Puritanism in american literature assignment

Winthrop was considered to be a contributor to the concept of American exceptionalism, the idea that the New World is unique to other countries by ideology based on laissez-faire and egalitarianism along with liberty. Winthrop has also portrayed that Puritans were neither visionaries nor self-conscious heroes. They were a part of society that believed in solid work such as building homes, trading, farming, and government. Anne Bradstreet was unique to authors of her time because her work had literary creativity and artistic merit and was written for literature.

In contrast, works of Winthrop and Bradford were written for historical purposes and to express their positions and political beliefs on certain positions. In England in 1650, some of Bradstreet’s poems compiled together by her brother-in-law who named them The Tenth Muse. The first of these poems was the Four Elements, which are fire, water, earth, and air. The Constitutions were the four temperaments of man kind as they were seen by medieval and Renaissance physiology, choleric, melancholic, phlegmatic, and sanguine.

Web. 18 Dec. 2011. “ PAL: American Puritanism: A Brief Introduction. ” California State University Stanislaus | Home. N. p. , n. d. Web. 18 Dec. 2011. . Renaissance, the, the Reformation. “ American Literature Lectures, Part I. ” Texas. Net Lonestar. N. p. , n. d. Web. 18 Dec. 2011. < http://lonestar. texas. net/~mseifert/amlit1. html> Signet, Theodore Dreiser. New York:, and 1964. 815-28.. “ The Influence of Puritanism on American Literature :: The Compulsive Reader :: A Haven for Book Lovers. ” Compulsive Reader. N. p. , n. d. Web. 18 Dec. 2011. .