AMERICAN COLONIAL PERIOD AND PURITAN
LITERATURE
Puritan
• it refers to any written work that follows
a basic grammatical structure. This
stands out from works of poetry, which
follow a metrical structure.
• It is characterized by its straightforward,
ordinary syntax and is the most
common mode of expression in
literature, encompassing novels, essays,
and everyday communication.
PROSE EXAMPLES OF PROSE
Textbooks
Lectures
Novels
Short Story
Fairy tales
News Paper
Articles Essays
COLONIAL PERIOD 1607-1776
The Beginning of American Literature
PURITAN LITERARURE
• A religious focus and simple style of
writing.
• PILGRIMS- A person who journeys
to a sacred place for religious
reasons.
• Puritan Literature The first book
publish in the Puritan Colonies was
Bay Psalm Book (1640).
COLONIAL LITERATURE IN AMERICA
• In its earliest days, during the 1600'
s, American literature consisted
mostly of practical nonfiction
written by british settlers who
populated the colonies that would
become the United States.
It was often in the form of nonfiction
prose, literary works were mostly:
Letters
Journals
Autobiography
Sermons
Memoirs
Most well known Writers of the
American Colonial Period and their
central Genres on this period
ANNE BRADSTREET (1612-1672)
Aphorism Anne Bradstreet
• first woman to be recognized as an
accomplished New World Poet.
• She wrote about her life, faith, and
struggles as a Puritan woman and a
poet in the 17th century.
JOHN WINTHROP (1588-1649)
• English Puritan lawyer and one of
the leading figures in founding the
Massachusetts Bay Colony.
• First governor of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony, the
chief figure among the Puritan
founders of New England.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706-1790)
Captivity Narrative
• American polymath who was
active as a writer, scientist,
inventor, statesman, diplomat,
printer, publisher, and political
philosopher
 • One of the Founding Fathers of
the United States, a drafter and
signer of the Declaration of
Independence, and the first
postmaster general.
WILLIAM BRADFORD (1590-1657)
• Journal Governor of the Plymouth
colony for 30 years, who helped shape
and stabilize the political institutions of
the first permanent colony in New
England.
• left an invaluable journal chronicling
the Pilgrim venture, of which he was a
part.
JONATHAN EDWARDS (1703-1758)
• Lyric Poem greatest theologian and
philosopher of British American
Puritanism, stimulator of the religious
revival known as the “Great Awakening,
” and
• one of the forerunners of the age of
Protestant missionary expansion in the
19th century.
PHILIP freneau 1752-1832
• Narrative Poem American poet, essayist,
and editor, known as the “ poet of the
American Revolution. ”
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH (1580-1631)
• Satirical Essay was an English soldier,
explorer, colonial governor, admiral of
New England, and author.
• played an important role in the
establishment of the colony at
Jamestown, Virginia, the first
permanent English settlement in North
America, in the early 17th century.
phillis wheatley (1753-1784)
• Sermon Phillis Wheatley was an
American author who is considered the
first African-American author of a
published book of poetry.
• Colonial literature focused on topics,
which were to some extent outdated for
Europeans.
SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY
GOD Written by: Jonathan Edward
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
• prominent American theologian and
preacher during the First Great
Awakening, a religious revival that
swept through the American colonies in
the 18th century.
• born in East Windsor, Connecticut, into
a family of theologians and scholars.
• became a minister and began preaching
in Northampton, Massachusetts.
• gained recognition for his powerful and
vivid sermons, emphasizing the
sovereignty of God
• he is considered one of the most
significant figures in American religious
history.
• His most famous sermon, "Sinners in
the Hands of an Angry God, " is a vivid
portrayal of the horrors of hell and the
urgency of repentance. Despite his
intense style,
• He later became involved in the
missionary effort to Native Americans.
FIRST GREAT AWAKENING
The First Great Awakening was a religious
revival that swept through the American
colonies in the 1730s and 1740s. It emphasized
a personal connection with God,
Key figures like George Whitefield and Jonathan
Edwards played significant roles in spreading
these ideas, contributing to shifts in religious
and social dynamics in colonial America.
• One key aspect of the First Great
Awakening was its challenge to
