Puritan Poetry Puritanism as Seen

Puritan Poetry

Puritanism as Seen in the Poetry of Anne Bradstreet and Michael Wigglesworth's "The Day of Doom"

The Puritans, for all of their iconic status as religious stuffed shirts with buckles on their hats and a penchant for punishment, are not an especially well understood group of people today. The mental image many have of a tough and even bitter group of people who were devout to the point of hypocrisy is partially true, and there are some extreme individual examples that have given rise to this conception, but for the most part they were simply a group of pioneers trying to make their way in a new and uncultivated land, as human as any of the rest of us. This is not to suggest that religion did not play an important role in Puritan ideals and their way of life; their faith was, indeed, the impetus for their emigration and without a doubt the definitive factor in the organization of their society. This does not mean that the Puritans had a single vision of religion or the specifics of its governance over human expression, however.

On easy way to illustrate this is by examining the works of two Puritan poets, both of whom have found their way into the canon of American poetry for their exemplification of this earliest period of the genre, if not for the unique qualities of their talents and poetic voices. Anne Bradstreet wrote many short poems reflecting on her life and love, all of which show the pervasiveness of religious thought in Puritan society through constant allusion, direct references, and comparison to scripture and Puritan doctrine. For all of this, though, Bradstreet still manages to strike a light tone when suitable. Michael Wigglesworth's epic "The Day of Doom," however, is strident and incredibly dark. An examination of tone and style in these two poets' work reveals that full expression of Puritan ideals required a true enjoyment of religion and the world.

The first and most obvious issue that shows the differences in spirit with which these two writers undertook their creation of poetry is their choice of subject matter. Anne Bradstreet wrote on a variety of subjects, and true to the Elizabethan tradition that she can clearly seen as a part of her titles are incredibly descriptive, allowing just the mention of several of these to become and adequate illustration of Bradstreet's topical breadth: "The Author to her Book," "In Reference to Her Children," "Upon Some Distemper of Body," and "The Vanity of All Worldly Things" illustrate the poet's thoughts on a multitude of subjects that pertained to Puritan life. She has poems that warn, though she always stops short of outright condemnation; poems that contain the overflows of joy and love; poems that are meant to instruct, or lament, and every other human emotional response that typically finds expression in poetry.

Wigglesworth's "The Day of Doom," however, is a book-length poem on one very serious, very dark, and very depressing topic. To be fair, any poetic reflection on the final day of humanity on this world and the ensuing destruction would necessarily be dark and depressing, but the obsessive and beyond-exhaustive single-mindedness of Wigglesworth's poem -- traits now largely attributed to the Puritans as a whole -- is beyond the pale. Not only is it a poor reflection of full Puritan beliefs, but it has detrimental effects on the quality f the poem. The rigidity in subject matter is matched by a rigidity in the stylistic elements of the poem the severely diminish the quality of the poem despite the obvious brilliance of the mind that created it.

The first section of the poem is sufficient for demonstrating the reduction in quality brought on by the rigid mentality of Wigglesworth's that reflects an extreme form of Puritan beliefs. First, his use of rhyme is incredibly heavy, and quickly becomes awkward and intrusive:

Ye sons of men that durst contemn the Threatnings of Gods Word,

How cheer you now? your hearts, I trow, are sthrill'd as with a sword.

(stanza 8)

The internal rhyme in the odd numbered lines of each stanza, especially when coupled with the end rhyme in the even numbered lines (this pattern repeats in the second half of the stanza), gives the poem a condescending feel as though it is an instruction for children, while at the same time hammering itself into the mind of the reader in an obsessive manner. The complete lack of enjambment strengthens this effect, especially when reading the poem out loud.

In comparison to this, Bradstreet's sometimes stilted rhyme comes out very favorably. In one of her most well-known poems, "To My Dear and Loving Husband," even her twelve straight lines of rhyming couplets do not seem as oppressive as the rhymes utilized by Wigglesworth. The final couplet of this poem is indicative of the rest: "Then while we live, in love let's so persever / That when we live no more, we may live ever" (lines 11-12). Not only does the rhyme not feel as heavy, but it is also used to reinforce the logic of the line, tying the ideas together and presenting a meaningful analysis and interaction with the situation described in the poem. This is clear in the construction of the other couplets of the poem, as well. Wigglesworth's rhymes appear blindly conventional; Bradstreet's have a more definite purpose.