The Puritain World as Illustrated by American Literature
The Puritain World as Illustrated by American Literature
Puritans led a simple life; they looked for the least complicated approach to living in the world. When we look at their lives through poetry such as “Before the Birth of One of Her Children” or the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” from a 21st century perspective, we see the Puritans as traditional and old fashioned. They believed in predestination and an all powerful, unforgiving God who had everything planned for the future, in terms of who would be part of the elect, and who would move on to an eternal afterlife. Murdock speak about puritan faith, “In the genuine Puritan tradition, character and morality are seen as permanent values achievable only by personal spiritual conquest, life is constantly spiritualized, and the humblest events and acts are related to a divine context.” They also believed that most people were destined for hell, no matter how faithful they were to their people and God. Puritans valued hard work, morality, and found truth through the bible. The works of Anne Bradstreet, Jonathan Edwards, and Edward Taylor, take us into the Puritan world and we can see that they do lead a life that is constantly spiritualized. We will consider Murdock’s quote and see that it is contradictory as we can see that the spirit comes through a physical means. Although they experience the spirituality through physical elements of life, the value of the spirit still exists. These works also stand as important foundations of American Literature.
Through Anne Bradstreet’s poetry, we can see aspects of the Puritan ideas and lifestyles. These ideas and lifestyles revolve around spirituality as a central theme in their lives. In her poem “Before the Birth of One of Her Children” a woman speaks about the possibility that she is going to die. She wants to take her spirit and put it on the paper for her husband in her words. She says “And kiss this paper for thy love’s dear sake, / Who with salt tears this last farewell did take”(260). This could be a paradox in the Puritan world. She lets the paper represent herself, kissing the paper is like kissing her. This idea is contradictory to puritan beliefs in that the soul is being placed in the physical form...