Test 2

Puritan Era (1625-1660)

• The Puritans who controlled Parliament desired to “purify” the Anglican Church of Catholicism. (not all writers were Puritans.)

Background

• 1625: Death of James I

• English Civil Wars (1642-1651)

  • Struggle between Parliament and Charles I

• *Commonwealth of England (1649-1660)

  • No monarch during this time

  • Oliver Cromwell (Lord Protector)

• 1660: Restoration of Charles II

Puritan Worldview

• Didacticism: Language was used for instruction and learning (view of knowledge)

• Renewed interested in the moral nature of man. The Bible is the source of truth (view of morality)

Puritan Characteristics

• Spirit of Criticism: scientific discovery

• *Deep spiritual/introspective truths explored through unique symbolism (weird metaphors)

Important British Puritan Authors/Works

• John Milton: Paradise Lost (1667)

  • the greatest English poet

• John Bunyan: The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678)

  • greatest allegory in English

(*No plays at this time (the Puritans shut down the theatres for 18 years)

Puritan Era Poetic Groups

Metaphysical Poets “School of Donne”

• style: unconventional tones, paradoxes, metaphysical conceits

  • an elaborate and unusual comparison drawn from science, philosophy, the classics, or everyday life.

John Doone (1572-1631)

• Master of the metaphysical conceit

• Holy Sonnet 10: “Death Be Not Proud”

  • theme: facing death with confidence

  • major literary device: apostrophe

    • apostrophe: the poetic use of speaking to an inanimate object. (one-sided conversation)

    • what is the tone toward death? what is his conclusion?

George Herbert (1593-1633)

• metaphysical poet, anglican priest, known for devotional lyrics

• “The Pulley”

  • theme: restlessness is what brings man to God

  • metaphysical conceit (last few lines): lack of rest is the pulley,

John Milton (1608-1674)

• greatest puritan post, known for paradise lost (epic poem),

  • “On His Blindness” p.18

    • theme: god’s use for us despite our weaknesses

    • symbolism: light/darkness, patience, biblical allusion

    • petrarchan sonnet

      • octave: milton’s frustrations

      • sester: his response of patience

      • conclusion: be available to god

American Puritan Era (1607-1776)

• also called colonial era

• 1630 massachusetts bay colony (puritans)

American Puritan Worldview

• bible is man’s guide for living covenant theology

• providence (view of circumstances: GOd is involved in the lives of man)

American Puritan Themes

• Man’s depravity

• god’s judgment of sin

• rejection of materialism

Puritan Characteristics

• Didactism

• Deep spiritual/ introspective truths explored through unique symbolism

• “Puritan, plain style”

• No fiction

American Puritan Genres

• Poetry

  • best seller: “They Day of Doom” by Michael Wigglesworth

• Sermons

  • Half of all publications were religious

• Indian captivities

  • most famous: Mary Rowlandson’s captivity narrative (1682)

Anne Bradstreet p.7 (1612-1672)

• first colonial poet and female writer published

• “the Author To Her Book”

  • theme: how writers feel about their work (positives and negatives)

  • Major device: extended metaphor (comparison to a child)

  • Others: apostrophe, puns

• “To my dear and loving husband”

  • puritan plain style

  • theme: qualities of real love (in marriage)

  • love/marriage:

    • is a joining of two (line 1)

Jonathan Howards

• most famous colonial preacher (great awakening)

• Sinners in the hands of an angry god p. 40

  • text: deut. 32:35

  • theme: the pleasure of god keep men out of fear

• Application

  • How does he end the sermon?

    • comparisons (similes/metaphors)

    • targeted application

    • biblical allusion

• great comparisons

  • “the wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present”

  • “the bow of God’s anger is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow

  • “The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect, over the fire…”

Restoration and Neoclassical Eras

• British Restoration Era (1660-1798)

• American Neoclassical Era (1776-1820)

• English Restoration Background

  • 1660 Restoration of monarchy (Charles II & James II)

  • 1688 Glorious Revolution (William and Mary of Orange)

    • Monarch rules with consent of Parliament

  • 18th Century

    • Industrial Revolution

• Neoclassicism- a literary, artistic movement

  • applies to both countries

  • imitated styles of classical Greek & Roman works

    • satire, elegy, ode

  • Characteristics

    • taught moral lessons (but not always spiritual

    • clear, simple, elegant language and structure

    • using reason to tell the truth

  • Worldview

    1. rejected puritan fervor (emotion)

    2. rationalism (human reason is source of truth)

       • truth must be verifiable.

