CORRIENTESY AUTORES

NORTEAMERICANOSHASTA EL SIGLO XX

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UNIT 1JOHN SMITH (1580-1631)

1. Introduction Did Pocahontas actually save Captain John Smith, or did Smith make up the story in order to gain popularity? Professor J. A. Leo Lemay of the University of Delaware has recently written a book on the subject in which he argues convincingly that the story is true. Lemay is the first scholar to have seriously studied the question in over a hundred years, and due to his thoroughness and the modern conveniences that make research so much easier in our century than in previous ones, I believe that his book may well become the definitive work on the subject. We start our introduction to John Smith history through this question due to the importance Pocahontas has in his life history. Now the question before us is whether John Smith, who is generally considered an honest man and whose descriptions about Eastern Europe and early Virginia have been shown to be accurate, lied when he said that Pocahontas saved his life. To convict Smith of falsehood, we must find some strong motivation for him to act out of character, some evidence that the story did not happen (or lack of evidence that it did), and some reason to explain why no one seriously questioned the story for 250 years. On the contrary, we will see that Smith's motives were more likely to cause him to hide the story than to advertise it, and that the evidence for the story is overwhelming. 2. History John Smith was the author of the first English book written in America: A true relation of such occurrences and accidents of notes as hath happened in Virginia. (published in London, June 1608). He wrote it as a personal letter to a friend in England while being in Virginia. After this book, he wrote various ones about the English colonization of America. (Map of Virginia 1612-, General history of Virginia 1624-, The true travels 1630) He was born into a farmers family in Willoughby (Lincolnshire). After his fathers death, while being 16, he went to the Netherlands as a volunteer soldier to fight for the Dutch independence. This marked the beginning of his military career. In 1600 he joined the Austrian army (The true travels, adventures and observations of Captain John Smith in Europe, Asia, Africa and America (1630)) to fight against the Turks and was promoted to captain while fighting in Hungary. In Transylvania he was wounded, taken prisoner and sold to a Turk as a slave. This Turk send captain Smith as a gift to his sweetheart in Istambul. This lady fell in love with him and send him to her brother to be trained for the Turkish Imperial Service. Smith killed him and run away back to Transylvania where he was rewarded.

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Back in England, he became involved in the Virginia Company, a joint stock corporation (owned by some people who bought shares in that company) constituted by King James I for the settlement of Virginia. Thus, in December 1606, he sailed with this company towards Virginia as one of the seven councillors who were going to govern Virginia. They all wanted to accumulate wealth for their investors through the discovery of gold and copper. It took them three month to get to Jamestown (1607). Although he had serious conflicts with the other travellers, he was eventually elected president of the council (1608-1609). We can describe him as a soldier, adventurer, explorer, geographer and a self-made man of action. Native people wanted colonists to leave. Captain Smith often fought them (the natives), nevertheless, he had sometimes to negociate with them for food. He was taken prisoner by Powhatan, the chief (emperor) of a confederacy of tribes. In the end, he was released and guided to Jamestown by Powhatans men. He governed the colony until his return to England (October 1609), due to a gunpowder explosion, that required for treatment. The Virginia Company didnt support him any longer, so he went back to America to explore Maine and Massachusetts Bay area (New England). After that, he had no more opportunities to go back to the colonies, thus, he spend the rest of his life writing books. He is currently known as a hero of a love tale with an Indian Princess, Pocahontas (something that probably never happened), rather than as a writer. We are not sure that this princess saved the captains life, as he didnt mention nor the princess neither her courageous intervention until his letter to Queen Anne (June 1616)1. However, in 1624, Smith published a thrilling account similar to another rescue by an Indian princess described in a Spanish work that he might read in those years. He published it within his book General History of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles which is a story about his experiences in the New World that was published in six books. In this book, he pointed out the importance of his aggressive colonial policy and highlighted his role for the colony survival. This work is essential to understand the concept of manifest destiny: which is the idea that America made manifest the destined expansion of European civilization and therefore, the European had the right to colonize the whole American continent. He used to write about himself in the third person, playing the role of a hero. 3. Content

3.1. The authors biography

The settlement of Virginia, 1607 A True Relation of Virginia, 1608 A Map of Virginia with a Description of the Country, 1612 The proceedings of the English colony in Virginia, 1612 A Description of New England, 1616 New Englands Trials, 1620; 1622 The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles, 1624 Description of Naval from: a sea grammar, 1627. The True Travels, Adventures, and Ohservations of Captaine John Smith,

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1 Before this letter, he wrote A true relation of such occurrences and accidents of notes as hath happened in Virginia (1608, his first book), and Map of Virginia (1612), and there is no trace of the princess in any of them.

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Advertisements for the Unexperienced Planters of New England, or Anywhere, 1631 3.2. Relevant information of the time

Powhatan, 1618: Native North American chief of the Powhatan tribe in Virginia, whose personal name was Wahunsonacock. He greatly extended the dominion of the Powhatan Confederacy and after the marriage (1614) of his daughter Pocahontas to John Rolfe kept peace with the English colonists Smith has been viewed both as a self-aggrandizing and inaccurate historian and as the savior of the Virginia colony and friend to Native Americans. For example, one historian, Karen Ordahl Kupperman, has suggested that Smith's writing was most self-consciously literary--and therefore most historically suspect--in those passages that recount his interchanges with Powhatan. Interestingly, she and others also contend that Smith offered his readers a fairly reliable ethnographic account of Native American life. Students might usefully examine the process of Smith's self-fashioning that has evoked this variety of responses. Such an examination could also provide the basis for a discussion of the opposition between the New England and Virginian models of colonization, as well as strategies of self-representation. 4. The authors work From The general history of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles (Book III, Chapter 2) The savages found Robinson and Ermy (captain Smiths men) and slew2 them. They also found Captain Smith and took him near the fire. When he asked for their captain, savages showed him Openchancanough, the King of Pamunkey. Smith gave him an ivory compass dial. They remained marveled with the gift. Still, this fact didnt serve to avoid him being tied to a tree to be shooted. However, the King Openchancanough decided to take him to Orapaks, a temporary hunting village further inland where, following their tradition, he was kindly feasted. He was taken over there held by each arm and being on each side six men in file, with their arrows ready to use. When he got to the village, all the women and children behold3 him. The soldiers who were around him started to perform the form of a bissom4. After that, they started dancing, singing and yelling5 dressed and equipped as true soldiers. In the meanwhile, Captain Smith stood just in the middle together with the King. He was afterwards conducted to a long house where he was offered much more food that he could ever imagine. Then, they led him to many groups of the Powhatan confederacy, and back again to Pamunkey. He was eventually conducted to Werowocomoco (Powhatans village) and presentd him to their king (Powhatan), who was, together with his train6, waiting for him in their best braveries7. He was sat down covered with a robe made of raccoon8 and with a young wench9 in each side. There were also two rows of men and as many women behind them, with their heads and shoulders painted red and a great chain

2 Kill in a violent way3 Look at4 A snakelike formation5 Shouting6 Squito7 Vestimentas8 Mamfero del norte de Amrica9 Woman

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of white beads around their necks. The Queen of Apomattoc brought him water to washhis hands and another one brought him a bunch of feathers as a towel. They feasted him and then, a consultation was held. He was condemned to death, but Pocahontas, Powhatan Kings dearest daughter, sacrificed her life for his, taking his head in her arms and laying hers upon him. 4.1. Smith like author His way of writing:

Travel writing tradition Describes natives in a derogatory (despectivo) way Quotations from classical writers (Seneca) Use of military technical terms + words from native languages Third person narrative (in other works, first person) Shelf promoting ways of writing, justifies and defends himself Mixes fact + fiction

4.2. Vocabulary

Harsh: terrible (harsh weather) Gunpowder: plvora Saviour: salvadora (Pocahontas emerged as Smiths saviour) Barge: barcaza (captain Smith ordered his two men to remain in their

barge) Slay, slew, slain: muerto (in a violent way) Whither: to which place Bow: arco Ahield: escudo Galled: wounded (herido) Oozy: slimy (con lodo) Creek: small river Chafe, d: frotarse para darse calor Benumbed: entumecidos por el fro Notwithstanding: a pesar de ello In the midst: en medio Screeches: chirrios Shell: armazn Drag(ged): arrastrar Mammal: mamfero Entreaty: earnest request (ltimo deseo) Depict: describir Yield: rendirse Hint: alusin Struggle: luchar

JOHN SMITH (1580-1631)

He is the author of the first English work written in America: A true Relation of

Such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as Hath Happened in Virginia (written to a friend. Published in London as a pamphlet in 1608).

