Literature of the usa. Colonial period literature

Cotton Mather, the author of 1702 “Magnalia Christi Americana” (“Ecclesiastical History of New England”) in the late 1600s, or of Jonathan Edwards (Calvinism defender) in the mid-1700s, were often highly intellectual discussions of theology, responding to arguments in the English church. These were not inevitably dry, sterile lectures. Edwards’ famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” for example, was full of imagery and passion. John Woolman, a Quaker, left a record of his innermost thoughts in his “Journal” (published in 1774). The work reflects his deep faith in the “Inner Light”. According to Quaker’s belief, the light is God’s spirit and exists in every human being.

Poetry

The Puritan notion that God should be seen in every phase of daily life also gave rise to poetry. Anne Bradstreet published a volume of fine poems, chiefly religious meditations, in 1650. Edward Taylor, who wrote at about the same time but did not publish his poems during his life, used imagery in the same bold, witty, original way as did English religious poets John Donne and George Herbert. These writers were known as the “Metaphysical” poets. Taylor’s poems belong to the literary tradition of the individual focusing on his interior life. Anne Bradstreet’s poems represent yet another important element of American literature: From the beginning, women were active literary figures in the New World. Michael Wigglesworth, another important colonial poet, achieved wide popularity with his poem “The Day of Doom” (first published in 1662). It gives the description of the day of judgment.