established religious authority
• The Awakening had far-reaching social
consequences. It fostered a sense of
shared experience among colonists,
cutting across regional and class divides.
• a precursor to the spirit of
independence that would later
characterize the Revolutionary period.
• The First Great Awakening also
influenced education.
As people sought to deepen their
understanding of faith, there was an
increased emphasis on literacy and
education
• First Great Awakening "Sinners in the
Hands of an Angry God"
✓ is a famous sermon by Jonathan
Edwards, delivered in 1741 during
the Great Awakening, a religious
revival in colonial America.
✓ Edwards emphasizes the concept
of God' s wrath and the precarious
position of sinners dangling over
the fiery pits of Hell.
✓ Using vivid imagery and strong
language, he aims to evoke fear
and repentance in his audience,
urging them to turn to God for
salvation.
✓ The sermon is a powerful example
of the fire-andbrimstone
preaching style common during
the Great Awakening, emphasizing
the urgency of seeking
redemption.
✓ Sinners in the Hands of and Angry
God overview SINNERS IN THE
HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
Preached at Enfield, Connecticut
on July 8, 1741,
✓ this is perhaps the greatest
sermon ever preached in
America—and is certainly among
the most well known.
✓ His intense hatred of sin and the
sinner, it is also one of the most
controversial.
✓ Indeed, for more than three-
quarters of the sermon Edwards
lays down a relentless stream of
the most vivid and horrifying
descriptions of the danger facing
unregenerate men
• God is all-powerful; he can destroy the
sinner as effortlessly as a human being
can crush a worm or cut a spider ’ s
silken thread.
• The wicked deserve damnation; divine
justice calls out for the sinner to be cast
into hell.
• The wicked, moreover, have already
been condemned by God’ s righteous
justice; their proper place is hell.
• They are objects of the same divine
wrath that the damned already suffer in
hell; in fact, God is angrier with many
alive than those already enduring the
flames of eternal torment.
• Satan stands ready to seize the wicked
as soon as God permits him; hell opens
its maw to receive sinners, and demons
gather like hungry lions to devour them.
• Within the souls of wicked men are
hellish principles that would burst into
hellfire and consume them if God did
not temporarily prevent it. Man ’ s
corruption is boundless in its fury and
would incinerate his soul without God’ s
restraint.
 • Even if no means of death are visible, remembered as a day of remarkable vengeance
this should not give comfort to the by others. God’ s spirit is now pouring out over
wicked. The natural means of death are the land, as it did during the time of Christ’ s
innumerable and usually unseen; God apostles, and He is hastily gathering in those
does not need a miracle to destroy who will be saved. Those who reject the gift of
those whose wickedness offends Him. grace will be blinded and cut down, like a tree
• Prudence and care cannot protect that refuses to bring forth good fruit. The
human beings from the wrath of God; sermon closes with an admonition recalling the
their wisdom avails no security. faithful Hebrews who fled Sodom when God
• Humans, assuming their cleverness will turned against its wicked inhabitants: “Haste
enable them to escape damnation, and escape for your Lives, look not behind you,
delude themselves as to their eternal escape to the Mountain, least you be
prospects. If we could hear a miserable consumed” (641).
sinner bewailing his fate in hell, he
would lament that death came suddenly
and unseen, like a thief outwitting him,
and he would ruefully curse his own
foolishness.
• God has never promised to keep sinful
(or “ natural”) man out of hell for one
moment. The only promise of salvation
is that secured by Christ’ s sacrifice,
known as the covenant of grace, which
applies only to the faithful who accept
Christ as Savior and are reborn within
Him. Prayers and good works can avail
nothing regarding salvation; only
submission to Christ can save human
beings from damnation.

CONCLUSION

The sermon concludes with Edwards ’ s urgent

appeal that his listeners take advantage of the
extraordinary opportunity now afforded them
of coming to Christ. A day of mercy is at hand,
and many are flocking into the kingdom of God
from the surrounding towns, even Suffield,
Enfield’ s neighbor. Edwards addresses the town
’ s elderly, young adults, and children in turn,
urging each group not to neglect the precious
season of redemption. This day is one of favor
and forgiveness for some but will be