Autobiographical work: The true travels, Adventures and Observations of Captain John Smith in Europe, Asia and America (1630) Many critics doubt about its authenticity.

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In the winter of 1604-1605 he became involved with the Virginia Company, which was a joint stock corporation formed with a charter from King James I and charged with the settlement of Virginia. Their main goal was commercial, not religious. Therefore, unlike the Puritan families who latter settled in America, these group wanted to gain money.

In 1609 he returned to London. Prevented by his opponent from returning to Virginia, he crossed the Atlantic to explore the Maine and Massachusetts Bay areas, which he named New England with the approval of the Prince of Wales, who would become King Charles I.

Nowadays he is most widely known as the hero of a love tale about an Indian Princess (Pocahontas supposedly saved Captains life). There was no trace of her intervention in his first book. It was not mentioned till 1624 (7 years after her death). Smith published that story which was suspiciously similar to another rescue by an Indian princess described in a Spanish work. General History of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles (1624)

He wrote with political intention and his work constitutes a major resource for understanding the concept of manifest of destiny: the notion that America made manifest the destined expansion of European civilization and, therefore, that Europeans had the right to take possession of the whole continent.

READING: General History of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles (1624)[Book III, Chapter 2]

Travel writing tradition (description + report of events) Derogatory terms for the natives (savages, devils) Quotations from classical writers. Lexicon: military terms + words from the natives. Third person narrator (in other words: I) Rhetoric: self-promoting way of writing; proud, he tries to justify himself

and defends himself. Fact vs. Fiction. Philip L. Barbour: accepted the Pocahontas rescue story as true. He

suggested that the captain might have misunderstood a ceremony of naturalization and adoption in which he was symbolically killed and reborn with the status of one of the Powhatans sons. Pocahontas action would have been part of a ritual which Smith could not understand.

Pocahontas became a symbol to all Americans, representing wilderness reclaimed by civilization. Pocahontas gesture has been interpreted as a sign of the Native Americans submission to their English conquerors because she converted to Christianism.

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UNIT 2

WILLIAM BRADFORD (1590-1657) BIOGRAPHY Born in Yorkshire.Spiritually moved by the nonconformist minister Richard Clyfton. At the age of 12 years old, he attended separatist meetings. He left his family home for Scrooby to join a community separated form the Church of England. Strict Calvinist protestants who supported the separation of church and state, covenanted churches that swore loyalty to the group instead of the king. They were often persecuted as heretics and traitors.In 1608, The Scrooby congregation, fearful for their lives, goes to Holland. There he becomes a weaver and marries the daughter of a Separatist elder.Due to poor economic conditions, the Scrooby congregation decided to move to New England in search of a better life and set themselves apart form the rest of the world and establish the City of God on earth.They regarded their journey to the promised land as a religious pilgrimage they were called the Pilgrim Fathers. They were also labelled Puritans, since they wanted to maintain a church of ancient purity(most English Puritans at that time were non-separatists, they hoped to institute reforms).In July 1620, they sailed to England and hired the merchant vessel Mayflower and embarked from Southampton. They travelled with other emigrants recruited by the English investors. The English investors financed the voyage and the settlement, and the settlers invested their personal labour for seven years. After 66 days at sea, finally they disembarked at the site of the future town of Plymouth on December 11, 1620.Bradford was one of the authors of the Mayflower Compact a civil convenant drawn up by the Pilgrims (still on board) to guarantee co-operation because unity was essential for the survival of the colony and the settlers who were outside the church were included. The agreement provided for social and economic freedom, while still maintaining ties with Great Britain.Bradford was elected governor of Plymouth Colony and re-elected thirty times.Self-educated man, learned several languages. Particularly skilled in Hebrew to see with his own eyes the ancient oracles in their native beauty WORKS

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Of Plymouth Plantation (two volumes) First: ten chapters in 1630 and the eleventh in 1644. Events that led the Scrooby community to leave England for Holland, the Pilgrims voyage and the colonys beginnings.Second: in the form of annals (1620-1646). The authors disappointment at the gradual decline of the once cohesive community in danger of dissolution. He wanted to exhort the younger generation to live up to the religious ideals of the Pilgrims.OF PLYMOUTH PLANTATIONBook I, Chapter IXThe most frequently cited passage. A description of the trials of the expedition, the hardships of the Atlantic crossing and the bleak impression the Pilgrims received of the New World.Ideas from the reading:The author gives evidence of Gods favour: one seamans atrocious behaviour was punished by disease and death.The weather was changeable and occasionally extreme.The Pilgrims felt happy but uncertain when they arrived.Crossing an ocean is a hazardous business only to be undertaken with Gods help.The character of the Pilgrims: devout.The author asks his readers to feel pity for the Pilgrims because they had nowhere comfortable to go.The authors description of the landscape invites the reader to think that the immediate future will be difficult and dangerous.The main idea behind the excerpt: The Pilgrims were like characters from the Bible, struggling against the elements to do Gods will.The Pilgrims only source of comfort was looking at the sky and thinking about heaven.The Pilgrims thanked God for their safe landed.Book II, Chapter XII. Anno 1621This episode took place the following autumn, the colony was firmly established. The first winter had been extremely harsh (out of 102 passengers, only 51 survived)They made friendly contact with the Wampanog Indians, who taught them how to plan corn. They celebrated the harvest with a feast later associated with the Thanksgiving holiday. It was a traditional English harvest celebration which lasted three days and was attended by Indian guests.Ideas from the reading:The Pilgrims spent their first summer making provisions for the following winter.All the summer there was no want: had enough to eat.At the end of the summer thy felt satisfied.The mood of the narrator is peaceful The prevailing tone of both passages is dignified. Bradford uses the first person narrative: he was there, he survived, he was a chosen.The Puritans ( Calvinism) interpreted all events as symbols with spiritual meanings: the death of the young man aboard a special work of Gods providence. The author tries to demonstrate the workings of divine providence.Bradfords idea of God: in the covenanted churches god was considered as a contractual partner to the believers. The Pilgrims were struggled to fulfil what they believed to be Gods plan.Good fortune could signify righteousness and bad fortune divine punishment. Trials can bring out the best in believers (spiritual order).

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Little interest in Native culture, no attention to the beauty of the New World: authors depiction on his arrival.Balance between the wilderness and the support received from God.The chief influence was the Bible. A biblical reference: there is a direct analogy to Saints Paul shipwreck. Bradford points out a difference because these savage barbarians did not provide them with food or shelter. The Wampanoag had had previous contact with European explorers such as commercial exchanges sometimes ending in violent disorder.Pilgrims as the Israelites chosen people and America as the promised land but a basic difference pointed out by Bradford (Moses could see from the Pisgah the Promised Land in Deuteronomy ).The genre of Puritan history enhances spiritual life by interpreting Gods design: human history as a progress of mankind toward a predetermined end. Of Plymouth Plantation is not a chronicle but a history the work is an intentionally ideological document Bradford produced a good example of providentialist historiography.Puritans officially condemned ornate speech (English Aristocracy) They promoted humble modes to inform and instruct, not to please But Bradford was a true Renaissance man, familiar with the literary fashion, his style was not so plain (adjectives, length of sentences, comparisons, the words,...).Puritan theology was designed to transform lives and to inspire action.His attitude to native: savage barbarians were considered as excluded from Redemption.Opposition between wilderness and civilisation: horror of the wild (first passage) transformed (second passage) in one year a result of colonisation.

1. Puritan Typology Puritans saw human and social history as a cyclical succession of eras that lead toward a single, glorious design conceived in the mind of God. The Puritans saw their departure from England and Holland to a new promised land in America as yet another historical manifestation of this history, with themselves being the new Israelites chosen and favored by God. As you read the selections from Of Plymouth Plantation, pay attention to Bradford's efforts to associate the Plymouth colonists with the Israelites of Scripture.

2. Audience and Context As you read the selections from Bradford's account of Plymouth Plantation, you need to keep in mind Bradford's intended audience and the historical context of the composition of the history. Of Plymouth Plantation was written after the original settlement had been accomplished by the Mayflower pilgrims ("old comers"), and after their intense suffering and sacrifices had finally brought about security and prosperity for the colony. Bradford writes not to the old comers but to the second and third generations of colonists whom he believes have strayed away from the original faith, piety, and spiritual fortitude of their parents and grandparents. In the words of the critic Jesper Rosenmeier, "Bradford's aim [as a historian] is not to portray the past with the fullest possible objectivity but to resurrect a bygone holiness; a holiness that, he knows and never loses sight of, must be resurrected by and in his audience." As you read the selections, keep track of passages that seem to reflect Bradford's effort to inspire puritan piety within a generation of spiritualists threatened by prosperity and worldliness.

