Grace Unmacht
ENH241, 7-2-09
Unknown Period Reflection

Researching the Puritanism period gave me a much better understanding of all the other literary periods. Puritanism was at the beginning, before all of the other periods. It was essentially the first literary period in the United States. Puritanism still affects our society’s moral views today. The views of conservative Americans now reflect many of the same ideas present in the Puritan period. Puritans were very superstitions and very religious. They believed that certain people were chosen to be with God.
This gives me a better understanding of how Enlightenment came out of the Puritan period. Enlightenment thinkers believed less in predestination and believed more in the power of each individual person. Instead of focusing on how religion effected everything, Enlightenment focused on how religion could be separate from other aspects of life, such as personal thought and expression.
Learning about Puritanism helped me learn more about certain literary themes. For example, self confidence in relation to literature makes much more sense after learning that during Puritanism, people didn’t seem to have much self confidence. They believed they had no agency over their own lives. The American Dream means more now that I know how badly the American People wanted to evolve away from British ways of thinking, which is where Puritanism came from in the first place. I can also say that I know more about identity as a literary theme. Puritans based their identity on God or society and the community as a whole. Enlightenment thinkers sought to find their own identities apart from God or society.
If I had studied this period, I probably would have chosen to research Anne Bradstreet, mainly because I am a poetry major and enjoy reading new poetry. Another reason I would have chosen her is because I would be interested to read work by a woman from this time period, as most writers were probably men. I would have selected “To My Dear and Loving Husband” because I just happen to like this poem. “Upon the Burning of Our House” would have been a possible choice as well.
The other author I would have chosen would be Michael Wigglesworth, again because I really love poetry. I really like his word choice and the phonics of his poetry. I would be open to studying any of his poems, but in particular I like “Vanity of Vanities” and “A Postscript unto the Reader”. I love Wigglesworth’s alliteration, repetition, and rhythm.