Puritan and Colonial Literature Philosophical Narratives in American Literature

Bibliography

Ann Bradstreet, Contemplations, As weary pilgrim Edward Taylor, Prologue Edgar A

llan Poe, The black cat, The pit and the pendulum, The fall of the house of Ushe
r Nathaniel Hawthorne, The scarlet letter H. D. Thoreau, Walden (ÄSolitude´) Herman
Melville, Bartleby, the Scrivener Walt Whitman, Song of myself (1, 6, 16, 21, 24
, 50, 52) Emily Dickinson, I cannot live with you, Wild nights, wild nights, Gre
at streets of silence led away, I heard a buzz fly when I died, This was a poet,
it is that F. S. Fitzgerald, The great Gatsby, E. Hemingway, The sun also rises
Robert Frost, The road not taken, Stopping by woods on a snowy evening, Birches
, For once then something William Carlos Williams, The rose, Landscape with the
fall of Icarus, Pastoral William Faulkner, The bear, Go down, Moses
Some of the earliest colonies
Jamestown (James Forte, James Towne, and James Cittie ), Virginia, may 1607, pio
neers, ´gentlemenµ, craftsmen, (104 settlers initially). Sailed under the command of
Christopher Newport, the colony eventually led by Captain John Smith.
Plymouth, 1620, took hold under governor William Bradford; the Pilgrims, members
of a separatist group, led initially by Robert Browne, fled to Leyden, Holland,
in 1609, and travelled on the famed Mayflower to America. According to Browne·s b
elief, the true church is a local body of genuine believers, united by a volunta
ry covenant.
Massachusetts Bay (16281643), the Great Migration (1630, led by John Winthrop, 9
00 settlers on 11 ships). Incorporated earlier settlements such as Salem (1626),
Charlestown, and eventually, Plymouth Bay. Puritans, members of the Church of E
ngland, who sought to purify the English Church and to modify its forms, while r
emaining within it.
Insecurity & discovery: a literature of journals, ´historiesµ of either hardship and
endurance, or of ´adventureµ: Cpt. John Smith, The General History of Virginia (162
4), A Description of New England (1616) William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation
(1630-1647); William Byrd (The Secret Diary of William Byrd, begun in 1709, wri
tten in code)> a later period of the colonies
The foundational narratives set in contrast the fracture between colonist and pi
lgrim and/or puritan, which is crucial in the history of early American colonies
.
Smith·s colonist: a ´cross-sectionµ of the English society, the King James charter cal
ls them ´Knights, Gentlemen, Merchants and other adventurersµ. (John Barth·s The Sotwe
ed Factor). Bradford·s pilgrim: a ´child of Godµ Saints (Separatists) vs. strangers (C
hurch of England members): a distinction often explained by Bradford in relation
to the concept of ´lustµ (explain), which is itself moulded on the antinomy between
the profane and the saintly
The Mayflower compact: ´for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian Fait
hµ > the creation of a ´Civil Body Politic to frame such laws as they might need, to
which they promised "all due submission and obedience." The beginnings of a ver
y slow secularization and individual enterprise that would shape the American so
cial body for centuries to come: from the ´Common Course and Conditionµ to private p
roperty.
Puritans are of Calvinist persuasion. Calvin·s ´five pointsµ therefore pervade their i
maginary and written culture:
Total depravity. Man is inherently sinful, and unable to work out his own salvat
ion. Unconditional election. God chooses those whom he will save. The elect vers
us the preterite. Limited atonement. Christ died only for those to be saved, not
for everyone (non-Catholic, i.e. ´universalistµ outlook). Irresistible grace. Grace
is for the Puritans the saving, transfiguring power of God that may or may not
be bestowed upon Man. Perseverance of the saints. The elect have the power to do
the will of God to live uprightly to the end.
The Puritan forma mentis is thus centered around salvation (the yearning for it,
the ways to attain, the pitfalls that accompany man·s life on Earth, the reward o
f a ´home in Heavenµ), salvation that is placed in the impenetrable will of God but
that may be only fostered in the community of the ¶saints·. A communal ethos, a comm
unal drive for redemption. A history of dissent within the movement itself: Roge
r Williams, who proclaimed the liberty of worship, or Anne Hutchinson, who, in t
he name of the same creed, spoke of a ´covenant of graceµ, as opposed to theocratic
oppression: the free interpretation of the sacred text (in the eyes of the relig
ious authorities > antinomianism).
Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)
Born in Northampton, England, married when she was 16 to Simon Bradstreet, a 25
year old assistant in the Massachusetts Bay Company, emigrated to America in 163
0. The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, By a Gentlewoman of Those Part (1
650) Second edition in 1678
It is somewhat surprising that the first notable poet in American literature is
a woman, and furthermore, a Puritan, keeping in mind the restrictions that Purit
ans enforced on expression, let alone ´freeµ expression. Bradstreet speaks of and fo
r herself in her poetry, that she creates, out of virtually nothing, a poetic su
bjectivity, that she coherently proposes a fully constituted poetic subject. Her
poetry, although bathed in the Puritan frame of mind, is not ancillary to theol
ogy, in the manner in which the writings of her contemporaries (for instance Mic
hael Wigglesworth) are.
The Contemplations
y