3. Conscious Craft Hasty readers may find Bradford's prose to be dry and burdensome, and in fact he deliberately chose to write his history in what was then called the "plain style," in contrast to the deeply elaborate and ornate style of "euphuism." And yet Bradford's style is anything but plain. The critic E. F. Bradford first called attention to his use of emphatic couplings to create a variety of sense and description, his use of syntactical balance and

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antithesis, his use of alliteration, assonance, and consonance. The opening paragraph on page 165 provides fine examples:

When as by the travail and diligence of some godly and zealous preachers, and God's blessing on their labors, as in other places of the land so in the North parts, many became enlightened by the Word of God and had their ignorance and sins discovered unto them, and began by his grace to reform their lives and make conscience of their ways; the work of God was no sooner manifest in them but presently they were both scoffed and scorned by the profane multitude; and the ministers urged with the yoke of subscription, or else must be silenced. And the poor people were so vexed with apparitors and pursuivants and the commissary courts, as truly their affliction was not small. Which, notwithstanding, they bore sundry years with much patience, till they were occasioned by the continuance and increase of these troubles, and other means which the Lord raised up in those days, to see further into things by the light of the Word of God. . . .

Pay attention not only to what Bradford says, but how he says it. His elegant prose style is part of what makes Of Plymouth Plantation such a memorable and profound record of early American colonization.

CALVINISM

Separation of Church and State1. Total depravity: Every person bears the corruption due to Adam (light/darkness)2.Unconditional ellection: God chooses who is to be saved. To be a memeber of the chuch doesnt mean you willbe saved.3. Limited atonement: We were redeemed partially by Christ.4. Irresistible and grace: no matter what you do if Jesus chooses you you will be saved.5. Perseverance of Saints: once a person has been chsen to be Saint that person will follow the way iof Faith.

Puritanism in New England

The term "Puritan" first began as a taunt or insult applied by traditional Anglicans to those who criticized or wished to "purify" the Church of England. Although the word is often applied loosely, "Puritan" refers to two distinct groups: "separating" Puritans, such as the Plymouth colonists, who believed that the Church of England was corrupt and that true Christians must separate themselves from it; and non-separating Puritans, such as the colonists who settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony, who believed in reform but not separation. Most Massachusetts colonists were nonseparating Puritans who wished to reform the established church, largely Congregationalists who believed in forming churches through voluntary compacts. The idea of compacts or covenants was central to the Puritans' conception of social, political, and religious organizations.

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Beliefs Several beliefs differentiated Puritans from other Christians. The first was their belief in predestination. Puritans believed that belief in Jesus and participation in the sacraments could not alone effect ones salvation; one cannot choose salvation, for that is the privilege of God alone. All features of salvation are determined by Gods sovereignty, including choosing those who will be saved and those who will receive Gods irresistible grace.

Covenant or Federal Theology and the New England Way

The concept of a covenant or contract between God and his elect pervaded Puritan theology and social relationships. In religious terms, several types of covenants were central to Puritan thought. The Covenant of Works held that God promised Adam and his progeny eternal life if they obeyed moral law. After Adam broke this covenant, God made a new Covenant of Grace with Abraham (Genesis 18-19). Covenant of Grace. This covenant requires an active faith, and, as such, it softens the doctrine of predestination. Although God still chooses the elect, the relationship becomes one of contract in which punishment for sins is a judicially proper response to disobedience. Covenant of Redemption. The Covenant of Redemption was assumed to be preexistent to the Covenant of Grace. It held that Christ, who freely chose to sacrifice himself for fallen man, bound God to accept him as mans representative. Having accepted this pact, God is then committed to carrying out the Covenant of Grace.

The New England Way

The concept of the covenant also provided a practical means of organizing churches. Since the state did not control the church, the Puritans reasoned, there must be an alternate method of of establishing authority. Thus the ultimate authority in both political and religious spheres was God's word, but the commitments made to congregation and community through voluntary obedience to covenants ensured order and a functional system of religious and political governance. This system came to be called the Congregational or "New England Way."

Church Membership

Unlike Anglican and Catholic churches of the time, Puritan churches did not hold that all parish residents should be full church members. A true church, they believed, consisted not of everyone but of the elect. As a test of election, many New England churches began to require applicants for church membership to testify to their personal experience of God in the form of autobiographical conversion narratives. Since citizenship was tied to church membership, the motivation for experiencing conversion was secular and civil as well as religious in nature. Gods covenant that bound church members to him had to be renewed and accepted by each individual believer, although this could be seen as a dilution of the covenant binding God and his chosen people.

The Half-Way Covenant

The children of first-generation believers were admitted to limited membership in the Congregational church, on the grounds that as children of the elect, they would undoubtedly experience conversion and become full members of the church. Not all underwent a conversion experience, however, thus leaving in doubt the future of their children, the grandchildren of the original church members.

WILLIAM BRADFORD (1590-1657)

He joined a community of religious believers who had separated from the

Church of England. They were dissenters, strict Calvinists, who established a Church of their own in 1606. At a time when Church and State were united, those who seceded from the Church of England were often persecuted not

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only as heretic but as traitors to the king. The Scrooby Congregation decided to move again from Holland (where they went running away from England) in search of a better life, to New England. They regarded their journey to the promised land as a religious pilgrimage (they were called later the Pilgrim Fathers). They bought a small ship, the Speedwell, and in England they hired a merchant vessel, the Mayflower. The Speedwell leaked badly so they travelled in the Mayflower alone. All the passengers had received financial baking from a consortium of London merchants. They sighted land at Cape Cod and disembarked at the site of the future town of Plymouth (1620).

William Bradford is one of the authors of the Mayflower Compact a civil covenant or agreement in order to guarantee cooperation within their unsharpened community.

He was elected governor of the Plymouth Colony, and he was re-elected 30 times.

He was a self-educated man, who had learned several languages. He wrote a journal, some poems and a series of dialogues. READING: Of Plymouth Plantation (1857). [Book I: Chapter IX. Of the voyage

and How they Passed the sea; and of Their safe arrival to Cape Cod]

Book I: events that led the Scrooby Community to leave England from Holland, and gave clear account of the pilgrims voyage and the colonys beginnings. He finished it around 1650, although it was not published till 1857.

Book II: in the form of annals. Reflects the author disappointment at the gradual decline of the once cohesive community, which he considered in danger of dissolution.

JOHN SMITH WILLIAM BRADFORDExplored SettlerIndividual self: 1 pers and 3 pers. Cohesive community: 3rd pers pl. (they)Political Intent ReligiousSecular contents Spiritual contentsClassical Sources Biblical SourcesFact and fiction Providential interpretation of factsInformative and entertaining DidacticOrnate Style Plain Style

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UNIT 3 ANNE BRADSTREET (1612-1672)

* HER WORK

Her book was also the first book in American literature to be published by a woman.

Her brother-in-law had it printed in London under the pretentious title of The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America. (1650)

Later on, Anne revised the volume, added a considerable number of new pieces and wrote a poem as a preface to the second edition Several Poems Compiled with Great Variety of Wit and Learning, which was not published after her death.

At present, she is considered the grandmother of American poetry. * BIOGRAPHY

Anne was born and educated in England. She received a very good education. She was raised in luxurious

surroundings, had access to private tutors and made excellent use of Earls extensive library.

She learned Greek, Latin, Hebrew and French. In 1628 she married Simon Bradstreet, her fathers assistant. In 1630, she and her family emigrated to the New World, to escape

religious persecution. They were non-Separatists Puritans. They settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony. For a time, Anne Bradstreets husband was governor of the

Massachusetts Bay Colony. Their life in America was much harder than it had been in England. Anne gave birth eight times and all of her children grew to adulthood. She death with sixty years old.

* CRITICS

Two aspects:

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On the one hand: Her public were devout and strict puritans, she was the dutiful daughter of a prominent man and she was the submissive wife of all-known colony official.

The other hand: Her private self, emotionally attached to her family as a wife, mother and grandmother.

She is in continuity unresolved conflicts, of tensions between her religious and her inner feelings. A self-division based on the tensions between what she thought she ought to feel (Puritan theology told her what she had to believe) and what she really felt.

Her later poems show how difficult it was for her to control some of her impulses.

* SOURCES AND LITERARY STRATEGIES.

