Study Guide for Colonial Period
Verses are excerpts from A Short Discourse on Eternity
by Michael Wigglesworth
[9]
O happy they that live for aye,
with Christ in Heav'n above!
Who know withal, that nothing shall
deprive them of his love.
Eternity, Eternity!
Oh, were it not for thee,
The Saints in bliss and happiness
could never happy be.
[ 10 ]
For if they were in any fear,
that this their joy might cease,
It would annoy (if not destroy)
and interrupt their peace:
But being sure it shall endure
so long as God shall live;
The thoughts of this unto their bliss,
do full perfection give.
[ 15 ]
When Heav'n is Hell, when Ill is Well,
when Vertue turns to Vice,
When wrong is Right, when Dark is Light,
When Nought is of great price:
Then may the years of sinners tears
and sufferings expire,
And all the hosts of damned ghosts
escape out of Hell-fire.
1. Which stanza contains apostrophe? Explain your answer and cite evidence from that stanza to
support your answer. The first stanza (9). Eternity is being addressed, but it is not a living
being that can answer the speaker
2. What is the theme of stanza two? God can provide joy because he is an eternal God, so as long
as one believes in God, he can find joy.
3. What paradoxes are found in stanza three? Explain why these are paradoxes. Physically these
are not possible, but to the Puritans, they believed that once you were saved and reborn, when
they died all of these were spiritually possible.
Excerpt from Act 3, Scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet: Capulet comes to Juliet’s room after Romeo has
left. He finds her weeping and says:
“Thou counterfeit’st a bark, a sea, a wind;
For still thy eyes, which I may call the sea,
Do ebb and flow with tears; the bark thy body is,
Sailing in this salt flood; the winds, thy sighs;
Who, raging with thy tears, and they with them,
Without a sudden calm, will overset
Thy tempest-tossed body.”
4. The excerpt above is an example of conceit. Explain what objects Capulet is comparing Juliet
to? He is comparing her to a boat, the sea and a storm (eyes are the sea), (body is the boat),
(her crying is a storm at sea)
5. Which lines of this poem are not in iambic pentameter? (line 3 has 12 syllables, and the last
line has seven). A line must have ten syllables with the first being unstressed and the second
being stressed to be written in iambic pentameter.
Also, know the following?
6. Who were the famous authors during the Colonial Period? Cotton Mather, Johnathan Edwards,
Anne Bradstreet, William Bradford, Edward Taylor
7. What genre of literature was NOT allowed during this period of literature? FICTION!!!!
8. What did all of the Native American myths that we read have in common? They all had an
immortal being (a god) and they all had animals as characters.
To My Dear and Loving Husband:
9. Who is the speaker addressing? Her husband
10. Explain how this poem is an example of Puritan Plain Style. Puritan Plain style was simple
writing without a lot of imagery or figurative language. The writer got straight to the point and
always referenced God.
11. What is the main idea of this poem? A woman and her husband are truly happily married, and
she feels they will be rewarded in Heaven.
Huswifery:
12. Who does the speaker address? God
13. What is the speaker asking of God in this poem? To make him useful (like a spinning wheel
would have been during this time) and to take him as he is, all parts of him, and turn him into a
true Christian to do work for God.
14. Why does the speaker use the spinning wheel as conceit? This was a common object with
which people of this time would have been familiar. Each part of a spinning wheel was
responsible for a different process of making clothing, so he compared himself and God’s work
in him to each useful part.
Upon a Spider Catching a Fly
15. What are the symbols in this poem and what does each represent? Spider = Satan, Fly =
sinners, Wasp = Christians, Nightingale = a Christian happy in God
16. What is the main theme of the poem? Satan spins webs of deceit and sin to make people stray
from God, but strong Christians will rely on God for help to avoid getting tangled in sin.
17. The organization of the poem is 1) a parable 2) explanation of the parable 3) a prayer ***Know
the explanation and how to paraphrase (or put in your words) of each part. See your
annotations on your poems. Each stanza is explained in detail.
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
16. To what emotion does Edwards mainly appeal in his sermon? FEAR!
17. What is an example of anaphora in the poem? “…AND YOU HAVE NO INTEREST IN ANY
MEDIATOR, AND NOTHING TO LAY HOLD OF TO SAVE YOURSELF, NOTHING TO KEEP OFF
THE FLAMES OF WRATH, NOTHING OF YOUR OWN, NOTHING THAT YOU EVER HAVE DONE,
NOTHING THAT YOU CAN DO, TO INDUCE GOD TO SPARE YOU ONE MOMENT.
18. Who are the “unconverted persons” to whom he is referring? PURITANS WHO HAD NOT
ACCEPTED CHRIST
19. Be able to recognize pathos, ethos, and logos from the speech and explain it. Sample Question:
After reading “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” on p. 97, use your knowledge of rhetorical appeals (ETHOS, PATHOS, LOGOS) to
determine which appeal(s) Edwards is using in each quote. List at least one appeal for each quote, and explain why this appeal is relevant
for this excerpt.
1. “…but look at other things, as good state of your bodily constitution, your care of your own life, and the means you use for your
own preservation. But indeed these things are nothing; if God should withdraw his hand, they would avail no more to keep you
from falling, than the thin air to hold up a person that is suspended in it” (Edwards 97).
Appeal: PATHOS: Explanation: EDWARDS EVOKES STRONG EMOTIONS OF FEAR BY TELLING HIS AUDIENCE THAT THEIR GOOD
DEED WOULD NOT KEEP THEM OUT OF HELL NO MORE THAN AIR WOULD HOLD A PERSON UP AND KEEP HIM FROM FALLING
**Be able to read a short excerpt of literature from this period and answer analysis questions about it.