A Puritanism and American Romanticism Flashcards
(18 cards)
American Puritanism
Background
- the puritans began in England, following the teachings of two Reformation theologians
-> Martin Luther (german, 1483-1546)
-> John Calvin (french, 1509-1564) - both: dissenters from the Roman Catholic Church
American Puritanism
The Pilgrims & The Puritans
Pilgrims:
- in 1620, the mayflower set sail from Plymouth, England with William Bradford (governor)
- they ended up in Massachusetts, Plymouth Rock
Puritans:
- religious reformists who sought to reform the Anglican Church in hope pf returning to England at some point
- landed in Boston on the Arabella in 1630
- John Winthrop is one of the key intellectual and religious figures
=> despite their different genealogies, colloquially, we often mean those two groups when we talk abput puritans
Core Ideas of Puritanism
- absolute sovereignty (nothing is outside of God’s control)
- human depravity (all human beings are inherently sinful due to the original sin of Adam and Eve)
- predestination (the fate of human is entirely in God’s hands)
- covenant Theology (opposes the hierarchal structure of the roman church where the Pope tells people whats in the Bible)
- Individualism & Reading
-> literacy: important of all
-> reading and writing to make sense of the world and discover signs of one’s chosenness
Huswifery
Edward Taylor
- written around 1685
- Edward Taylor: puritan preacher
- addressed directly to god
- poem works with a conceit! (fanciful poetic image/elaborate or exaggerated comparison) - the conceit compares the process of making cloth (spinning, weaving and finishing) to the process of spiritual tranformation and sanctification by God
Huswifery
theme, tone
theme: religion (christianity) connected to ordinary equipments; submission to God’s will
tone: prayer-like tone, humble and submissive
Huswifery
puritan beliefs, development
puritan elements:
- direct address/connection to god: no need for a priest
- from an individuel: intimate, not filtered through any other hierachy
- human depravity: lyrical I asks God to become a better Christian -> he recognizes his flaws
- absolute sovereignty: lyrical I askes God to make him whole because God can make anything possible
Development:
- throughout the poem, the image of clothing (holy robes) and color are present
Hurswifery
significance of the Conceit
- illustrates spiritual journey: from raw material to a finished product of divine craftsmanship
- reflects Puritan values: values of hard work, devotion and the sanctification of everyday tasks, showing how even mundande activites can be seen as expressions of faith
- creates vivid imagery: the detailed comparison creates vivid imagery, helping readers visualize and understand the depth of the speakers plea for divine intervention and transformation
In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet
Anne Bradstreet
- Anne Bradstreet: first female writer to be published in the British colonies in North America
plot:
- speaker bids farewell to her grandchild
In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet
tension
- tension between her mourning and her acceptance of God’s will and death
- death is not the problem, it’s the young age
- tension between faith and grief -> death is a natural cause but it doesn’t seem natural that a child dies
In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet
from, tone
form:
- two stanzas
-> development between two stanzas: the lyrical I tries to convince herself by the death of the granddaughter; comes to term with her death
tone: farewell, repetition, elegic, acceptance, spiritual consolation
=> elegy in response to someone’s death
-> a type of poem that reflects on loss and mourning, often lamenting the death of a person or the passing og something significant
In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet
development
- stanza:
- repitition (farewell), focus on letting gp
- babe, the person who dies is a baby
- notion of eternity, existing and giving space - stanza:
- tension, not in the first stanza
- second line, something comes to an end, that is ripe
- contrary to a child dying before it’s time
American Romanticism
- Early National Period 1820-1865
- Denial of one absolute truth -> many truths
- questioning Puritanism’s focus on sin and an all-knowing God
- counter movement to Enlightenment, which had focused on reason and thought
- Instead: intuition, feelings, subjective/individual truths
- celebration of American beauty and identity
- Dark Romanticism: focuses on the negative, less celebrator sides of life
Transcendentalism
19th centuy
- non-conformity (against institutionalized religion)
- self-reliance (believe in yourself, get away from chruch not from God)
- over-soul (divine spirit, something beyond one God controlling everything)
- importance of nature (in nature you find god)
- importance of the individual
- simplicity (“know thyself” = “study nature”)
Bild:
Kreis und Dreieck ineinander/übereinander gezeichnet
Mitte/im Kreis: transcendentalism
oben/Ecke vom Dreieck: god
links/Ecke vom Dreieck: man
rechts/Ecke vom Dreieck: nature
When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer
Walt Whitman
- aroud 1855
plot:
- speaker attends a lecture by a respected astronomer, filled with chartsm figures and calculations
- first he listens but quickly becomes bored and even sickened by the analytical approach
- quietly leaves the lecture and wanders alone into the night, where he looks up at th stars in silence
When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer
style & form
style
- monotonous: lacking in interest, boring
form:
first part: scientific approach to truth
second part: reflection on the transcendent notion
When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer
opposites, transcendentalist thoughts
opposites:
- analytical (scientific lecture) vs.intuitive (gazing at the stars)
- structured (scientific) vs. free (freedom, openness)
- observations (charts and diagrams) vs. spiritual
transcendentalist ideas:
- value of personal experience: the importance of direct experience of the natural world
- nature as a source of inspiration
- individualism; non-conformity (against institutionalized religion)
Some keep the Sabbath going to Church – (236)
Emily Dickinson
- most of her poetry was published posthumously
- poems didnt have titels, they were numbered
plot:
- speaker contrasts hoe others observe Sabbath with how she observes it
Some keep the Sabbath going to Church – (236)
setting, opposites and development
setting:
- in her garden at home on any day
opposites and development:
- replacement: something from nature is replacing church elements
- some vs. I: some connects to church and the number of people there; I is the lyrical I alone in her garden
- bell vs. Sexton (the bird): something produced by human beings vs. the sound of nature
ending: Her garden is the Heaven on Earth. Heaven is not a direction to be reached; she is already in Heaven