She acknowledged that she had been troubled by religious doubts all her life, due to spiritual confusion concerning verity of scriptures a remark that should be taken into account when analysing her extensive use of biblical sources.

- She felt she had to abide by the Principles of Puritan which the typical plain style but her work was also deeply rooted in the ornamented style of the Renaissance tradition. She was very much influenced by sixteenth-century poets such as: Sir Edmund Spenser (c 1552-99) Sir Philip Sidney (c. 1554-86) Sir Walter Raleigh (c.1554-1618)

Sir Guillaume du Bartas (c. 1544-90) the French Colonist poet whom she called her literary godfather . He influenced with metaphors.

She was also inspired by her British contemporaries, the English Metaphysical poets such as: John Donne (c.1572-1631) and George Herbert (c. 1593-1633).

* ANNE BRADSTREET - SOR JUANA INES DE LA CRUZ (1651-95)

- They share some experiences (ill, health, inner spiritual crises, a deep sense of religion combined with a genuine concern for secular problems, and the difficulties of writing in a male-dominated intellectual world.) and poetic themes (e.g. Speaking about their poems as their children). Both of them adhered to the major aesthetic conventions of their time, and wittily repudiated prejudices against women poets, Bradstreet using the convention of ironic self-deprecation and Sour Juana resorting to paradox and polemic

THE AUTHOR TO HER BOOK

Anne Bradstreet wrote this poem as the new preface to the second edition of her collection of verses, posthumously published in Boston under the title of Several Poems Compiled with Great Variety of Wit and Learning (1678).

Bradstreet responded to Woodbridges birth metaphor which was common among seventeenth-century writers. 1. In this poem there is an extend metaphor. The speaker of The Author to Her Book is the poet, likened a mother whose child is her book of poems. The specific metaphor of book as offspring can be traced back to Plato. Some examples of this:

Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain

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My rambling bratshould mother call 2. A pun (paronomasia) is a play on words that has different meanings.

I stretch your joints, to make you even feet, The effect of this pun is the duality of the childs feet and the metrical of the lines.

3. If we scan the metre of this poem we could see that is a metric pattern known as iambic, formed by an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Iambic is the most common pattern in English poetry. The poem is written in heroic couplets, also called rhyming couplets because rhyme on consecutives lines, in pairs (aa,bb,cc,dd). The effect of this metrical pattern is the sense of movement. 4. If we analyse the poet attitude towards her child/book we could see she regard it with kindness, tenderness and a certain indulgence toward its faults. 5. Like most artists, Bradstreet probably had mixed feelings about her book, but some of her fears were clearly determined by the fact that she was a literary woman writing in a patriarchal society. Comment on the tone of her poem, we could pay attention to the flash of anger expressed in lines 15-16. Then in line 7 she was bushed and at finally she was a protector mother.6. I think Bradstreet it wasnt genuinely modest. She was artfully claiming artlessness. The poet, well aware with of her societys reaction to women who ventures to write poems in a society when she has to take care of her family.She has to seem modest. 7. We could see some irony in the entire poem. Especially in lines 13 and 14.The meaning is contrary to the words. She critics and apologise of her book/child when she was really prideful. 8. She is just trying to be playful and amusing. She makes a funny apologise of her poem. And the effect is that readers who are so perceptive to understand ironic discourse then could read under the words of socially constrained text. 9. In seventeenth-century women were conditioned by social rules. They were very submissive to their husbands. They are very modest. 10. Comment on the way the poet links motherhood and artistic creativity we could paying attention to the fact that her child/book is fatherless.In the first line, she calls attention to the fact that her book/child sprang from her mind, not her womb, and was conceived without the intervention of any masculine force. This could be interpreted as a sign of independence. VOCABULARY Artlessness: naturalidadLacks: careceOffspring: descendenciaRambling brad: mocoso consentidoStressed: tnicaUnstressed: tonaVenture: arriesgarWomb: entraas

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ANNE BRADSTREET (1612-1672)

The first published book of poems by an inhabitant of America was also the first book in American literature to be published by a woman. Her brother-in-law had it printed in London under the pretentious title of The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America (1650). Later on, Anne added a considerable number of new pieces and wrote a poem as a preface to the second edition, which was published six years after her death entitled Several Poems Compiled with Great Variety of Wit and Learning. At present, she is considered the grandmother of American poetry.

She received an education far superior to that of most women of her time, and started to write poems as a child to please her father, Thomas Dudley, who was steward to the Puritan Earl of Lincoln. She had access to private tutors and made excellent use of the Earls extensive library.

Literary critics generally consider two aspects of Anne Bradstreet: on the one hand, her public self as a member of a community of devout and strict Puritans, as the dutiful daughter of a prominent man and as the submissive wife of a well-known colony official. On the other hand, her private self, emotionally attached to her family as wife, mother and grandmother. Her works show the complex struggle to reconcile both aspects: the public voice, which tends to be imitative, and the private voice, which is more original. She is often seen as a poet of ambivalences and hesitancies, of unresolved conflicts, of tensions between her religious duty and her inner feelings. She probably experienced some kind of self division based on the tensions between what she thought she ought to feel and what she really felt.

Puritan theologians had warned that the senses were unreliable and that appeals to the imagination were dangerous. This particular religious doctrine was contrary to her nature, for she found great pleasure in the agreeable realities of the present and was captivated by the beautiful landscape of the New World. Her later poems show how difficult it was for her to control some of her impulses. She acknowledged that she had been troubled by religious doubts all her life, due to spiritual confusion concerning the verity of the scriptures, a remark that should be taken into account when analysing her extensive use of biblical sources.

As for her literary strategies, she felt she had to abide by the principles of Puritan aesthetics, which encouraged her to adopt some features of the typical plain style, but her work was also deeply rooted in the ornamented style of the Renaissance tradition. She was very much influenced by sixteenth-century poets such as Edmund Spencer, Philip Sidney and the French Calvinist poet Guillaume du Bartas, whom she called her literary godfather. In spite of the official Puritan condemnation of figurative language, sensual imagery and all other forms of verbal artifice, many poems written by Puritans reveal a high degree of literary complexity. They draw not only from the Bible as a source of inspiration, but also from classical models.

New England Puritanism took place around the middle of the seventeenth-century, when eminent Puritans endorsed this movement towards verbal artistry both in oral and written forms. It was argued that figurative and symbolic language could enhance the believers abilities to perceive divine will. Thus, rather than condemning the use of all kinds of metaphors, it was suggested that some of them could help the elct to understand religious truths.

Bradstreets long philosophical and religious poems were generally written in an artificial style. These autobiographical pieces have warmth, intensity and poignancy; they are not derivative in content or imitative in structure, as were the early ones, but born from her experience and constitute a more mature work, full of genuine personal utterances. In her later poems the author comes near to

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expressing her true voice.

Although the poet who speaks in the selections does not feel free to express openly everything that comes to her mind, she seems to be willing to share some of her thoughts with readers who are perceptive enough to understand ironic discourse and to unveil meanings hidden under the words of socially constrained texts. The author to Her Book:

Anne Bradstreet wrote this poem as the new preface to the second edition of her collection of verses. Her brother-in-law emphasized that he was solely responsible for the publication of the volume, and he introduced Annes poetry using a reproductive metaphor in which he presented himself as an impatient midwife who forced the birth before its due time, thus provoking the mothers pain. In The author to her Book Anne responded to this birth metaphor which was common among seventeenth-century writers. The specific metaphor of book as offspring can be traced back to Plato, and was also used by male writers as Sidney, Spenser and Guillaume du Bartas. Anne departed from her masters by taking the metaphor much further and by using it in order to claim her own legitimacy as a writer. She portrays herself in the more acceptable role of a powerless mother who lacks the resources to care for her family. She presents her book as a poor and illegitimate child, dressed in homespun cloth and fatherless. In the first line, she calls attention to the fact that her book/child sprang from her mind, not her womb, and was conceived without the intervention of any masculine force.

It should be noted also that much of the coyness and dismissal that is expressed throughout Bradstreets preface was a common strategy used both by male and female writers in the Renaissance.

The poem is written in heroic couplet, also called rhyming couplets because they rhyme on consecutive lines, in pairs (aa, bb, cc). The lines are rhymed iambic pentameters.

Iambic: unstressed syllable-stressed syllable.Pentameter: because each line has five feet.

