Characteristics of Puritan Literature

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Characteristics of Puritan Literature
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Strenuous and Serious

• because life was an unremitting moral struggle

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Very Sober

• did not want to show light-mindedness or
  worldliness.

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Rational and Orderly

• because Gods creation was logical and
  harmonious, all verbal representation should
  exhibit the same traits.

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Very Realistic

• Attempted in writing to present life exactly as
  they saw it.

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Plain Style

• Very distinct and orderly
• Used scriptural analogies
• Used incidents from daily life and allusions from
  the Bible

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Primary Dramatic Element was the struggle between
Christ and Satan

• Puritans believed themselves to be Gods
  predestined champions.

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PURITANS
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• Wanted to purify the church of England
• Get rid of the rituals that resembled Catholicism
• Reestablish the authority of the Bible
• Restore simplicity to services

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• Left England in the early 1600s because of
  profound religious differences
• Set up a colony in Massachusetts Bay
• Colonial government was a theocracy (church
  state)
• Religious laws civil laws

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• Ministers had unofficial authority, but
  profound importance
• Only male members of the church could vote.
• Outsiders were not welcome if they wanted to
  stay they had to convert to Puritanism
• Puritans were very nosy, always checking to be
  sure their neighbors were being good Puritans

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7 tenets of 17th Century Puritanism

• 1. Absolute Sovereignty of God God rules all
  things.

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7 tenets of 17th Century Puritanism

• 2. Predestination everything has been decided by
  God beforehand

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7 tenets of 17th Century Puritanism

• 3. Providence God directly intervenes in this
  world

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7 tenets of 17th Century Puritanism

• 4. Natural Depravity Since Adams fall, all men
  are born in sin and deserve damnation

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7 tenets of 17th Century Puritanism

• 5. Doctrine of the Elect Through Gods mercy a
  few are saved by Gods grace alone not by own
  efforts.

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7 tenets of 17th Century Puritanism

• 6. Evil is Inner Man needs to reform himself,
  not institutions

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7 tenets of 17th Century Puritanism

• 7. God is revealed in the Bible