Writing Styles in the Puritan Time Period :: essays research papers

In American Literature, the period of the Puritans sticks out as a timewith many ample authors. Two, William Bradford and Reverend JonathanEdwards are still studied today. Bradford was an author who wrote aboutthe historical section of Puritan life, while Edwards was a great speakerwho wrote sermons to give in front of his congregation. Although livingin the same time period Reverend Jonathan Edwards and William Bradforduse very different fashions of writing.In writing, praise and prevalent living the Puritans favour the ordinaryand simple. William Bradford wrote in what is considered the plainstyle. This form of writing was used by many Puritan authors and wasthought to be direct and to the point. The plain style consisted ofsimple sentences and everyday used language. It never had figures ofspeech and especially not any imagery. A full(a) example of this style isfound in the passage from Bradfords Of Plymouth Plantation, "They begannow to benefit in the small harvest th ey had, and to fit up their housesagainst winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and hadall things in good plenty." William took this otherwise exciting story ofthe Puritans first winter and wrapped it all into one monotonoussentence. Bradfords word choice epitomized the plain style and thatwas all the Puritan society would aver or hear until Jonathan Edwards.The Reverend Jonathan Edwards chose a style expressing his concerns muchmore creatively than his fellow Puritan authors. Jonathans style wasalmost the complete opposite than the plain style. He used many figuresof speech and metaphors. An example of one of these fiery metaphors is from his speech,Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God , "The God that holds you over thepit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect overthe fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked." Reverend Edwards wascomparing God and man to someone holding a spider over a fire. Anotherexcellent illustration of this vivid description is from the same speech,"O sinner Consider the fearful danger you are in It is a great furnaceof wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that youare held over in the hand of that God." This shows that Reverend Edwardsalso used these figures of speech to strike fear in his audience. He usedthis fear factor to make the "natural men" of his audience, trulyunderstand the horror of their sins. This style of writing differed so