To my Dear and Loving Husband:

As a particular poem focuses on her desire and longing for her husband, rather than on her duty as a wife, it provides a contrasting image with the popular view of the supposedly invariable Puritan reserve and restraint. Although Puritans believed that conjugal love was a proof of piety, they worried that married couples would lose sight of God. Loving ones spouse and children excessively and for their own sake was seen as dangerous. This important Puritan belief has been called the doctrine of weaned affections, which emphasized gradual detachment from everything in this world.

Anne develops the central idea of this poem in a clear and logical manner: she feels so loved by her husband that the only way she can reciprocate is by asking the heavens to repay him; earthly love is the best thing of this world, only to be surpassed by the union of lovers in eternity.

She uses a highly allusive biblical language. It is written in rhymed iambic pentameters. Upon the Burning of Our House This poem provides a clear example of the tension the poet experienced between her domestic concerns and her spiritual aspirations. Bradstreet dwells on her misfortune for the firsts 35 lines, suddenly, in line 36 there is an abrupt change

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of direction. She turns to the Bible and finds comfort in the promise of a permanent house in heaven.

It is written in rhymed iambic tetrameters (four feet). On my Dear Grandchild Simon Bradstreet

In Classical times, an elegy was any poem on any subject written in elegiac metre. Since the Renaissance, an elegy has been a meditative poem on the death of a person. Bradstreet does not break abruptly with the tradition of Christian elegies, which are supposed to close with consolation and the affirmation that death is part of a divine plan, but she does not easily accept with pious resignation the death of her own grandchildren as a part of the providential scheme.

The author expresses how hard it is for her to reconcile the deep love she feels for her deceased grandson and her duty to maintain her faith in spite of her suffering. In the first stanza, she reveals a sorrow which threatens to overwhelm her because she seems to be left alone to struggle with despair. In the second stanza the poet appears to be able to master her brief and accept the divine will, although it could be argued that such acceptance is not really complete. If the irony of the poem is emphasized, it can be interpreted as a direct criticism of the goodness of God.

This elegy is written in rhymed iambic pentameters.

UNIT 4MARY ROWLANDSON (c. 1637 1711)

From A Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson INTRODUCTION From the violent and brutal clash between Indians and British colonist in Massachusetts during King Philips War (1675-1676) grew a new literary genre: Indian Captivities. Some colonist who had been prisoners of the Indian wrote autobiographical accounts of their experiences. These tales became the first best-sellers in America literature. These accounts of captivity continued to be successful until the 19th century. The early examples of the genre emphasized devotional aspects while later tales focused mainly on adventures aspects. The text were about to study belongs to this genere: A Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson.Rowlandsons account of her 3-mongh capture by a hostile Indian force during king Philips War became one of the most popular narratives of its type in Britain and in America during the 17th and 18th centuries, going through 30 editions after its first publication in 1682. BIOGRAPHY Mary White was born about 1637 in South Petherson (Somerset), England. She arrived to America with her nine siblings when she was only a child.Her father, John White and his family moved to the frontier settlement of Lancaster where her father was one of the founder.Around 1656 she married the Reverend Joseph Rowlandson, the first minister of the church of Lancaster. She had four children, one of whom died in infancy. After the release of Mary Rowlandson and her two surviving children (the youngest one died on the attack), they live in Boston for a year.

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In 1672 they moved to Wethersfield (Connecticut) where her husband returned to ministry. He died in 1678. A year later, she married another community leader, Captain Samuel Taltcott and live in the same town until her death. HER WORK On a cold, crisp February morning in 1676 a band of Indians (Wampanoags), surprised the Puritan frontier village of Lancaster, Mass, where Rowlandson lived with her children and husband. As the woman and children cowered in the house, they heard the fighting around them; one by one the defenses were broken and Indians swarmed all around them.Rowlandson is captured and separated from two of her children and her youngest child is mortally wounded. A Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson was written in 1677 or 1678 two years after she was released by the Indians. The narrative is chronological, organized around twenty removals, a term she used to refer to the stages of her forced march. The purpose of the writing is obviously didactic. She well, illustrates the Puritans typological way of thinking. She sees each stage of her captivity and ransom as a demonstration of the truths of biblical stories and teaching. Modern literaty critics have pointed the influence of Rowlandson Narrative by the tradition of the American jeremiad, a form of sermonic or poetic lament which attributed misfortunes of the Israelites to their abandonment of the covenant with God and called on them to repent so as to restore the covenant and have a happier future. Her narrative illustrates the application in daiyly life of the Puritans beliefs: The Puritan held that divine Providence operates in an absolutely arbitrary

manner. The magnitude of Gods punishment for sin were unknowable. Minor transgressions might provoke Gods greatest wrath.

She considered Indians not as human beings but as mere intruments for

punishment in order to prove the convenant with God. Her opinions of the Indians, however is changing as the narrative progresses. First, she considered them a company of hell-hounds or ravenous-beasts. Then, as time goes by, she started to use the neutral term of Indians.

Her eventual redemption and reunification with her surviving children and

husband affirmed her faith in the Providence. She, as the Puritan, had the belief that they were the chosen people of God.

In terms of style, the story is told in a natural artless, plain manner, typical of the Puritan literature. Its written using first-person narrator. She has the Bible as a main source of inspiration, especially the Old Testament. About one third of the biblical references come from the Psalms, used as a spiritual resource because she found in King Davids way of dealing with religious struggles a very useful mode to express her deep anger against the enemies and her confidence in divine retribution.

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She uses four narratives modes: description (of people, objects, geographical settings, etc). Report (of actions) speech (either direct or reported) and comment (moralizing disquisition of digression), focusing more on the report and comment modes. MARY ROWLANDSON (1637-1711)

The captivity narrative grew out of the violent struggle between the Natives

and the English colonists. As they moved away from their religious roots, they became more politically influential in a society which had to justify western expansion.

Mary Rowlandson created a prototype which stands out as the major contribution to the captivity genre.

A Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson is a detailed autobiographical account of the eleven weeks and five days a woman settler from Massachusetts Bay Colony was held captive by a group of Natives. In Lancaster, twelve citizens were killed, including Rowlandsons eldest sister, one of her brothers-in-law and one nephew. Her husband and another brother-in-law survived because they were in Boston appealing to the colonial government to protect Lancaster from raids.

Among the 24 colonists that were kidnapped were Mary Rowlandson and her three children. Sarah, her six-years-old daughter, was fatally wounded by a bullet and died nine days after the capture.

Rowlandson and her captors travelled over 150 miles, in a forced migration questing for food and shelter at various encampments, until she was released for a twenty pound ransom. That summer, her two children were also ransomed.

Mary Rowlandson began her narrative in 1677 or 1678, that is, one or two

years after her captivity, although it was not published until 1682, under the title which stressed its religious dimension: The Sovereignty and Goodness of God. The didactic purpose of the narrative is obvious throughout the whole text. When the author claimed to have written it exclusively for the edification of her surviving children and friends, she was abiding by the Puritan rule that writing should aim at educating readers to understand and execute Gods will.

Rowlandson is celebrated by her role in the development of both the captivity narrative and American womens autobiography.

Modern literary critics have noted how Rowlandsons Narrative is indebted

in tone and content to the tradition of the American jeremiad; The prophet Jeremiah, who attributed the misfortunes of the Israelites to their abandonment of the covenant with God, and called on them to repent so as to restore the covenant and have a happier future.

Of the woman captivities during the early period of colonization only Rowlandson had the erudition to write her own story. The narratives of Hannah Swart, Hannah Dunstan and Elizabeth Hanson were transcribed and revised by educated clergymen who tended to transform them into pieces of devotional literature. Mary Rowlandson had the support of clergymen such as Increase Mather, who probably wrote the anonymous preface that accompanied the first editions. The Reverend Joseph Rowlandsons final sermon, The possibility of Gods forsaking people, was added as an afterword or appendix

Puritan spiritual leaders were aware of the process of secularization of their society and they wanted the New England colonists to interpret King Philips War in supernatural terms, not as the natural reaction of a starving people who were making their last efforts to retain their land. According to the orthodox Puritan version of the story, the Natives did not go into battle out of their own initiative, but were sent by an angry God whenever it was necessary to punish the faults and

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sins committed.Divine providence is all-pervading principle throughout the Narrative of

which God is the centre. She also notes how God always supported her during her spiritual and physical trial and, therefore, credits Him and not the Natives for not having been sexually abused in word or action. When a Native gave her a copy of the Bible he had plundered in a raid, she did not feel grateful to him, but to God. Whereas she depended on the food the Natives gave her for material survival, scrutinizing the Bible in order to find Gods messages assured her spiritual survival during her captivity. Consequently, when she later recorded her experiences, she did not miss any opportunities to allude to whatever scriptural passages she regarded as relevant, often interpreting them in a prophetical manner.

