Puritanism Flashcards
background & context, "Huswifery", Phillis Wheatley, "In Memory of my Dear Grandchild"
How did Puritanism arrive to America?
1620: Mayflower set sail from Plymouth, England (with William Bradford and 101 other pilgrims plus crew). -> They ended up in Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts. (They migrated cause the English Reformation of the church in the 16th century still was not enough separation of the roman papal authority to them).
1630: John Winthrop led a group of about 700 settlers on 11 ships to the Massachusetts Bay Colony (Winthrop sailed on the lead ship: The Arabella).
What are the core elements of Puritanism?
- Absolute Sovereignty: Gott als oberste Macht
- Human Depravity: Erbsünde
- Predestination: Schicksal
- Individualism: Beziehung zu Gott
- Reading: Lesen der Bibel
What is “The Huswifery”’s major theme?
God working through the lyrical I (the spinning wheel) and thereby strengthening his connection to him.
What is the “The Huswifery”’s tone?
Deeply religious tone. -> “Make me, O Lord, Thy Spinning Wheel complete” -> a prayer or a sermon (sets the poem‘s tone).
Taylor‘s poem “The Huswifery” works by employing a conceit. Explain the conceit and its development throughout the poem.
weaving/spinning wheel
soul is raw material –> tools given by God -> weave your soul through
—> cloth more glorious than Holy Robes
IN DETAIL:
A conceit is a metaphor that is not being directly indicted with any signifying words, nor something that simply appears in one line of a poem. Instead, it is a theme that persists throughout the whole poem.
In Huswifery‘s case: The conceit is the spinning while representing the lyrical I. The lyrical I wants God to work through him to turn him into a good christian as well as to build the connection between him and God through work (noteworthy: The spinning wheel‘s various parts are mentioned -> means that humans have to give up every single part of themselves to God in order to be illuminated). Another part of the conceit is the material the spinning wheel is working on (representing the connection/relationship to God).
The conceit‘s development:
1.Stanza: The yarn is being worked on (stands for the affection/relationship to God).
2.Stanza: Focuses on the next step: The product, when the yarn is woven and colored, made to clothing that we are wearing (the relationship/connection to God that is eventually bestowed upon us).
3.Stanza: Amounts from yarn (first stanza), to cloth (second stanza), to holy robes.
The holy robes stand for the “perfect” connection to God, but also for the afterlife/heaven. If you are elected by God and if he therefore works through you, then you are a good Christian/Puritan. Furthermore, you will be rewarded with what‘s to come: Illumination as well as afterlife/heaven.
What are Puritan elements you can identify in “Huswifery“?
- The individual connection to God (Individualism & Reading)
- Sovereignty and Providence: God is always in control and our deeds are his will. He works through us if he elects us. Which will make him illuminate and save us.
Background information important to the poem “On Being brought from Africa to America”:
- Wheatley (author) was an African slave that was sold to a tailor in Boston.
- The poem is about her personal experience of enslavement and the religious beliefs that freed her.
- 4 years after her arrival in Boston: She had already mastered English and was reading the classics in Greek and Latin.
- At 13: She wrote her first poems under the title “Various Subjects, Religious and Moral” (continued writing until she died with 31 in 1784).
What is Wheatley‘s role in the history of American literature?
Founded 3 distinct intellectual movements:
* The American poetic tradition
* The black literary tradition
* The women‘s literary tradition
How can you interpret the poem “On Being brought from Africa to America”? Can the poem be read ironically?
- sarcastic
- words like “Pagan” put in italics
IN DETAIL: She ironically states that the Christians brought her from her pagan land to a more enlightened one that knows best about God, a land that can save her soul.
-> Indicator for her sarcasm: She puts words like “Pagan” in italics -> She emphasizes that Pagans are in no way inferior to Christians, but instead rather superior, since their religion is much older than Christianity. -> So her apparently being brought to America to have her soul saved is nonsense.
-> another ironic remark: “Black as Cain” (as if they were the children of Abel and the blacks are religiously inferior).
What does the poem “On Being brought from Africa to America” criticise?
That Christians think of themselves as the one and only people enlightened in a religious sense and legitimize their racism against blacks with this as well, even though their religion is not even the oldest one and therefore factually not superior.
Which role do oppositions play in “On Being brought from Africa to America”?
See Children Abel vs Children of Cain
Africa vs. America: Symbolises spiritual ignorance vs. redemption through Christianity.
“Sable race” vs. “angelic train”: Contrasts racial discrimination with the shared potential for salvation.
Where else have we seen this binary before (Christians and Pagans) as well as using the story of Cain?
In Beowulf: The pagans (the children of Abel) vs Grendel (the child of Cain).
-> They were coping with the fact that their ancestors weren‘t christians by saying that even back then as Pagans, they were already good/christian people by fighting Cain‘s child, Grendel.
About Bradstreet:
- Most important female author of the puritan times
- Among the most prominent english writers in the North American colonies to be published
- was important for the puritan belief because she discussed everlasting states, eternity, the loss of love and how to deal with it etc.
-> She made use of: Elegiac Tradition -> Elegies are poetic responses to death that commemorate and console, meditate upon loss and morality and express grief and other emotions linked to bereavement. -> Usually turns from grief and sorrow to praise and admiration of the realized dead.
What shifts in tone between stanzas are there in “In Memory of my Dear Grandchild” and what function do they have?
The first stanza begins with a repetition of the the words “farewell” and “babe”, establishing that the lyrical I is saying goodbye to her child. It sets a rather sad tone and ends with the notion that despite it being tragic, there is still something encouraging about divinity.
The second stanza begins with the lyrical I elaborating how in nature, things like apples, plants or corn, do come to an end, but not before they are fully mature. This creates tension, tressing that unlike them, a child had been ripped from life before its time. It also changes the imagery in comparison to the first stanza.
A shift occurs in the end of the second stanza, when the lyrical I states that the child‘s demise was God‘s plan, making all of this fine in a way (sovereignty). This could be read as an encouraging end-note.
