglican and Catholic church, religious views on liturgy and deontological ethics differed greatly amongst the settlers. This can be seen in the works of John Winthrop and Roger Williams. While both men’s religious beliefs stemmed from the same roots, each held different opinions on how rigid religion and liturgy should be held throughout the community.

The Puritans peregrination to the New World was to fabricate a society based on their religious beliefs. They wanted to build colonies that were going to worship and practice their religion as they did. A community that was more morally sound and based off of their view of Christianity. They settled in the New England colonies and established Massachusetts Bay as well as Boston. While establishing their “city upon a hill” they impacted the New England region with their political structure and religious emphasis. Their influence lasted throughout the 1600s and affected the society politically, socially, and economically through their spread of Christianity and morals.

Religion was the foundation of the early Colonial American Puritan writings. Many of the early settlements were comprised of men and women who fled Europe in the face of persecution to come to a new land and worship according to their own will. Their beliefs were stalwartly rooted in the fact that God should be involved with all facets of their lives and constantly worshiped. These Puritans writings focused on their religious foundations related to their exodus from Europe and religions role in their life on the new continent. Their literature helped to proselytize the message of God and focused on hard work and strict adherence to religious principles, thus avoiding eternal damnation. These main themes are evident in the writings of

The Puritans travelled from England to North America in the 1600s seeking religious freedom. However, the idea of “religious freedom” is quite different compared to what we usually understand. The Puritans wanted to implement their religious beliefs and practice them without any objections, and therefore missing out religious tolerance. The Puritan lifestyle was composed of very strong beliefs among which predestination and self-examination were prominent ones. Their social norms and beliefs were portrayed in their literature where they glorified God. Any literary writings that were not of any religious topics or failed to worship the lord were avoided. The Bible and other religious manuscripts and oratures were the basic source for their literary

Cotton Mather is one of the best known Puritan writers for his work The Wonders of the Invisible World. Mather gives the outside world a glimpse into what the Salem Witch trials were like and how they conducted their way of figuring out who was a witch in their colony. The Wonders of the invisible world brought the audiences into the firsthand experience of a trial and made them experience it from the viewpoint of one of the citizens of that colony. Mather specifically focuses on the trial of Martha Carrier in his work. Mather discusses her trial and how she is being accuses by Benjamin Abbot of being a witch and giving his own testimony. In order to stay alive characters must go along with the horrible assumption that some people are witches even if they do not believe it just to stay alive. Events that others see as natural occurrences are being looked at as acts of Satan by the people in Mather’s work. neighbors are turning on each other because they seek something that the other has and can not find another way to get the piece of land or cattle that they desire.

In September of 1620, the Mayflower full of Puritans not satisfied with the system of the Church of England and people referred to as “strangers” began their voyage (Desperate Crossing). A Puritan man named William Bradford was among the passengers of the Mayflower and wrote “Of Plymouth Plantation” throughout his odyssey. The use of plain style is effective in historical writing and in William Bradford’s “Of Plymouth Plantation” plain style did not affect the main details of their journey, but rather his bias when comparing the writing to Desperate Crossing: Untold Story of the Mayflower.

Religion plays a major role in the day to day lives of the early settlers in America. So much so, that early colonial writers use it as a form of literary persuasion. John Smith and William Bradford were two such writers.

Through Puritan writers, literature is influenced by religious ideologies and philosophies. Puritans writers, beginning in about 1560, put most of their focus into making their work God centered. They believed in the “Elect” and that Jesus died only for these few people. Writers usually wrote in 1st

One of the writers who wrote about the hardships they had experienced was John Smith. Captain John Smith was a soldier and the governor of Jamestown. In Smith’s writings, he speaks mostly about the colonization coming to the new land. He and his men believed they were going to build a successful colony. But due to disease, famine, and the occasional attacks from the neighboring Powhatan Indians, and

As a result of the harsh winter, lack of fresh water, and the spread of disease, life in Jamestown was difficult for the settlers. Attacks by the native Indians made life almost impossible. The Indians, hoping that the settlers would give up and leave, raided their camps, stealing pistols, gunpowder, and other necessary supplies. John Smith became leader of the colonists and did his best to fight off the Indians. He also became a writer. He wrote the first English book on America, A True Relation of Virginia, and The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles. Captain John Smith generally wrote for the people and their entertainment.

The beliefs of the puritans were simple and straightforward. They believed that the Bible was God 's true law and it provided the blueprints for a righteous life. People who did not agree with the Puritans theological views were advised to disperse from the area or convert to the popular beliefs of the majority. In fact, those who deviated from the socially acceptable way of living were strictly disciplined. The Puritans

The Puritanism passage in the textbook has two key themes laced throughout its paragraphs and those are the influence that the Puritans had on America, and that the Puritans are misunderstood and remembered for all the wrong reasons. When the Puritans came over to America they brought with them so much more than the supplies to last. The Puritans brought their new ideas and their desire to achieve success. The Puritans, thanks to their successful mindset, allowed for their influence to reach far beyond what they would have imagined. The Puritans are the ancestors of over 8 million Americans today ("Puritans"), and their established cities are still some of the oldest most successful cities in America ("Puritans"). Not only have the Puritans been a part of our gene pool for

Jamestown was settled by the Virginia Company and Captain John Smith, who was the leader and was one of the reasons why Jamestown was able to endure and withstand in such difficult circumstances. In Smith’s narrative “but nothing so difficult as to establish a commonwealth so far remote from men and means, and where men's minds are so untoward as neither do well themselves, nor suffer others”(Smith).People were being greedy and didn’t want to help each other which was a big problem in Jamestown and made it difficult to be able to survive. Another concept in his account of what happens on his journey he talks in the third person and brags about himself being so great. “And got himself and his company such estimation amongst them, that those savages admired him”(Smith). This

During the Age of Faith, the subject matter and writing styles were unusual. Puritans wrote about their

The Colonial Period in American Literature Blake Quickel The Colonial Period of American Literature was vital not only to the timeline of literature in our country, but it shaped the values and tradition that we identify America with. Literature from this period gives us a look into the beginnings of our country from different views such as Poems and stories from Native culture, Puritans, and the founding fathers. These writings give us an honest view of the way of life during this time. The Puritan writings we read in this class were very interesting in how they showed the early stages of America’s religion. Although religion in our government and our country’s values has become less and less extreme over time, it is amazing knowing how much control it had over society in our country’s beginnings; and many of the morals exorcised in the Puritan culture are still values relevant to our society today. In a reading from the “Introduction: Puritan Voices” assignment (a), the writer refers to the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a “man’s world”, describing the limited roles of women in society and how men were portrayed in the church as superior. Puritan ministers often preached that the soul had two parts, the immortal masculine half, and the mortal feminine half. Gender inequality is an enormous part of American Literature throughout all periods, and here you can see where these values originated in our country. Puritan society exists as a valid demonstration for why the first