Thus, if a writer like John Smith (who was not puritan) ornamented his captivity account with learned quotations from Greek and Latin authors, Rowlandson restricted herself to the words of the Bible. Thus, she identified with Job in his afflictions, Daniel in the den of lions, Jonah in the whale, and Moses wandering in the desert. About one third of the biblical references in the Narrative come from the Psalms. Rowlandson mentioned the book of Psalms as a spiritual resource so often because she found in King Davids way of dealing with religious struggles a very useful model to express her deep anger against her enemies and her confidence in divine retribution. She did nor feel the need to give complete quotations because she assumed that her readers would be familiar with the biblical passages she echoed.

The early Puritan settlers did not perceive the Natives as human beings.

The attackers are portrayed as a company of hell-hounds and ravenous beasts by the author (this is the symbolic role of the attackers as a malign force, that is, as the representatives of the forces of Satan, who threatened the Puritan hopes of establishing a kingdom of God in the New World); as time goes by she uses the more neutral word Indians, and less often Heathen or Pagans. She also gives evidence of their virtues and to tell the difference between her various captors. Rowlandson expresses her happiness when she sees Quanopen and often records his acts of kindness, such as providing food for her, even fetching water himself so that she could wash, and then giving her a glass to she how she looked.

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UNIT 5 JONATHAN EDWARDS (1703-1758)

Jonathan Edwards was a highly educated philosopher and theologian. 1250 of his sermons have survived. They constitute the basis upon which the artistic renown of this prolific

writer has been established. He has often been labelled the last great puritan, and was indeed a convinced defender of orthodox Calvinism.

His main contribution to literature lies in his brilliant use of some new rhetorical strategies by which he managed to awaken audiences that were no longer interested in the ornamented sermons of the seventeenth century and remained unimpressed by the simplified form of those of the eighteenth century.

He was born in East Windsor. His father. Timothyt Edwards, a graduate of Harvard, was the minister of East Windsors congregationalist church. His maternal grandfather, the

Reverend Solomon Stoddard, was the prestigious minister of the much larger congregation of Northampton(Massachusetts).

At the age of thirteen was admitted to the Collegiate School of Connecticut (Yale), where he learnt Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and graduated four years later at the head of his class.He stayed to read Theology until 1722.

While he was a student at Yale, the College received a substantial donation of books which introduced him to the works of Isaac Newton and John Locke.

Edwards had no objections to most of Newtonian science, including his theory of universal gravitational attraction, which many contemporaries found completely unintelligible.

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When Edwards graduated form theologically conservative Yale, he became the pastor of a small Presbyterian church in New York City. He returned to Yale to work as a tutor of the college from 1724 until 1726, and then went back to the ministry. He became assistant pastor to his maternal gradfather in the town of Northampton.

Eventually, after twenty-three years of mimistry, Edwards was dismissed from his pastorate basically because his parishioners refected his abolishmente of Stoddardss reforms.

The Reverend Solomon Stoddard believed that salvation depended not only on Gods grace, but also on individual moral effort. By contrast, Jonathan Edwards defended the Calvinist tenet of salvation only by Gods free and irresistible gift of grace.

His position on the Halway Covenant eventually cost him his pulpit in Northampton. On June 22, 1750 his congregation voted for his dismissal and after delivering his Farewell sermon, he stepped down.

In 1751 he acdcepted a position as missionary to the several hundred Housatonic Indians and as pastor of the twelve white families resident in the little frontier hamlet of Stockbridge.

In 1757, he was appointed president of the College of New Nersey at Nassau Hall(Princeton). He died shorthly after, of smallpox, the result of a defective inoculation to prevent infection. Edwards career had three phases.........a period of relative obscurity, followed by great popularity and seven last extremely fruitful years in which he produced some of his greatest writings.

Jonathan Edwards is considered the most eminent advocate of the Great Awakening, a wave of exaltation intended to awaken dormant religious feelings. It began in New England in 1734 and involved most colonies, lasting in some places until the late 1740s, when it started to dwindle.

Edwardss own methods of preaching were rather temperate compared to those of other awakeners, such as the Reverend George Whitefield, and the Americans Gilbert tennent and James Davenport.

Edwards forceful sermons had an enormous impact on many of his audiences, but he read them quietly, from a dignified stance ather than souting from the pulpit.

Edwards both nuancaed support and subtle criticism of the Great Awakening are expressed in his publications Some Thoughts Concerning the present Revival of Religion(1742) and Treatise Concerning Religious Affections(1746).

His popular reputation nowadays rests almost exclusively on one single sermon..........Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, the literary monument of the Great Awakening.

The focus of the sermon is not on hell, but onn the sinner who is dangling over the abyss, suspended on a slender thread, when there is still time to repent and be saved from plunging into eternal agony. The key image of the sermon is not that of the lake of burning brimstone, but that of the spider.

He had not delivered Sinners as a mere attempt at improving peoples behaviour, but in order to produce an impression upon their minds.

This sermon is an outstanding example of eloquence partly because it is filled with an inceasing tension and suspense.

Sinners follows the typical tripartite structure of a Puritan sermon..........Text, doctrine and Application It starts with the Text, that is, a biblical quotation, and opens as briefly as possible with an explication to clarify its meaning in its context.I the second part, the Doctrine is initially expressed in the form of a concise statement which formulates the main thesis of the entire sermon.........There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God.

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The third part of the sermon, the Application, consisting of a series of users which try to render abstract principles as concrete as possible by applying them to the practical affairs of life. At the end of the sermon, there is a simple conclusion which avoids any flourish.

JONATHAN EDWARDS (1703-1758)

He was a highly educated philosopher and theologian whose decisive impact

on the development of American culture is widely recognized. He has often been labelled the last great Puritan.

Edwards was a literary innovator who experimented within and beyond the stylistic conventions of his age. His main contribution to literature lies in his brilliant use of some new rhetorical strategies by which he managed to awaken audiences that were no longer interested in the ornamented sermons of the seventeenth century and remained unimpressed by the simplified form of those of the eighteenth century.

While he was a student at Yale he had the opportunity of reading the works

of Isaac Newton and John Locke. As Edwards read them with great interest and pleasure, he drew upon them to adopt whatever aspects he considered useful to articulate his own thoughts and rejected those incompatible with his own system of beliefs. He was immersed in the empiricism and rationalism of his time, which he adapted to his own theories of biblical revelation, and used his synthesis to repudiate the critique launched by the Deists and other detractors of the Puritans. Always seeking to reconcile old piety with the new scientific and philosophical trends of his time, he attempted to resolve the suggested conflict between human reason and divine revelation by maintaining that religious knowledge could be rational.

As the pastor of the Northampton congregation, he tried to suppress some of the liberal innovations introduced by his grandfather, one of the most influential figures in New England. If we used the current terminology of our time, Stoddard (Edwards grandfather) would be labelled liberal and Edwards conservative. Stoddard believed that salvation depended not only on Gods grace, but also on individual moral and effort. Edwards defended the Calvinist tenet of salvation only by Gods free and irresistible gift of grace.

Edwards career had three phases: a period of relative obscurity, followed by great popularity (which ended with violent rejections) and seven last extremely fruitful years in which he produced some of his greatest writings. He is considered the most eminent advocate of the Great Awakening, a wave of exaltation intended to awaken dormant religious feelings. The leader of this movement was the itinerant evangelical minister Reverend George Whitefield. This movement of spiritual revival tried to restore the religious intensity of the seventeenth-century Puritans. It not only rekindled but also recast Calvinism because it brought some changes in Puritan theology. It emphasized the individual experience of conversion or regeneration, whose authenticity was thought to be revealed by each individuals own intense emotional conviction.

Some ministers denounced the Great Awakening as heresy, while other ministers who had initially supported this revival eventually realised that it was making them lose control of their parishioners, dangerously attracted by those proclaiming visions and carrying on chaotic religious discussions. Edwards supported it but he was one of its most perceptive critics as well. This position of Edwards is expressed in his publications Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of Religion (1742) and Treatise Concerning Religious Affections.