y
A long poem (33 stanzas), considered by most critics one of B·s chief achievements
. The concept of contemplation, highly significant for B·s poetry, and, by extensi
on, for a poetic way of understanding Puritan beliefs (as opposed to an authorit
arian, theocratic understanding). Contemplation is a relation or a function that
requires a special disposition of the senses (´Rapt were my senses at this delect
able view), which, although somewhat poetically conventional (the rapture occurs
at the viewing of a golden evening in autumn), and which sends the gaze on a jo
urney that will eventually reach the status of contemplation.
While contemplation means ´transported gazeµ, the question is ´transported where?µ. Inte
rnalization of the gaze. Contemplation is a shift from the outer to the inner wo
rld, in order to seize the meaning of the whole in a double-vision. Just as the
perceptible world is subject to sensuous allegory, the spiritual order (that whi
ch transcends history, since it remains unchanged through the vast panorama of t
he ages) may be rendered by spiritual allegory
This transport (which seems to contaminate the whole of creation) in fact remove
s the gaze from the real, it sends it further away: Our life compare we with the
ir length of days. Who to the tenth of theirs doth now arrive? And though thus s
hort, we shorten many ways, Living so little while we are alive. In eating, drin
king, sleeping, vain delight So unawares comes on perpetual night And puts all p
leasures vain unto eternal flight.
y

Contemplation (of creation, of history) is incomplete, perhaps futile, if it doe

s not manage to reach meditation. the scope of the dynamic between contemplation
and meditation is to prepare, this is a very real practice of setting the scene
for a redemptive future placed beyond death. If such an understanding of contem
plation means perhaps for us the abandoning of the private self, it should be sa
id, that for the Puritan, the self is rescued by the moral sense obtained throug
h meditation via contemplation.
Cotton Mather (1663-1728)

The Wonders of the Invisible World, 1692 An account of the witch trials at Salem
The purpose: ´I have indeed set my self to Countermine the
whole Plot of the Devil against New-Englandµ
´The New Englanders are a people of God settled in those which were once the devil·s
territories, and it may be easily supposed that the devil was exceedingly distu
rbed when he perceived such a people here accomplishing the promise of old made
unto our blessed Jesusµ.
´These our poor Afflicted Neighbours, quickly after they become Infected and Infes
ted with these Daemons, arrive to a Capacity of Discerning those which they conc
eive the Shapes of their Troublers; and notwithstanding the Great and Just Suspi
cion, that the Daemons might Impose the Shapes of Innocent Persons in their Spec
tral Exhibitions upon the Sufferers (which may perhaps prove no small part of th
e Witch-plot in the issue), yet many of the Persons thus Represented being Exami
ned, several of them have been Convicted of a very Damnable Witchcraft.µ
Magnalia Christi Americana (1702)
The ¶great works of Christ in America·, again an ecclesiastical history , a historic
al miscellany A metaphysical-theological ´historyµ of the New World, with a Puritan-
Calvinist doctrine upon the history of the colonies, in the frame of a larger mo
ral fable : What is of note is the clear and precise philosophical prose, the di
ction in which ideas are advanced in elegant argument, spiced up with quotations
from the Bible
There is a moral necessity that governs the community and its affairs, a physiol
ogy, or a characteriology (e.g. Bonifacius, 1710), an attempt at a ´designµ of ´doing
goodµ in one·s life With Mather, one notices the beginnings of secularization in the
sense that, for him, not every detail may be explained theologically. The ´goodµ, w
hile undoubtedly proceeding from God, it is also a value that is formed and tran
sacted between humans, and which can be given theoretical expression. The rudime
nts of an social ethics can be found in Cotton Mather·s essays. the ´good neighbourµ
Jonathan Edwards (1663-1728)

