Chapter Puritan Poetry in New England of Index by Simonds History of American Literature

The reply is heard that Adam stood not for himself alone, but for all mankind; that had he done well instead of ill, all would have shared in his benefits -- nor would they have then protested that they deserved not to share therein, on the ground now urged. The inexorable Judge does, however, yield a point in mercy to the children and infants:--

"Yet to compare your sin with their
   who lived a longer time,
I do confess yours is much less,
   though every sin's a crime.

"A crime it is, therefore in bliss
   you may not hope to dwell;
But unto you I shall allow
   the easiest room in Hell.
The glorious King thus answering,
   they cease and plead no longer:
Their consciences must needs confess
   his reasons are the stronger."

Much of Wigglesworth's vision is too lurid to be described here; such raw strength as he applied in painting the details of his fiery picture but intensifies the horror of it and increases our wonder that such conceptions could have prevailed.

Puritan Types.

It is interesting to remember that at the very time when the Malden minister was writing his Day of Doom, John Milton was engaged upon the real epic of Puritan faith, one of the masterpieces of all literature. Paradise Lost was published in 1667. It was but a decade thereafter that John Bunyan completed his beautiful religious allegory, Pilgrim's Progress. But the Puritanism of New England -- its narrowness and hardness no doubt intensified by the isolation and, perhaps, the depression incident to life in a comparatively rude and struggling colony -- was represented by the zealot, Michael Wigglesworth, with his sing-song verse, and the stern ascetic Cotton Mather, with his laborious and often fantastic prose. It was eminently fitting that when Wigglesworth died in 1705, the author of the Magnalia should have preached his funeral sermon. The two stand appropriately together. They taught the same doctrine; and in their two great representative works they exhibit the literary attainment of Colonial America in the seventeenth century.

Suggestions for Reading.

The following books will be found especially helpful for reference and for supplementary reading: John Fiske's Old Virginia and her Neighbours; Beginnings of New England; George P. Fisher's The Colonial Era (American History Series); R.G. Thwaites's The Colonies (Epochs of American History). The one authoritative work on early American literature is Moses Coit Tyler's monumental History of American Literature during Colonial Times (2 vols.); for teachers and advanced students of the subject Professor Tyler's books are invaluable. In Stedman and Hutchinson's Library of American Literature are to be found extended selections from the works of all these early writers; this excellent Library should be in every school, and in constant use for illustration during the course.

The series of Old South Leaflets (published by the Old South Historical Society, Boston, Massachusetts) contains reprints of various papers of interest, notably: A Description of New England, by John Smith (No. 121). Manners and Customs of the Indians (from the New English Canaan), by Thomas Morton (No. 87). The Lives of Bradford and Winthrop, by Cotton Mather (No. 77). Bradford's Memoir of Brewster (No. 48). Roger Williams' Letters to Winthrop (No. 54). Bradford's History of the Plimoth Plantation, with a report of the proceedings incident to the return of the manuscript to Massachusetts, was printed and published by the State at Boston, in 1901. The lives and times of Francis Higginson, Anne Bradstreet, and Cotton Mather have been presented in recent interesting biographies. The Scarlet Letter, by Hawthorne, F.J. Stimson's King Noanett, Mary Johnston's To Have and to Hold, with other standard works of fiction dealing with this colonial period, may be read with great advantage also.

A CHRONOLOGICAL REVIEW OF AMERICAN LITERATURE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY	HISTORICAL EVENTS.	LITERATURE IN VIRGINIA.	LITERATURE IN NEW ENGLAND.			LITERARY EVENTS IN GREAT BRITAIN.
Historical and Descriptive.		History, Journals, and Diaries.	Theology and Controversy.	Poetry.
King James I.	Smith's True Relation,	Bradford's History of			Milton born, 1608.
(1603-25.)	1608.	Plymouth, 1607-46.			Bacon's Essays, 1612.
Charles I. (1625-49.)	Strachey's Narrative of	Winthrop's History of			Raleigh's History, 1614.
Comm'wealth. 1649-60.	the Wreck, 1610.	New Eng., 1630-49.			Shakespeare