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Nevertheless, his popular reputation nowadays rest almost exclusively on one single sermon: Sinner in the Hands of an Angry God. The focus on the sermon is not on hell, but on the sinner who is dangling over the abyss, suspended on a slender thread, when there is still time to repent and be saved from plunging into eternal agony. The key image of the sermon is not that of the lake of burning brimstone, but that of the spider. He read it the first time with no deep impact, but he delivered it again in Enfield, in 1741. Until then, the unawakened audience had resisted the revivalism which was sweeping Connecticut. But finally, with this sermon, Edwards achieved his goal of moving the people of Enfield toward the experience of conversion and public testimony of their faith. He wanted to touch emotional chords and provoke an immediate reaction in the form of a sudden conversion to be proclaimed in front of the whole congregation. His knowledge of human psychology had led him to believe that conversion could be experienced through the senses, and not only through reason.

The essential imagery that contributes to the success of this sermon conveys the sense of the suspension of the sinner, and is kinaesthetic (pertaining to the sense of movement and bodily effort), rather than merely visual.

Edwards defended the ministers who were being blamed for terrifying audiences because he was sincerely convinced that such ministers had the duty to warn sinners so that they would understand their terrifying state, rather than comfort them.

Being a consummate and sophisticated rhetorician, Edwards was well aware

of the importance of structure in oratory. Sinners follows the typical tripartite structure of a Puritan sermon: Text, Doctrine and Application. It starts with the Text, that is, a biblical quotation, and opens as briefly as possible with an explication to clarify its meaning in its context. In the second part, the Doctrine is initially expressed in the form of a concise statement which formulates the main thesis of the entire sermon: There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God. Then, the Doctrine is expounded as a series of ten considerations to demonstrate its truth; such reasons are arranged as numbered points which appear in logical order. Edwards proceeds with a tight and crushing logic, the product of a rigorous analytical mind. The Doctrine is followed by the third part of the sermon, the Application, consisting on a series of uses which try to render abstract principles as concrete as possible by applying them to the practical affairs of life. At the end of the sermon there is a simple conclusion which avoids any flourish.

Professor J. A. Leo Lemay, a great scholar of American colonial literature,

has postulated that much of the escalating emotional appeal of this sermon is due to its increasing immediacy of: 1. personal reference (by shifting from they to we to you), 2. time (from part tense to the present, and by heightening the effect with a repetitive now) and 3. place (from Israel to here).

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UNIT 6 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706-1790)

1. Introduction

Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston in 1706, and showed his restless character very early in life. Among other activities and posts, he became printer, editor, leader of debating club, writer, scientist, inventor. He embodied the American Enlightenment ideals: he was practical, hard-working, rational, and successful. He was the first self-made man in America, despite his poor origins, and the most famous and respected private figure of his time. His books were attempts to share his way to success with others, like Poor Richards Almanack, which used to be published annually from 1732, and his Autobiography, first published in its complete form in 1868.

2. Benjamin Franklin

2.1 Franklin and the Enlightenment

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Variously known as the Enlightenment, the Neoclassical Era, and the Augustan Age, the period between 1700 and 1800 was a natural outgrowth of the Renaissance. Europeans, especially the French and the English, took the Renaissance interest in human affairs to new heights, focusing particularly on human potential. In philosophy and politics, writers such as John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin argued that individual humans, guided by their reason, could and should govern their own lives and play a role in the government of their countries, paving the way for the American and French revolutions. Franklins personality personified the 18th century American Enlightenment. Enlightenments ideals were justice, liberty and equality. Franklin set an example of enlightened cosmopolitanism and won international renown. His figure also became a symbol of American civilization at a time when political independence from England was thought to require the creation of a new national identity with a distinct culture and literature. Benjamin Franklin was the first famous self-made man in America, and according David Hume, Americas first great man of letters. He was a versatile writer, creative scientist, and prolific inventor. He also had a very influential role as legislator, diplomat and statesman. 2.1 Biography * Written by Charles William Elliot, like introduction of The Autobiography 1909 edition *

Benjamin Franklin was born in Milk Street, Boston, on January 6, 1706. His father, Josiah Franklin, was a tallow chandler who married twice, and of his seventeen children Benjamin was the youngest son. His schooling ended at ten, and at twelve he was bound apprentice to his brother James, a printer, who published the New England Courant. To this journal he became a contributor, and later was for a time its nominal editor. But the brothers quarreled, and Benjamin ran away, going first to New York, and thence to Philadelphia, where he arrived in October, 1723. He soon obtained work as a printer, but after a few months he was induced by Governor Keith to go to London, where, finding Keith's promises empty, he again worked as a compositor till he was brought back to Philadelphia by a merchant named Denman, who gave him a position in his business. On Denman's death he returned to his former trade, and set up a printing house of his own from which he published The Pennsylvania Gazette, to which he contributed many essays, and which he made a medium for agitating a variety of local reforms. In 1732 he began to issue his famous Poor Richard's Almanac for the enrichment of which he borrowed or composed those pithy utterances of worldly wisdom which are the basis of a large part of his popular reputation. In 1758, the year in which he ceases writing for the Almanac, he printed in it Father Abraham's Sermon, now regarded as the most famous piece of literature produced in Colonial America. Meantime Franklin was concerning himself more and more with public affairs. He set forth a scheme for an Academy, which was taken up later and finally developed into the University of Pennsylvania; and he founded an "American Philosophical Society" for the purpose of enabling scientific men to communicate

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their discoveries to one another. He himself had already begun his electrical researches, which, with other scientific inquiries, he called on in the intervals of money-making and politics to the end of his life. In 1748 he sold his business in order to get leisure for study, having now acquired comparative wealth; and in a few years he had made discoveries that gave him a reputation with the learned throughout Europe. In politics he proved very able both as an administrator and as a controversialist; but his record as an office-holder is stained by the use he made of his position to advance his relatives. His most notable service in home politics was his reform of the postal system; but his fame as a statesman rests chiefly on his services in connection with the relations of the Colonies with Great Britain, and later with France. In 1757 he was sent to England to protest against the influence of the Penns in the government of the colony, and for five years he remained there, striving to enlighten the people and the ministry of England as to Colonial conditions. On his return to America he played an honorable part in the Paxton affair, through which he lost his seat in the Assembly; but in 1764 he was again despatched to England as agent for the colony, this time to petition the King to resume the government from the hands of the proprietors. In London he actively opposed the proposed Stamp Act, but lost the credit for this and much of his popularity through his securing for a friend the office of stamp agent in America. Even his effective work in helping to obtain the repeal of the act left him still a suspect; but he continued his efforts to present the case for the Colonies as the troubles thickened toward the crisis of the Revolution. In 1767 he crossed to France, where he was received with honor; but before his return home in 1775 he lost his position as postmaster through his share in divulging to Massachusetts the famous letter of Hutchinson and Oliver. On his arrival in Philadelphia he was chosen a member of the Continental Congress and in 1777 he was despatched to France as commissioner for the United States. Here he remained till 1785, the favorite of French society; and with such success did he conduct the affairs of his country that when he finally returned he received a place only second to that of Washington as the champion of American independence. He died on April 17, 1790. The first five chapters of the Autobiography were composed in England in 1771, continued in 1784-5, and again in 1788, at which date he brought it down to 1757. After a most extraordinary series of adventures, the original form of the manuscript was finally printed by Mr. John Bigelow, and is here reproduced in recognition of its value as a picture of one of the most notable personalities of Colonial times, and of its acknowledged rank as one of the great autobiographies. 2.3 Most important non-literature facts Franklin was a self-taught young man who never went to University and, through his own efforts, achieved the kind of education that only the upper classes could afford. He learned languages and read the works of the most important English Enlightenment writers. Under their influence, Franklin broke with the narrow sectarian aspects of Puritan tradition, and embraced10 a quite moderate form of free-thinking Deism11. In spite of his Deism, he developed some typical Puritan habits: constant self-scrutiny, devotion to hard work and publy duty, and a string desire to better himself and his community.

10 To embrace means to huge, to hold tight, to accept, to include.11 [Deismo : Doctrina que reconoce a un dios como autor de la naturaleza, pero sin admitir revelacin ni culto externo]

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Apart of publishing his own works, Franklin also started a lucrative career as a printer and tradesman by reprinting works of the Classics. He served as American minister plenipotentiary to France, during the American War of Independence. As a member of the American delegation to the Paris peace conference, he was one of the negotiators and signed the Treaty of Paris (1783). Also are important, the time he was president of the Council od Pennsylvania, and his help in writing the Declaration of Independence, or his presidency of an anti-salavery asociation and his promotion of universal public education.

