The document summarizes early North American literature from the colonial period. It discusses how Puritan writings in New England reflected their religious worldview and focused on topics like sermons, biographies, and diaries rather than fiction. Notable Puritan writers mentioned include William Bradford, Anne Bradstreet, Cotton Mather, and Jonathan Edwards. Their works helped establish American identity and independence from British literature during a time of religious freedom and settlement of the new land.

1. North American LiteratureNorth American Literature
Colonial TimeColonial Time
In studying American literature, it is important to understand that
although similarities exist between English and American literary
styles, there are also great divergences.

2. After having been politically and culturally dominated by England, it became necessary for
Americans to develop a means of expression which could reflect Americans habits,
thoughts and ambitious. American society demanded a literature expressed in a new style.
American culture offered characteristics
which greatly differed from those of the
old cultures of Europe: democracy, the
frontier, and a new concept of humanity.
By its very nature, American society
lacked a definite structure about which
to write. Search for identity has always
been an outstanding trait in the
American literature.

3. It is necessity to remember that the American population has
never been homogeneous, since it is comprised of people of
European, African, and Asian ancestry. America has always been a
land in which one looked to the future for fulfillment of his
expectations.
The emphasis has been upon individualism, dynamism and
innovation, rather than upon moderation or respect for an
established social hierarchy.
American literature has always reflected the double consciousness of its parent
cultures and its own youthful ambition. Up to the first part of the twentieth century,
there had been a trend to avoid topics such as the imperfection of humanity or the
nation. The literature reflected the process of settlement, the conquering of a
continent, the growth of political, social and spiritual ideals.

4. Although trends do exist, American literature is by no means static. Its temperament
changes from decade to decade and it has been subjected to violent shocks through war,
economic changes and criticism generated by changes in the intellectual climate. The
sentiments of optimism and pessimism mix when America ideals find themselves
contradicted by reality.
• Gay Literature
• Survival Literature
• Jewish Literature

5. EARLY COLONIAL LITERATUREEARLY COLONIAL LITERATURE
The early literature was produced
by a God centered world. Literary
Englishmen believed that was first
among the disciplines of learning
and all events were ruled by Divine
Providence. Thus the writings
produced in the early colonial
period were fundamentally religious.

6. American culture and literature were derived from western European culture,
literature and civilization. The first English settlement in America was fortunate.
Thirteen colonies were spread along the Atlantic coast of the continent and this
caused great influence on the American language, ways of thought and civilization.
The first literary manifestations in America tell us the story of New England and
Virginia. Two main things forced the English toward America: material
improvement and religious freedom.

7. THE PLANTERSTHE PLANTERS
Their first writings about America came from the colony of Virginia which the British
had established around 1584. These writings were mostly advertising to attract more
English people to Virginia to establish to invest and explore the new colonies. These
first writings portrayed exactly what they saw in the new continent – descriptions of
geographic and economic conditions, the climate of the new land and some aspects of
indian life. Sometimes their works exaggerated the remarkable wealth of the land.

8. THE PURITANSTHE PURITANS
At the beginning of the 17th
century, a different kind of settler came to New England
attempting to escape from the religious persecutions in England. They, the Separatists,
now called Pilgrims, wished to purify the forms and rituals of the established Anglican
Church.
In 1620, the first group of
Protestants arrived in America
where they established Plymouth
Colony. Ten years later a second
group settled down in
Massachusetts Bay Colony. These
two colonies accepted religion as
law, custom and daily care. In
1691 they were joined to form a
single colony.

9. The First Literary WorkThe First Literary Work

10. PURITANISM AS A SCHOOL OF THOUGHTPURITANISM AS A SCHOOL OF THOUGHT
•Religious movement
•Prime mover: God, all powerfull
•Universe: God’s creation, handled by God
•Man: God’s creature, a source of temptation
•Attitude towards life: deterministic, everything was predetermined by God
•Man’s duty: faith, the glorification of God and preparation for after life, to read the bible
•Social attitude: obedience to authority
•Man’s destiny: election or reprobation

11. PURITAN LITERATUREPURITAN LITERATURE
Puritan Literature was a reflection of Puritan life; therefore it was connected with
religious matters. The Puritans literary writers produced mostly sermons, religious
poems, biographies, diaries and essays. They expressed the experience of building a
new land and the emotional and spiritual life of the individual. Their works were sober
and realistic and were written in plain style. These writers produced a more refined
type of literature. They made use of biblical analogies and allusions and of homely
expressions.

12. SOME WRITERS OF THIS PERIODSOME WRITERS OF THIS PERIOD
WILLIAM BRADFORD – like all puritans
historians, wrote with several guiding principles in
mind. No “one” thing could be more important than
the other because all things were under Divine
control. He was to tell every fact never stressing one
fact or minimizing the other.
Works: “The History of the Plymouth Plantation”
and “The Mayflower Compact”.
ROGER WILLIAMS – he was considered dangerous for
those who thought that uniform beliefs were essential to an
effective government. Because of his departure from
traditional Puritan beliefs he has a special place in early
American literature.
Work: “The Bloody Tenant of Persecution”

13. ANNE BRADSTREET – she wrote poetry and
prose, but it was in poetry that she could show
her best style with simplicity and erudition.
Works: “Contemplations”, “The Prologue”,
“Meditatios – For My Dear Son Simon
Bradstreet” and others.
COTTON MATHER – he is often blamed for
causing the fury if the witchcraft scare which led to
the trial and execution of nineteen citizens of Salem
in 1692. He wanted to prove with his work the
existence of devils and witches in New England.

14. JONATHAN EDWARDS – In the middle of the eighteenth century, when rigid
religious doctrines of the Puritans were beginning to give way to a practical idealism,
Jonathan Edwards attempted to bring back early American theology. Edwards’ religious
beliefs were deep-rooted in the ideas of John Calvin, who stressed the unquestionable
majesty of God over all things. It was Jonathan Edaward’s concept of a “Divine Light”
flowing from God through various aspects of nature that built the foundation for the
philosophy of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Asserting the presence of sin and evil in the world, Edwards
believed that it was the job of the preacher to depict for man
the horrors of the world of the devil. Hence, we have the
flaming scenes of hellfire and brimstone, the grotesque and
violent imagery of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”
Sermons of this type he felt were necessary to encourage his
parishioners to strive forever to receive the mystical,
wondrous grace of God. We can well imagine Edwards’
words leaping from the pulpit in Einfield, Connecticut where
they were first delivered, and searing the minds of their
frightened listeners.