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Religion In Early American Literature

            In American Literature, the period of the Puritans sticks out as a time with many great authors. Two authors that stands out the most is William Bradford and Reverend Jonathan Edwards. Bradford was an author who wrote about the historical section of Puritan life, while Edwards was a great speaker who wrote sermons to give in front of his congregation. Although living in the same time period Reverend Jonathan Edwards and William Bradford used very different styles of writing.
             Jonathan Edwards was a powerful speaker. He made his audience feel the words that he spoke. An example of this is in his speech, "Sinners in the hands of and angry God" when he says ".hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain lay hold of them and swallow them up." Jonathan's speeches influenced the lives of many people. His congregations feared sinning. They fainted and cried at his services. Edwards was one of the pastors who were greatly involved in the Great Awakening. He spoke most of his sermons during this time and people listened. Jonathan Edwards author of "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" expresses his feelings in a story that tells God is not a man to mess with and that we are all bad people that are condemned to eternal damn nation. There is no way to become saved unless we are born-again, he uses this to persuade people to convert back to Puritanism and this worked for a small amount of !.
             people.
             In writing, praise and everyday living the Puritans favored the ordinary and simple. William Bradford wrote in what is considered the 'plain style.' This form of writing was used by many Puritan authors and was thought to be direct and to the point. The plain style consisted of simple sentences and everyday used language. It never had figures of speech and especially not any imagery. A good example of this style is found in the passage from Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation, "They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all things in good plenty.


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