Characteristics of Puritan Literature

1. Characteristics of Puritan Literature Use with Puritan Characteristics Chart worksheet. Adapted from Vancover Island West School District Powerpoint Greenville Public Schools, Greenville, SC

2. Characteristics of the Literature • Strenuous and Serious • because life was an unrelenting moral struggle • Serious and Sober • Did not want to show light-mindedness or worldliness. • Rational and Orderly • because God’s creation was logical and harmonious, all verbal representation should exhibit the same traits • Realistic • Attempted in writing to present life exactly as they saw it.

3. Plain Style • Very distinct and orderly • Used scriptural analogies • Used incidents from daily life and allusions from the Bible • Primary Dramatic Element was the struggle between Christ and Satan • Puritans believed themselves to be God’s predestined champions.

4. How the power worked • Ministers had “unofficial” authority, but profound importance • Only male members of the church could vote • Outsiders were not welcome – if they wanted to stay they had to convert to Puritanism • Puritans were very nosy, always checking to be sure their neighbors were being “good” Puritans

5. 7 tenets of 17th Century Puritanism(These go on the worksheet) • Absolute Sovereignty of God: God rules all things. • Predestination: everything has been decided by God beforehand • Providence: God directly intervenes in this world • Natural Depravity: Since Adam’s fall, all people are born in sin and deserve damnation • Doctrine of the Elect: Through God’s mercy a few are saved by God’s grace alone, not by own efforts. • Evil is Within: Man needs to reform himself, not institutions • God is revealed in the Bible

6. Other Puritan Beliefs • God is everywhere and in everything • They came to the New World to purify the church from within • They were on a divine mission; they were the “city upon the hill”—articulated by John Winthrop in his sermon called Abella Covenant in 1630 • " ... for we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; ..."

7. Emphasis on moral behavior • Danger of wilderness and nature • Looked UP to God, not OUT in the world • Faith was their rock. Human intellect was valued. • Believed a Spartan (simple) existence led them closer to God • Denied free will (because they believed in predestination)

8. Promoted education and reading • Must be able to read in order to read the Bible • Against anything the Bible is against: technology, democracy, pride, sleeping during sermons, divorce • Created first college, first bookstore, first newspaper

9. Misconceptions:Puritans… • …were not somber or sad. • …wore colored clothes. • …had games like horse racing and ninepin bowling. • …had celebrations, partook of “strong waters.” • …were not opposed to pleasure but saw its regulation as part of a well-ordered society.

10. Now what • Take all this information, especially the “tenets” and use it to complete the worksheet “Puritan Characteristics.” Use copies of both texts to help you find your citations.