       • science- study of physical features of this world

    3. deism- God is creator, but He lets the world run itself through laws of science

       • the belief that god created things

• Restoration: Genre and style

  • Prose: literary criticism, satire, and the rise of the novel

  • drama, poetry

    • heroic couplet

• Samuel Johnson

  • Known for his very important dictionary and his periodical The Rambler

  • The Rambler p.17

    • theme: how fiction should present truth

    1. Truth is perceived differently than before (empirical truth)

    2. young minds are reading these work; what are they being presented?

    3. people are imitating what they are reading now more than ever.

    4. just because something is real doesn’t mean it must be written about.

    5. present evil, but present it as bad, Don’t blur the lines.

       • key section: vice is disgust

• John Dryden p.24

  • chief restoration writer

  • poet laureate under Charles II

  • “A Song for St. Cecilia’s Day”

    • theme: the power of music

    • genre: ode (a long, lyric poem of dedication)

    • deistic view of creation

• ALexander Pope p. 26

  • best poet of early 18th century

  • a master of satire and of the heroic couplet

  • “Ode on Solitude”

    • theme: simplicity and solitude lead to happiness

    • also see benefits of self-sufficiency

    • worldview: rationalism in practice

American Neoclassical Era Background

• Revolutionary War

• Ratification of Constitution

• Worldview/ Characteristics:

  • same as Restoration Era

• Neoclassicism: Genre and Style

• Genres

  • Prose

    • the political pamphlets and essays

    • scientific prose

  • Poetry

  • characterized by patriotism

  • bestseller of age: Ben Franklin’s “Way to Wealth”

• Benjamin Franklin

  • important American, founding father, printer, scientist, inventor, and writer

  • best works: Poor Richard’s Almanac and his autobiography

  • From the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin p.33

    • chapter: “Arriving at Moral Perfection”

    • Theme: using reason to achieve morality

    • look for:

      • rationalism p.34

      • idealistic view of morality p.35

      • satire/humor p.39

• Phillis Wheatley (1753-1785) p.57

  • first African American woman poet published

  • “On Being Brought from Africa to America” p.57

    • theme: spiritual freedom

    • how does she portray slavery?

    • Look for:

      • personification (mercy)

      • her view of God

      • symbolism (light vs. darkness)

  • “taught my pagan land…”

• J.Hector St.John de Crèvecoeur p. 68

  • a frenchman who came to the new world in 1755

  • the first successful european/ american writer

  • Letters from an American Farmer p.68

    • theme: What is an American?

  • Influential ideas discussed:

    • american dream

    • noble savage

    • melting pot

  • era themes:

    • patriotism

    • progress

British Romantic Age 1798-1832

Background

• major historical influence on the Romantic poets:

  • French Revolution 1789-1799:

    • or try focus switched from upper class to working class and from structure an rules to focus on nature

• Lyrical Ballads changed established a new type of poetry:

  • Coleridge and Wordsworth emphasized “personal emotion and imagination.”

  • Wordsworth defined poetry this way: “for all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.”

Characteristics

• rejection of neoclassical rules

• love of nature

• rebellion against authority

• respect for the common man

• the common man’s language

• supernatural: “willing suspension of disbelief” (Coleridge)

• Focus on beauty, emotion, optimism, and idealism

Worldview

• Pantheism

  • he belief that God is in everything

  • the universe, nature, and God are interchangeable terms

• Primitivism:

  • a belief that shows a preference for uncivilized life

  • nature worship

  • country emphasized over city life (which leads to corruption)

William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

• “supreme poet of nature”

• key romantic poet

• “daffodils”

  • theme: finding happiness in nature

  • emotional response to nature

    • “spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling”

    • “emotion recollected in tranquillity”