Pre-AP American Literature Fall Semester | Final Exam Review

Puritanism beliefs

• natural depravity

• election

• absolute sovereignty of God

• need for plainness

• predestination

• manifest destiny

• grace

absolute sovreignity

• God ordains all that happens

• purpose for & in your life

• God’s will revealed in the Bible, so education is important

natural depravity

man is naturally wicked, therefore need for authority and laws

need for plainness

nothing material to distract one from following a religious path

the plain writing style

• simple sentences, everyday diction

• histories, journals, hymns, poetry

the ornate style

used arcane allusions, complicated grammatical structure, complex figures of speech

signs of election

• prosperity

• pass a Bible test

• good works done in the spirit of grace

• examination of self and others

• experience a personal conversion

neoclassicism

• the age of reason (enlightenment)

• deism

• rationalism

rationalism

man is good and can find truth through reason and logic

deism

aloof, intellectual God who does not actually intervene

Goal of the Enlightenment

perfection through science and reason, optimism

Puritanism vs. The age of reason

Puritans

• man is depraved

• God is judgmental

• God intervenes (miracles)

• focus on afterlife

• God is incomprehensible

Age of Reason

• man is good

• God is a watchmaker

• God is aloof

• this life can be perfected with reason

• God can be understood

similarities between puritanism and the age of reason