Personal Narrative (1739-42), a spiritual biography, the soul·s journey towards it

s calling (that of a minister). The righteousness of the path toward God set in
contrast the failures of the human heart. Edward·s world: a world where every thin
g and every relation is determined and over-determined in a teleological way: al
l purposes have been designed in advance, and all designs have been provided wit
h the resources to accomplish that purpose, and the only hints of doubt are not
in the natural world, but in the moral order. There is the possible space of fai
lure: the human heart may fail.
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (1741)
a chain of ´no securityµ in the fate of man: ´always exposed to sudden unexpected dest
ructionµ Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downwards
with great weight and pressure towards hell; and if God should let you go, you
would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf,
and your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best contriva
nce, and all your righteousness, would have no more influence to uphold you and
keep you out of hell, than a spider's web would have to stop a falling rock. Wer
e it not for the sovereign pleasure of God, the earth would not bear you one mom
ent; for you are a burden to it; the creation groans with you; the creature is m
ade subject to the bondage of your corruption, not willingly; the sun does not w
illingly shine upon you to give you light to serve sin and Satan
Images or Shadows of Divine Things, a collection of notes unpublished in his lif
etime similarities between the spiritual and visible worlds: elusive analogies ´Th
e way of a cat with a mouse it has taken captive is a lively emblem of the way o
f the Devil with many wicked men. A mouse is a foul, unclean creature, a fit typ
e of a wicked manµ. There are innumerable possible semiotic analogies between the
visible world and the ´divine thingsµ.
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

Poor Richard·s Alamanack, published under the name ´Richard Saundersµ (1732) A philoso
phical DIY: ´pearls of wisdomµ, proverbs, dictums, recipes, advice, a patchwork of i
nformation, entertainment and guidance for the masses to make the individual exp
loit his own resources better, for his own education and advancement The Junto:
a group of ´like minded aspiring artisans and tradesmen who hoped to improve thems
elves while they improved their community.´ The extended form of this development
is captured by Franklin in his enormously influential Autobiography, published a
fter his death and intended primarily as a pedagogic narrative for his son.
The Autobiography

It was about this time I conceiv'd the bold and arduous project of arriving at m
oral perfection. I wish'd to live without committing any fault at any time; I wo
uld conquer all that either natural inclination, custom, or company might lead m
e into. As I knew, or thought I knew, what was right and wrong, I did not see wh
y I might not always do the one and avoid the other.
1. TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation. 2. SILENCE. Speak no
t but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation. 3. ORDER
. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its
time. 4. RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail wh
at you resolve. 5. FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourse
lf; i.e., waste nothing. 6. INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ'd in someth
ing useful; cut off all unnecessary actions. 7. SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit
; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly. 8. JUSTICE.
Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty. 9. M
ODERATION. Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they
deserve. 10. CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitat
ion. 11. TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or un
avoidable. 12. CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to
dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
13. HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
I made a little book, in which I allotted a page for each of the virtues. I rul'
d each page with red ink, so as to have seven columns, one for each day of the w
eek, marking each column with a letter for the day. I cross'd these columns with
thirteen red lines, marking the beginning of each line with the first letter of
one of the virtues, on which line, and in its proper column, I might mark, by a
little black spot, every fault I found upon examination to have been committed
respecting that virtue upon that day.
It will be remark'd that, tho' my scheme was not wholly without religion, there
was in it no mark of any of the distingishing tenets of any particular sect. I h
ad purposely avoided them; for, being fully persuaded of the utility and excelle
ncy of my method, and that it might be serviceable to people in all religions, a
nd intending some time or other to publish it, I would not have any thing in it
that should prejudice any one, of any sect, against it. I purposed writing a lit
tle comment on each virtue, in which I would have shown the advantages of posses
sing it, and the mischiefs attending its opposite vice; and I should have called
my book THE ART OF VIRTUE, because it would have shown the means and manner of
obtaining virtue, which would have distinguished it from the mere exhortation to
be good.
Michel Guillaume St. Jean de Crèvecoeur

J. Hector St. John (1735-1813) 1782, Letters from an American farmer Letter III;
¶What is an American?· Old Europe/New America
Social composition Community in relation to geography Ideology Religion Man·s rela
tion to nature

´In this great American asylum, the poor of Europe have by some means met together
.µ
Can a wretch who wanders about, who works and starves, whose life is a continual
scene of sore affliction or pinching penury; can that man call England or any o
ther kingdom his country? A country that had no bread for him, whose fields proc
ured him no harvest, who met with nothing but the frowns of the rich, the severi
ty of the laws, with jails and punishments; who owned not a single foot of the e
xtensive surface of this planet? No! urged by a variety of motives, here they ca
me. Every thing has tended to regenerate them; new laws, a new mode of living, a
new social system; here they are become men: in Europe they were as so many use
less plants, wanting vegetative mould, and refreshing showers; they withered, an
d were mowed down by want, hunger, and war; but now by the power of transplantat
ion, like all other plants they have taken root and flourished!
What then is the American, this new man? He is either an European, or the descen
dant of an European, hence that strange mixture of blood, which you will find in
no other country. I could point out to you a family whose grandfather was an En
glishman, whose wife was Dutch, whose son married a French woman, and whose pres
ent four sons have now four wives of different nations. He is an American, who l
eaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from
the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new
rank he holds« The American is a new man, who acts upon new principles; he must th
erefore entertain new ideas, and form new opinions. From involuntary idleness, s
ervile dependence, penury, and useless labour, he has passed to toils of a very
different nature, rewarded by ample subsistence. --This is an American.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)

