Primary Document Report

Name: Bob Sudduth

Date: March 2, 2009

Title of Document: [Poem, on religious ignorance, pride & avarice] American Looking
Glass, No. 2: A POEM on Religious Ignorance, to the Young Candidates, that set out in the
works of ministry for the sake of money only, under the denomination of IGNATUS.

Date of publication: 1820

Source (please be specific): American Broadsides and Ephemera, Series I from the
Archive of Americana
Original author: Whitcomb, Chapman, 1765-1833
http://0-infoweb.newsbank.com.wncln.wncln.org/iw-
search/we/HistArchive?p_action=doc&p_product=ABEA&p_queryname=21&p_theme=abea&p
_docid=10F453CAEA821480&p_docnum=3&p_nbid=N55E57ATMTIzNTk1NDU1OC45MzU
0MDk6MToxMjoxMjguMTA5LjQ4LjI&s_lastqueryname=&f_federated=true

Brief Explanation of Document: This is a satirical poem examines some possible

motivation for an educated, young man to enter the clergy.

Possible uses for research paper or lesson plan: Allows students to examine
popular, informal literature, and the uses of satire as a rhetorical device.

How does this document relate to other documents: This poem is far less
formal and stodgy than many other documents. Political, social, and religious literature are often
humorous, apparently nonsensical, biting, or ambivalent.