Puritanism

Puritan Beliefs• Humanity damned for all eternity

• Only certain people (the “elect”) could be saved

• Did not know if they were one of the saved (the “elect”) or one of the damned (the “unregenerate”)

• Bible was the literal word of God

• God’s grace was obvious by outward behavior

• Valued- self-reliance, industriousness, temperance, and simplicity

Puritan Writing

Diaries, histories, & sermons

Favored Plain Style- a way of writing that stresses simplicity and clarity of expression.

Poetry TermsDiction- writer’s choice of words.Repetition-repeating of a word or

phrases to create a specific effect.Rhyme Scheme- pattern of end rhyme

in a poem.Example:In silent night when rest I took

For sorrow near I did not lookI wakened was with thund’ring noiseAnd piteous shrieks of dreadful voice.

Rhyme Scheme: aabb

Rhythm- rise & fall of voice produced by the alternation of stresses and unstressed syllables

Assonance- repetition of similar vowel sounds.

Example: The tide rises, the tide falls

Alliteration-repetition of beginning consonant sounds

Example: Sally sold sandwiches at the sea shore

Couplet-Two consecutive rhyming lines of poetry

Example: If ever wife was happy in a man,Compare with me, ye women, if you can.

Simile-a figure of speech that makes an explicit comparison between two unlike things, using a word such as: like, as, than, or resembles.

Metaphor-a figure of speech, comparison between two unlike things without using specific words like, as, than, and resembles.

Types: Implied metaphor -does not state explicitly- “I like to see it lap the Miles”

Extended Metaphor- a metaphor that is extended or developed throughout a poem, stanza, paragraph, or story.

Dead Metaphor- a metaphor that has been used so often that the comparison is no longer vivid- “The head of the house”

Mixed Metaphor- a metaphor that has gotten out of control and mixes its terms so that the images are incompatible. “The president is a lame duck who is running out of gas.”