Nature (1836) ´Our age is retrospective. It builds the sepulchres of the fathers.
It writes biographies, histories, and criticism. The foregoing generations behel
d God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes. Why should not we also en
joy an original relation to the universe? Why should not we have a poetry and ph
ilosophy of insight and not of tradition, and a religion by revelation to us, an
d not the history of theirs? µ
The ´originalµ vs. the ´mediatedµ Transcendentalism is an effort to regain the original
link to the cosmos: ´Embosomed for a season in nature, whose floods of life stream
around and through us, and invite us by the powers they supply, to action propo
rtioned to nature, why should we grope among the dry bones of the past, or put t
he living generation into masquerade out of its faded wardrobe? The sun shines t
o-day also. There is more wool and flax in the fields. There are new lands, new
men, new thoughts. Let us demand our own works and laws and worship.µ
total freedom and detachment -> belonging You must see nature in order to unders
tand it, and then discuss it philosophically, and, as E says, very few adult per
sons can ´see natureµ. Standing on the bare ground, -- my head bathed by the blithe
air, and uplifted into infinite space, -- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a
transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Bei
ng circulate through me; I am part or particle of God. «am the lover of uncontaine
d and immortal beauty. In the wilderness, I find something more dear and connate
than in streets or villages. In the tranquil landscape, and especially in the d
istant line of the horizon, man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature.
An Idealistic progression from the sensible to the intelligible: from the aesthe
tic (say, a discussion of the aspects of beauty) to the spiritual A holistic int
uition (E·s ´non-dualismµ) ´So shall we come to look at the world with new eyes. It shal
l answer the endless inquiry of the intellect, -- What is truth? and of the affe
ctions, -- What is good? by yielding itself passive to the educated Will. Then s
hall come to pass what my poet said; `Nature is not fixed but fluid. Spirit alte
rs, moulds, makes it. The immobility or bruteness of nature, is the absence of s
pirit; to pure spirit, it is fluid, it is volatile, it is obedient. Every spirit
builds itself a house; and beyond its house a world; and beyond its world, a he
aven. Know then, that the world exists for you. For you is the phenomenon perfec
t.µ
Self-reliance (1840) The individual shapes the universal, by externalizing his i
nmost convictions: ´To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for
you in your private heart is true for all men, ³ that is genius. Speak your latent
conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in due time bec
omes the outmost,³³ and our first thought is rendered back to us by the trumpets of
the Last Judgment. Familiar as the voice of the mind is to each, the highest mer
it we ascribe to Moses, Plato, and Milton is, that they set at naught books and
traditions, and spoke not what men but what they thought. A man should learn to
detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within,
more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages.µ everyone who would be ´ a
manµ must by necessity be ´a nonconformistµ It is easy to see that a greater self-rel
iance must work a revolution in all the offices and relations of men; in their r
eligion; in their education; in their pursuits; their modes of living; their ass
ociation; in their property; in their speculative views.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

Civil Disobedience (1849) - disenchantment with the American government, and wit
h government in general (´That government is best which governs not at allµ) ´The mass
of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bod
ies. They are the standing army, and the militia, jailers, constables, posse com
itatus, etc. In most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgment or
of the moral sense; but they put themselves on a level with wood and earth and
stones; and wooden men can perhaps be manufactured that will serve the purpose a
s well. Such command no more respect than men of straw or a lump of dirt.µ
It is not a man's duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradicat
ion of any, even the most enormous wrong; he may still properly have other conce
rns to engage him; but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and, i
f he gives it no thought longer, not to give it practically his support. Thus th
e State never intentionally confronts a man's sense, intellectual or moral, but
only his body, his senses. It is not armed with superior wit or honesty, but wit
h superior physical strength. I was not born to be forced. I will breathe after
my own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest. What force has a multitude? The
y only can force me who obey a higher law than I. They force me to become like t
hemselves. I do not hear of men being forced to have this way or that by masses
of men. What sort of life were that to live? When I meet a government which says
to me, "Your money or your life," why should I be in haste to give it my money?