Puritan Review
1. Define the following:
 Puritan Plain Style
 Conceit
 Imagery
 Inversion
 Predestination
2. To whom is each selection addressed? (Who is the author’s intended audience?)
3. What are the themes of each selection?
4. Identify central images from each selection and discuss their meaning.
Bradstreet – To My Dear and Loving Husband
Taylor – Huswifery
Edwards – Sinners in the Hands of Angry God
5. If Puritans are known for their plain style. Why do you suppose these authors use such vivid imagery?
6. What does each author want as expressed in their writing?
7. What is the conceit in Huswifery? What two activities are being compared?
8. How is this conceit expressive of the Puritan work ethic? Why does Edwards call his poem Huswifery?
9. What is contradictory about Edward’s images in Sinners?
10. Why does Edwards compare his congregation to insects, snakes, and spiders?
11. What does Edwards mean when he says his congregation are dead in sin? How are they to change their situation?
12. What about Sinners tells you that a sermon is a kind of religious writing?
13. Discuss the impact Puritans and their belief in Predestination have had on the American culture.
14. How did the Puritan religious and social philosophies influence their literature?
ESSAYS
To My Dear and Loving Husband is a poem about human love. IN what ways does it also show the importance of God in the
speaker’s life? In a brief response (two paragraphs – 10-12 sentences) explain where and hos Bradstreet expressed the religious
element of her life. Give details from the poem to support your answer.
In Huswifery, Taylor presents a conceit – a detailed comparison between two things that don’t seem to have much in common.
Write an essay in which you explain the conceit in general. Give two examples of unusual comparisons in the poem. Do you think
the conceit worked better in Taylors’ time than in ours? Why or why not?
Jonathan Edwards uses metaphors and imaginative expressions of speech to dramatize Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Select
two images and explain why they are powerful and what effect they might have on listeners. How does this effect serve Edwards’
purpose?