Every culture reveres their Gods in different customs and ways. As people read the works of authors who have written down these customs people have come to understand the group of people that it is written about. In colonial literature those authors all had basic ideas of their God. They all view a kind sympathetic God that may turn ruthless, a god within their daily lives, and an ultimate destination.
God is portrayed almost like a person in the fact that he has his moods and can be kind or angry when provoked. God is giving when he is kind like in Bradstreet’s poem “To My Dear and Loving Husband”. Once her and her husband have passed on she hoped that “The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray”(Bradstreet 10). She wanted God to give them a place in heaven in which they could celebrate their love forever. With God being so kind he was also generous to some. Anne Bradstreet hoped that he would bestow this kindness upon her when she said “Yet by his gift is made thine own/ theres wealth enough, I need no more”(Bradstreet 50-51). If God was provoked or ignored he could turn his anger upon the poor people “The wrath of God is like great waters that are damned for the present; they increase more and more, and rise higher and
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“The world no longer let me love/ My hope and treasure lies above” (Bradstreet 53-54) is Anne Bradstreet’s thought on her ultimate destination from the poem “Upon the Burning of Our House July 10th, 1666”. Customs in cultures are passed down from one generation to another in which they be changed or differed to fit the new and changing times. higher, till an outlet is given”(Edwards 41). Once they reach the golden gates above though he states that all people are to be judged on their behavior. In the poem “Song of the Sky Loom” they have compared piece of clothing with a day in which they work for nature with their tired backs. And in the poem “Hunting Song” nature provides for a hunter by giving him the gift of a swift kill of a deer. “Then mine apparel shall display before ye/ That I am Clothed in Holy robes for glory”(Taylor 17-18) was his way for getting ready for the day in which God shall come, because the Puritans wanted to be in a state of grace which is being rid of all sins and impure feelings like jealousy, anger, and lust. “However you may have reformed your life in many things and have had religious affections and may keep up a form of religion in your families and closets, and in the house of God, may be strict in it”(Edwards 41-42). Within these customs is religion, which over the years has gotten looser than what the puritans had gone through. Jonathan Edwards was a preacher that was trying to get people to be reborn again in the holy church. Today’s religions have varied greatly from what they used to be.
A kind but vengeful deity, a God in daily life, and an ultimate destination are what colonial literature is classified by when compared to other time periods. They had help from God in the many hard and lasting tasks like when Bradford sailed with the Pilgrims to Massachusetts in his book, Of Plymouth Plantation. “they resolved to bear up again for the Cape and thought themselves happy to get out of those dangers before night overtook them, as by God’s good providence”(Bradford 19).
In the colonial period people thought that god was within every thing that they did.
Approximate Word count =
863
Approximate Pages =
3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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