Anne Bradstreet
Puritan Plain Style – short words, direct statements, and references to everyday objects and experiences
Syntax – arrangement of words in sentences
Inversion – placing of sentence elements out of normal position
“To My Dear and Loving Husband”
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Simon was away from home on business, so she writes to express love for husband and spiritual
convictions
Audience – Simon
Purpose – to express her love for him even though he is gone on business for extended periods of
time
Edward Taylor
Metaphor – figure of speech what compares two unlike things without the words like or as
Conceit – extended metaphor – metaphor taken to logical limit
Stanza – group of consecutive lines in a poem
“Huswifery”
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Extended metaphor comparing household tasks (spinning yarn, weaving cloth, and making of
apparel) to receiving God’s salvation
Jonathan Edwards
Sermon – speech given from a pulpit in a house of worship
Oratory – formal public speaking
Edwards was a minister during the Great Awakening who shocked and scared his parishioners
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
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Foundation was belief in a life of hard work, self-discipline, and religious devotion
Sermon was meant to scare listeners to pursue lives of humility and righteousness
Said God was indifferent to human misery
Only hope of salvation was to observe divine laws exactly
God’s mercy is only given in accordance to His whims
Audience – Edwards’ parishioners
Purpose – to scare them into living lives of religious devotion, self-discipline, hard work, humility,
and righteousness