Puritan Beliefs circa 1620

Omniscience of God: God is all-powerful and all knowing. Predestination: God has a plan already set out for all human beings. Divine Providence: God will intercede and reach in and save a person in a terrible situation. Waning of Affections: What is God’s to give is God’s to take away; do not fret over lost materials. Grace: Living in a state free from sin. Sin: Wrong doings against God’s commandments including adultery, using God’s name inappropriately, stealing, failing to obey one’s parents, failing to go to worship on Sunday, desiring the spouse and possessions of others, jealousy, murder. Divine Mission: the belief that Puritans were God’s chosen people to convert all non- Christians to the Christian faith. This will lead to the greatest fulfillment of their dream: the attainment of heaven. Heaven and Hell: Various places a soul might go for eternal rest after the human body died. Heaven is a place of beauty and serenity where Hell is a place of chaos and anarchy (fire and pain). Heaven and Hell were used in threats to maintain order with in the Puritan church. Judgment Day: the last day of the world when every man and woman will be judged by God.

*Puritans valued plainness- especially in religion. They desired to return Christianity to the simple forms of worship described in the New Testament. Additionally, they believed that the natural world was bad while the spiritual world was good.

Romanticism- Literature that glorifies nature and celebrates individuality. Developed in the early 1800s as a response to the formal, persuasive writings of the revolutionary era. Primarily fiction, this is the first uniquely American installation of story writing and poetry. Gothicism is a derivative of this literary movement. Requirements of Romantic Writing: 1) Writing reveals a subject that is emotional or moral instead of rational 2) Writing focuses on the creative, soul searching, and affectionate human 3) Writing is free of conventional form and proprietary responsibility