3. Franklin Works

As for Franklins contributions to literature, it should be noted that while some modern literaty critics celebrate him as a great writer, other deny him this distinction. 3.1 The AutobiographyBenjamin Franklins primary motive for writing the story of his life was to provide a model for public conduct. His most important work known under the name of Autobiography, but some early editons called The Life, because the word autobiography did not exist in Franklins time. Franklins Autobiography is considered the greatest work of its kind produced in colonial America, and a classic piece of American Literature, although it was composed largely in Europe and was first published in Paris in French translation a year after the authors death. Franklin worked on it over a period more than 18 years. He stopped composing it at the age of 84 because of illness. The work is divided into four sections.

The first one, written when the author was Pennsylvanias colonial agent in London, is divided into 5 chapters and covers the years from his birth to his marriage (17061730).

The second section only advances the story through one year (1731), because it is basically a description of the authors efforts to achieve moral perfection and an analysis of the principles o conduct or precepts necessary to be successful.

In the third section, he concentrates on the application of such principles; he also records his promotion of civic causes and the progress of his political career.

The fourth section centers on the dispute between the Proprietaries adn the Pennsylvania Assembly, and the evantual resolution of the dispute in favour of the latter, who succeeded in having the tax exemption of the former12 abolished.

He addressed the first section to his son William and the latter sections to the Public because he felt that his son had betrayed him by remaining loyal to England during the American Revolution. 3.2 Vocabulary

12 Former means [previo, anterior]

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Extract from the Autobiographys second and most famous section, in which the 78-year-old author looks back at his youthful years and describes his plan for self-improvement through the practice of virtue. Line13 Word Translation Clarifying matters ______ 01 bold osado, arrojado courageous, audacious08 mere mero, puro, simple10 slipping fallar, errar to slip, make a mistake 12 steady preparado, listo constant, not move13 contrivd14 planear, tramar to contrive, contrived20 for the sake of por razones de20 rather more bastantes ms25 dullness estupiez28 trifling trivial ftil, trivial37 deceit engao, fraude deception, dishonesty41 forbear abstenerse refrain from, avoid42 deserve merecer, ganar to deserve46 venery relacin sexual hunting (archaic)47 weaknessdebilidad57 kept up mantener to keep up58 unremitting persistente perpetual, unending60 to gain adquirir, ganar63 prattling charlar chatter, babble, speak

foolishly63 punning juego de palabras to pun66 endeavor iniciativa, esfuerzo72 alloted asignar, distribuir to allot88 weed malas hierbas to weed90 bed siembra area for growing plants BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706-1790)

His personality embodied the eighteenth-century American Enlightenment, a

movement characterized by an emphasis on rationality. Franklins symbolic importance in American culture gradually increased as his compatriots considered that his personal success had helped to foster their nations collective destiny for greatness. He was the first famous self-made man.

His first essay was printed in The New England Courant and it was an article called Silence Doggod. It was the first of a series of fourteen satirical articles Franklin secretly published under a pseudonym, a name that was supposed to be that of a widow, extremely critical of Boston manners.

Franklin was a self-taught young man who achieved the kind of education of only the upper classes could afford. He read the works of the most important English Enlightenment writers, such as Locke, Shaftesbury and Addison.

In spite of his Deism, he developed some typical Puritan habits: constant self-scrutiny, an unfailing devotion to hard work and public duty, and a strong desire to better himself and his community. He initiated an American genre-the self-help book-with Poor Richards Almanac which he published for twenty-five years and it contained factual information and advice for being socially successful and

13 Misma numeracin de lneas que en la Unidad Didctica. Ignorando el error que tiene en el cmputo de las lneas sexta a dcima, se salta una. 14 En el fragmento de la Unidad Didctica se respetan los apstrofes originales sustituyendo a la e.

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achieving wealth in a series of memorable sayings collected from various sources or invented by himself. Some of these aphorisms, revised and refined have become standard American proverbs or sayings.

Franklin also started a lucrative career as a printer and tradesman by reprinting the works of the classics and of great Europeans, which helped to educate the American public. He helped to found many of the citys public institutions and conducted important experiments with electricity. His political achievements included his leadership of the American Revolution, his help writing the Declaration of Independence, his participation in the 1787 convention at which the U.S. Constitution was drafted, his presidency of an anti-slavery association and his promotion of humanity free.

Among his many writings, his mayor work is the one referred by Franklin as Memoirs, which is commonly known as Autobiography (a term that did not exist in that time). He started writing it when he was 65 and stopped it at 84. The work is divided in four parts: the first one is divided in five chapters and covers the years from birth to his marriage (1706-1730). The second section only advances the story one year, because it is basically a description of the authors efforts to achieve moral perfection and an analysis of the principles of conduct or precepts necessary to be successful. In the third part, the adult Franklin concentrates on the application of such principles; he also records his promotion of civic causes and the progress of his political career. The fourth section centres on the dispute between the Proprietaries and the Pennsylvania Assembly, and the eventual resolution of the dispute in favour of the latter, who succeeded in having a tax exemption of the former abolished.

Franklins primary motive for writing the story of his life was to provide a model for public conduct, and he translated his personal experiences into general propositions which could be usefully applied to other people.

According to J. A. Leo Lemay, Franklin gave us the definitive formulation of the American Dream. Some of the important aspects of the American Dream are: the rise from poverty to wealth, from dependence to independence, and from helplessness to power. This means that there is hope for each person to change ones life, shaping it into whatever form one may choose.

The Autobiography is written in a neoclassical version of the Puritan plain style, without formal beauty or pretensions to emotional force (K. Silverman). Franklins mastery of style-that pure, pithy, racy and delightful diction-[] makes him still one of the great exemplars of English prose (M. C. Tyler). Franklin developed his supple prose style as a tool of communicate his ideas clearly, since his stylistic creed was one cannot be too clear.

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UNIT 7OLAUDAH EQUIANO (1745 1797)

Slavery as a social, economic and political institution flourished in the 18th Century, when a series of laws defined it by race. Slavery dehumanized its victims: not regarding blacks as human beings made it easier for people of the Age of Reason to deprive them of full human rights. Among the many rights denied to slaves was literacy.

The slave narrative as a successful new literary genre began in the 18th Century and was developed in the 19th, when it began to have an influence upon the American novel. It was rediscovered in the 1960s because of its intense appeal for African-Americans fighting for Civil Rights.

Most American critics would agree that the father of African-American literature was Olaudah Equiano, whose autobiography became the prototype of the numerous slave narratives of the 19th Century.

Equiano spent most of his time at sea, and thus enjoyed many more opportunities for development than if he had been confined on a plantation. His first master did not honour his promise to allow Equiano to purchase his freedom and sold him to Captain James Doran, who made Equiano sink into particularly cruel West Indian slave trade. He went from master to master till Robert King bought him. He allowed Equiano to purchase his own freedom for forty pounds. He went to England, where he expected to encounter less racial discrimination, and

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spent much of the rest of his life in London supporting himself with different jobs.

Always restless for adventure, he travelled to Turkey and Italy as personal servant to an English gentleman, and sailed on exploratory expeditions to the Arctic and Central America. Like many other abolitionists of that time, he began rejecting the slave trade; only later did he envision the gradual abolition of slavery itself.

He had recommended racial intermarriage as a means of dissolving racial barriers, and he married a white Englishwoman. He began to contribute to the abolitionist cause. He brought to the public the case of the slave ship Zong, whose captain ordered 132 sick slaves to be chained together and thrown overboard so that the Liverpool owners could claim insurance money for their loss. Equiano was already well known in London newspapers when his two volume autobiography came out. He wrote it in 1788, 22 years after he had bought his freedom, and published it during the height of the antislavery controversy in England (1789). He addressed his narrative to the members of the Parliament of Great Britain and sent them copies of it. The author stated in the introduction that its main purpose was to excite in august assemblies a sense of compassion of the miseries which the slave-trade has entailed on my unfortunate countrymen.

The widespread popularity which Equianos narrative enjoyed, rivalled only by Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe, was not solely attributed to the support it received from the antislavery movement. Both are examples of travel literature, in which the protagonist is a successful self-made man who discovers strange objects and people in exotic lands. In both works the physical journey is paralleled by a journey of spiritual progress (from ignorance to knowledge, and ultimately to salvation through the experience of conversion).

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself: the author emphasized in the title of his autobiography that he had written it himself, and this was a way of asserting his authorship and an expression of his desire to refute claims that blacks had no ability to write. The fact that he used his two names, both the African ad the one imposed upon him n the Western World, supports the thesis that his double identity was an extremely serious concern for the author. Still commenting on the title, it should be noted that, when referred to himself using the epithet the African, Equiano used the definite article (the) instead of the indefinite which other writers of African descent were currently using. Apart from the title, the portrait used as the f