BBL 3230
AMERICAN LITERATURE
WEEK 4
• THEMES OF MAJOR COLONIAL
WRITERS (1600-1790)
• -RELIGIOUS FAITH
• -AMERICAN VERSUS BRITISH
IDENTITY
Themes of major Colonial Writers
(1600-(1790)
• Benjamin Franklin once noted that the business of
making a nation restricted literary activity in Colonial
America.
• Franklin seemed to think that people needed a stable
government and economy before they could make great
advances in cultural pursuits such as literature, music,
and painting.
• Indeed, between the settlement of Jamestown, Virginia,
in 1607 and the treaty ending the American Revolution in
1783, Americans did lag behind their English
contemporaries in the production of epic poetry, drama,
and fiction. Still, Colonial America did produce an
impressive body of literature, much of it in the form of
nonfiction prose, such as autobiography and sermon.
• Some central themes emerge from this
literature. Because of the nature of their
endeavor, for example, Captain John Smith and
other chroniclers of settlement in the 17th
century often addressed the subjects of will and
work, the relationship between humans and
nature, and the differences between European
and Native American cultures.
• In this same century, Puritans such as Anne
Bradstreet and John Winthrop wrote about their
spiritual feelings and quests, Bradstreet in very
personal poems and a journal, Winthrop in both
a famous public sermon and an intimate journal.
• This tradition continued into the following century, when
Puritan Jonathan Edwards and non-Puritans such as
Phillis Wheatley and John Woolman reflected on their
faith in poems and journals.
• Other writers, including Benjamin Franklin and Thomas
Jefferson, produced more public literature designed to
entertain people or further their political aims.
• In its emphasis on human potential and reason, much of
this literature reflects the prevailing sentiments of its era,
often called the Enlightenment or the Age of Reason.
John Smith, 1580-1631
• Smith wrote many accounts of his experience in Virginia
and New England, including The Generall Historie of
Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles.
• In these works, especially in his account of fighting off
200 Native Americans while using one as a shield, Smith
provided early examples of the tall tale.
• Furthermore, his discussions of leadership and survival
in the Virginia wilderness make him one of the first
American writers to explore the themes of self-creation,
practicality, industry, self-reliance, and cultural contact.
• In many ways, he is a precursor to Benjamin Franklin,
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, and Mark Twain.
Edward Taylor
• Now regarded one of the major poets of the Puritan era,
Edward Taylor was known primarily as a minister in his
lifetime. Indeed, most of his poetry was not discovered
and published until the 20th century.
• Like other Puritan writers, such as John Winthrop and
Anne Bradstreet, Taylor devoted much of his work to
introspection as he attempted to understand and fulfill
his role as a Christian.
• Taylor's "occasional poems," particularly "Huswifery" and
"The Ebb & Flow," resemble those of the other great
American poet of the period, Anne Bradstreet, in their
use of domestic imagery.
• Unlike Bradstreet, however, Taylor wrote in the tradition
of the English metaphysical poets John Donne and
George Herbert, known for their conceits, compression
of material, and challenging syntax.
Philip Freneau 1752-1832
• Although he wrote several poems about nature,
including "The Wild Honey Suckle" and "On a
Honey Bee," Philip Freneau achieved distinction
primarily for his political verse, which earned him
the nickname "The Poet of the American
Revolution."
• In his bitter denunciations of monarchy and his
celebrations of America's natural and political
glories, Freneau expressed a bold nationalism
that was common during the era and can be
found in the works of J. Hector St. John de
Crevecoeur and Benjamin Franklin.
Phillis Wheatley 1753-1784
• The first black American to publish a book of
poetry, Phillis Wheatley wrote in a style
characteristic of the 18th century.
• Like Alexander Pope and other English writers of
the 18th century, she favored highly stylized
poetry, characterized by lofty subject matter,
elevated diction, classical allusions, and heroic
couplets.
• Wheatley also is known for her religious verse,
including poems such as "Thoughts on the
Works of Providence" and "To S.M., a Young
African Painter, on Seeing His Works."
John Winthrop 1588-1649
• After William Bradford and his Separatist Puritans left
England around 1609 and later sailed to America in
1620, many English Puritans continued to believe that
they could reform the Church of England, which they
believed was corrupt.
• In 1630, however, about 700 of these Puritans, led by
John Winthrop, followed Bradford's example and
traveled to America, where they set up the
Massachusetts Bay Colony.
• Puritan scholars have suggested various reasons for this
exodus. Perry Miller has argued that Winthrop and other
Puritans saw their project as an "errand into the
wilderness" and believed they could reform Christianity
by setting up a model of God's kingdom in America.
• Other scholars, notably Andrew Delbanco, have
suggested that many of the Puritans who migrated in the
1630s had other goals; some, for example, apparently
were fleeing the corrupt morality of England.
• The Model of Christian Charity, Winthrop uses tenets of
Christianity and his own sense of reason to write a political
sermon designed to prepare the Puritans for their difficult
project in America.
• This public work not only explains the Puritans' belief in a
covenant with God, but shows the pragmatism that helped
early settlers survive in the wilderness.
• What is more, this work foreshadows other American writers'
interest in community, as Delbanco has noted: "His Arabella
sermon is the first great communitarian statement in American
literature-a 'pre-libation,' as the Puritans would have called it,
of Edwards, of Melville, of Whitman in their hortatory modes.
• And it shares with such successors the fact of its
fleetingness, which is why it is the best measure of how
quickly and how far the Puritan aspiration fell" .
• Of course, the very fact that Winthrop made this statement
may be read as a sign that he expected disunity; one is more
likely to plead for love and cooperation among a divided
people than among an already unified group.
• Winthrop's journal, which he composed in the 1630s and
1640s, also reveals details of Puritan politics and
theology, particularly in its treatment of the dissenters
Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams.
• Finally, "John Winthrop's Christian Experience" belongs
to the class of Puritan introspective writing, a genre later
used by Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards.