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LIT NAL by LAB.pdf


Apuntes Lit Na (primera Parte)

2º Literatura Norteamericana 1

Grado en Estudios Ingleses: Lengua, Literatura y Cultura

UNED - Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia


UNED - Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia

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totalidad.
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Summary of what to study for LIT NA 1st Part by LAB/IB/LG

1. JOHN SMITH 1580-1631


Works: A General History of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles 1624: From “The general history of Virginia, New England
and the Summer Isles” (Book III, Chapter 2)

Genre: Captive narrative (Travel and Settlement writing)

Beliefs: Religion: NONE /Manifest destiny: Europeans had the right to colonize

Moral: Success is measured by one’s ability to conquer.

Reliability: blends facts and fiction. Exaggerates dangers.

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
Influences: The main function of the quotation from Seneca is to demonize the inhabitants of the New World by presenting them
as devils.

Themes: The discovery and experience of the New World (nature and Natives; cultural conflicts between the American Indians and
the English; the exploration and settlement of North America; commercial and trading ties between the colonists and the Native
people)

Autobiographical elements: He narrates his own captivity. He was a soldier, explorer and adventurer. Shows his military
background. Shows he is well read with his quotes from Seneca. Justifies and defends himself. -Fusion of fact and fiction. Subjective
point of view. Facts are embellished, therefore distorted, and the interpretation of those facts is also distorted
Purpose and audience: Commercial goal/Early days English Colonization of America (wanted to convince people to come). NW
offered him the opportunity for financial gain and adventure. Used it to project a heroic image of him.
Focalization, point of view: Speaks of himself in 3rd person (create distance from events and to have more credibility).
Style: keep in mind back-ground and purpose (Diction/ tone/imagery/syntax): Tone: self-confident/heroic
Diction: formal and ornate w/lots of military jargon (bow, vambrance, quiver, bissom,…) Grand but clear and concise. Lofty and
dignified, Latinate words. Talk about periods/stops. Long well-structured sentences. Parallels with English hierarchy. Fast pace,
man of action.
Self representation/depiction: adventure story in which he represents the role of a hero, conquering distant and exotic lands in
the name of destiny and with clear political intentions. Proud. Justifies and defends himself.
Narrative mode: (description, speech, report, comment): description, report (actions) No direct or indirect speech
Period/Historical Context: Time of the first settlers in the New World. Creation of the Virginia Company and their first English
th
establishment on the American east coast at the beginning of the 17 c.
Rhetorical devices (metaphors/stereotypical characters..): Latin and Greek quotations (Seneca). Uses 3rd person narrative.

How he sees Indians: Savages, devils, beastly and threatening. But at the same time fascinated (an exceeding handsome show)

Representation of History: Complex relationship history & rhetoric (blends fact & fiction)

The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles (1624)

From “The general history of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles” (Book III, Chapter 2)
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The savages found Robinson and Ermy (captain Smith’s men) and slew them. They also found Captain Smith and took him near
the fire. When he asked for their captain, savages showed him Openchancanough, the King of Pamunkey. Smith gave him an ivory
compass dial. They remained marvelled with the gift. Still, this fact didn’t serve to avoid him being tied to a tree to be shot.
However, the King Openchancanough decided to take him to Orapaks, a temporary hunting village further inland where, following
their tradition, he was kindly feasted. He was taken over there held by each arm and being on each side six men in file, with their

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arrows ready to use. When he got to the village, all the women and children behold him. The soldiers who were around him
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started to perform the form of a bissom . After that, they started dancing, singing and yelling dressed and equipped as true
soldiers. In the meanwhile, Captain Smith stood just in the middle together with the King. He was afterwards conducted to a l ong
house where he was offered much more food that he could ever imagine. Then, they led him to many groups of the Powhatan
confederacy, and back again to Pamunkey. He was eventually conducted to Werowocomoco (Powhatan’s village) and presented
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him to their king (Powhatan), who was, together with his train , waiting for him in their best braveries . He was sat down covered
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with a robe made of raccoon and with a young wench in each side. There were also two rows of men and as many women
behind them, with their heads and shoulders painted red and a great chain of white beads around their necks. The Queen of
Apomattoc brought him water to wash his hands and another one brought him a bunch of feathers as a towel. They feasted him
and then, a consultation was held. He was condemned to death, but Pocahontas, Powhatan King’s dearest daughter, is willing to
sacrifice her life, taking his head in her arms and laying hers upon him.

--published in 6 books

--travel writing tradition (description and report of events)

-- Written with political intention: Reported and mapped his adventures, and his writings encouraged

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
colonization.

-- Written in third person, he presented himself in the role of hero, focusing attention on his exploits
and asserting his bravery.

The veracity of the episode in which Pocahontas (Powhatan´s daughter) supposedly saved he Captain´s
life is still in dispute because he never mentioned it in earlier versions of his captivity narrative (not until
1624). Pocahontas died in 1617 and her father in 1618 so there was no one to contradict the author.

--supports “manifest destiny”: the idea that America made manifest the destined expansion of
European civilization and therefore, the European had the right to colonize the whole American
continent.

Plot: Captain John Smith was captured by a large group of bowmen who had previously killed two of his
men, and who took him to areas inhabited by various tribes. At last, he was brought to Powhatan's
village, Werowocomoco, where he was treated alternately as an enemy and as a guest, and where
Pocahontas supposedly saved his life.

NATIVES: Describes events not characters: what they do/not what they are like

-No physical descriptions of whites but Indians are inferior, ignorant, savage, and brutish…. He briefly
refers to his captors' exotic physical appearance, focusing on the way they decorate their bodies (paint,
animal skins, feathers, shells, beads…)

–other derogatory terms applied to his captors: "savages", "grim courtiers" and explicitly compares
them to "devils" that utter "hellish notes and screeches". Later likens their dwellings to hell…..

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–Natives never presented engaging in conversation /expressing their thoughts, but "singing and yelling
out such hellish notes and screeches" and giving "a great shout".

–Gives the impression that the Natives were moody or temperamental, and totally unpredictable, so
that his original audience might easily understand why he was always unsure of his fate. They are
unreliable (sometimes bring gifts, sometimes attack).

– The changing attitudes of the Natives reinforced any existing prejudice about their mental instability,
unreliability and treacherous nature → presenting the Natives as potential betrayers never to be trusted
by the English.

Style: formal, ornate, with quotations from classical writers (Seneca) classical resources to demonise
natives and present them as devils and compare their dwellings to hell. ??

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
– Through choice of vocabulary (diction), readers perceive the author’s military training, which allowed
him to use technical terms, revealing that he is an expert in warfare. Use of military lexicon, technical
terms and words from Native language (weapons; arrows, bows, clubs, quiver of arrows, swords) and
how they move: in a snake like formation (bissom), in single file, and in a ring.

– Facing the unfamiliar in the New World, colonial writers had to explain it by relying on the familiar
(Captain Smith portrayed the tribesmen and their leaders ad if they were soldiers and officers in a
European army). Captain Smith deliberately focused his audience's attention on military order because
he wanted to make readers understand differences in rank and authority among his captors; he drew
parallelisms with European hierarchical positions.

- 3rd person singular (even though he is describing a personal experience) to distance himself from
narrative voice (1st person) and give the impression that his account of events objectively reflect what
happened. (1st person narratives are suitable to express subjective impressions and opinions but are less
effective that 3rd person narratives when authors want their statements to be accepted as if they were
universal truths). In other words, he omits the personal pronoun I and writes of himself in the third
person singular. (HE=SMITH). Typical of explorers of the time to do this.

-Fusion of fact and fiction. Subjective point of view. . Facts are embellished, therefore distorted, and the
interpretation of those facts is also distorted

Exploratory questions

1.The plot of the text in three sentences: Captain John Smith was captured by a large group of bowmen who had previously killed
two of his men, and who took him to areas inhabited by various tribes. At last, he brought to Powhatan’s village, Werowocomoc o,
where he was treated alternately as an enemy and as a guest, and where Pocahontas supposedly saved his life.

2.List the names of the individual people who are mentioned and write down any information provided by to notice how these
individuals portrayed: Captain Smith names the following individuals:

- George Cassen (line 1). Under torture, he told the bowmen that Captain Smith had gone up the river.

- Captain Smith (line 1). According to him, the bowmen who had killed Robinson and Emry did not dare to approach him
until he was paralyzed with cold in the middle of a small river. After being captured, he offered a dial to
Openchancanaough, the King of Pamunkey, and was honored and well fed. When he was brought into Powhatan’s
presence in the village of Werowocomoco, he was submitted to a ritual, in which he felt that his life had been at risk,
and after that he remained in Werowocomoco making tools for Powhatan.

- Robinson and Emry (line 4). They were shot with arrows and slain by the bowmen led by Openchancanough, the King of
Pamunkey.

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- Openchancanough (line 13). He was called “the King of Pamunkey” by Captain Smith. He conducted the 300 bowmen
who captured Captain Smith, received a dial from him, and held the Captain in custody until he delivered the prisoner to
Powhatan.

- Powhatan (line 51). He was called “the Emperor” by Captain Smith. This Native chief wore a great robe made of raccoon
skins (line 55).

- Queen of Appomattoc (line 62). Her real name, Opossunoquonuske, is not given in the excerpt. She was appointed to
bring Captain Smith water to wash his hands.

- Pocahontas (line 68). She was one of Powhatan’s daughters, aged sixteen or eighteen. According to Captain Smith’s
account, she took his head in her arms and laid her own head upon him to save him from death.

In this particular excerpt (pasaje), all the individuals whose names are mentioned are characterized by their actions rather
than by any detailed descriptions of their physical appearance.

3.List the derogatory terms applied to his captors: The author calls his captors “savages” (lines 1, 5, 9, and 25), “grim courtiers”

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
(line 52), and explicitly compared them to “devils” (line 50) that utter “hellish notes and screeches” (line 33). Such terms are
clearly derogatory.

4.The description of the captors: The author briefly refers to his captors’ exotic physical appearance, focusing on the way they
decorate their bodies with red paint, animal skins, feathers, pieces of copper, white shells, and chains of bed (lines 34-40 and 48-
60). As the writer never uses direct or reported speech in this passage, we only learn about his captors from what he says they did.
At no time are the Natives presented engaging in conversation or articulately expressing their thoughts, but “singing and yel ling
out such hellish notes and screeches” (lines 32-33) and giving “a great shout” (line 61).

5.List the instances in which Captain Smith is attacked and in which the Natives treat him as an honored guest.
There are three instances in which Captain Smith feels seriously threatened and three instances in which Captain Smith feels
seriously honored:
a) When he is attacked by the same bowmen who have killed two of his men and uses his guide as his shield (line 6).
b) When he is tied to a tree and is about to be shot with arrows (lines 18-19).
c) When he is dragged before Powhatan, and his head is placed on two great stones, while a number of people with clubs
seem to be ready to beat his brains out (lines 65-68).
On the contrary, Captain Smith receives help or feels honored as a valued guest:
a) When his captors pull him out of the icy bog (ciénaga), warm him up by rubbing his limbs by the fire (lines 10-12), and
admire the dial he offers to their leader (line 15).
b) When the armed captors lead him to Orapaks, to be “kindly feasted and well used” (line 22), and he is given a great
amount of food (line 43).
c) At Werowocomoco, in Powhatan’s presence, when the Queen of Appomattoc and someone else bring him water and
bunch of feathers to wash and dry his hands, and he is well entertained once more (lines 62-64).

6. The impression of the Natives Captain Smith tries to convey by his alternation of threats and compliments: The author
tried to give the impression that the Natives were moody or temperamental, and totally unpredictable, so that his original
audience might easily understand why was always unsure of his fate. Smith’s contemporary readers probably perceived such
behavior as primitive, extravagant and irrational. The changing attitudes ascribed to Natives reinforced and existing prejudi ce
about their mental instability, unreliability and treacherous (traicionero) nature. However, nowadays most readers tend to
question such negative about Native Americans, realise their plight (situación difícil), and feel inclined to sympathise with
them rather than with the invaders of their territories.

7. Terms related to the military background of Captain Smith: The author mentions the following weapons:

- Arrows. They are used by the bowmen to slay Robinson and Emry (lines 4-5). The bowmen lay down their arrows when
they refrain from shooting Captain Smith (line 20). On each side six men go in single file with their arrows nocked, that
is, fitted on the bowstring ready to use (line 26). The King makes his own arrows (line 73).

- Bows. The bowmen lay down their bows at a sign of their leaders (line 20). Each bowman dances with a bow in his hand
(line 37). The King makes his own bows (line 73).
- Pieces (fire-arms) and swords. When these weapons and turner over to Openchancanaough, Captain Smith implies that
they have been seized but are not being used by the bowmen who have captured him and killed his men (line 24).
- Quiver (funda) of arrows. Each bowman carries one (lines 33-34).
- Clubs (garrote). Each bowman carries a club at his back (line 34). Clubs seem about to be used to beat to Captain Smith’s
brains (line 67).
- Hatchets (hachas). The King makes his own hatchets (line 73).

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The author also describes very precisely how his captors moved, first in single file, then in a snakelike formation he calls
bissom, and later in a ring (lines 24-31), thus revealing that he is an expert in warfare, thanks to his military background.
8. Using common words in order to explain the New World: Facing the unfamiliar in the New World, colonial writers had to
explain it by relying on the familiar, that is, by fitting it into prior conceptualizations and representative modes they knew well.
Thus, Captain Smith portrayed the tribesmen and their leaders ad if they were soldiers and officers in a European army (lines 29-
30), and deliberately focused his audience’s attention on military order. Because he wanted to make readers understand
differences in rank and authority among his captors, he drew parallelisms with European hierarchical positions, and consequen tly
spoke about the King of Pamunkey, the Queen of Appomattoc, and the Emperor.

9. The main function of the quotation from Seneca: The main function of the quotation from Seneca (lines 49-50) is to demonise
the inhabitants of the New World by presenting them as devils, and by likening their dwellings to hell. Additionally, this me ntion of
hell –which can be linked to a previous reference to it in the phrase “hellish notes and screeches” (line 33)- underscores Captain
Smith’s predicament during his captivity.

10. The depiction of Captain Smith himself: Captain Smith’s account of his captivity can be examined as an autobiographical text
in which he construed himself as a brave hero with knight-like traits. That is account is authentic can neither be proven nor

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
conclusively denied, because of lack of independent testimony regarding the events he records. Among the decisive actions he
says he performed to save his life before he was captured are the true facts, or the imaginary feats, that he killed three of his
attackers and wounded many others before he slipped into the middle of a slimy creek (lines 6-9). He emphasizes his captors’ fear
of him (“all the rest would not come near him”, line 7), and declares that they did not approach him until he was too cold to
defend himself line (line 10). Then, he explains that he was clever enough to offer a dial to the leader of his captors, thus
provoking general admiration (lines 14-16). The references he makes to the repeated entertainment or feasting he receives from
his captors are indicative of his valued status (lines 22, 48, 64). At last, he seems convinced that Pocahontas had saved his life, but
does not explicitly indicate any actions on his part that may have prompted her to intervene. In short, although the author d epicts
himself as an intrepid, courageous, resourceful and proud hero, readers many perceive him as a consummate self-promoter, over-
confident and exaggeratedly boastful (presuntuoso).

11. Evidence used by Captain Smith to claim that he should not have been blamed for the deaths of the two colonists. : Smith
declares that he was not with John Robinson and Thomas Emry when the two Englishmen went ashore (instead of remaining in
the barge (barcaza), as they had been instructed), lit a fire, and were shot with arrows and slain by a group of bowmen (lines 4-5).
This passage clearly indicates that there was nothing Captain Smith could have done to prevent these two deaths. Furthermore,
the passages that follow reiterate his own helplessness during his capture.

12. The effect of the third-person singular narrative: Like other explorers of his time, Captain Smith refers to himself using the
third person singular because in The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles (1624) he wants to distance
himself from the narrative voice and give the impression that his account of events objectively reflects what happened. First-
person narratives are suitable to express subjective impressions and opinions, but are less effective than third-person narratives
when authors want their statements to be unanimously accepted as if they were universal truths .

13. The author clearly states that Pocahontas saved him from being clubbed to death. Would she have shown her willingness to
offer her own life in place of Smith’s in such a way? Would Powhatan and his men have yielded (ceder) to the girl’s wish to s ave
Captain Smith? How probable do you think the event was? Captain Smith needed a little bit of drama in order to make the story
stronger. Thus, the story does not only tell us how savage the Natives are, but also they can have a bit of humanity by “savi ng”
Captain’s Smith life. Moreover, as Captain Smith was supposedly saved, he would be seen as a poor victim who was almost to die
by a terrible group of Natives and his image of hero would be reinforced. This episode could well be a strategy of Captain Smith
himself to create a more convenient story.

14. Philip L. Barbour, the foremost modern Smith scholar, accepted the Pocahontas rescue story as true. He suggested that the
Captain might have misunderstood a ceremony of naturalization and adoption in which he w as symbolically killed and reborn
with the status of Powhatan’s sons. Pocahontas’ action would have been part of a ritual which Smith could not understand.
What do you think about this interpretation? Natives followed many rituals along their lives and transition rituals were quite
common in very important periods of their lives, such as the progress from childhood to adulthood. Different procedures are
found such us tribal tattoos, haircuts, piercings or dances in special robes. In my opinion, the only ritual that this event can be
considered is a ritual killing because the other kind of rituals are usually performed so that their effects (positive or negative)
works on the tribe members.

15. Pocahontas became a symbol to all Americans, representing wilderness reclaimed by civilization. She has inspired many
novels and poems. Why do you think that the legend of Pocahontas has achieved the status of a national myth? Comment on
the fact that Pocahontas’ gesture has been interpreted as a sign of the Native Americans’ submission to their English
conquerors: In Captain Smith times, the Natives were considered savages or even monsters that needed to be reeducated and to
be Christianized. Although, this way of thinking is now rejected and the position taken is to empathize with the past and current
Natives who suffered and have suffered the abuses of the “good New World”, Pocahontas is seen as sign of the Native American’s

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submission because she converted to Christianism, which means that she did not defend the Native language, culture, way of life
and way of thinking, and she put herself on the side on the New World.

16. After his liberation, Captain Smith became interested in the Natives’ languages and ways of life. In the passages above, does
he give any hints of his interest in the Natives’ customs? Evidently Captain Smith did not show any interest in Natives’ customs
after what happened to him. Furthermore, I am quite sure that the only reason why he was interested in the Native languages a nd
cultures before the event was to get closer to the Natives in order to get them submitted in an easy way. It is necessary to
remember that Captain Smith was in Virginia due to economic and commercial reasons, so the closer he was to the Natives, the
more possibilities he had the Natives to collaborate with him.

17. From the passages above, can you reach any conclusions about how Smith viewed contact between the two cultures? Did
he perceive the so-called “encounter” as an interaction on equal terms? Bear in mind the basic difference between facts (actual
events) and the author’s opinions (viewpoint, personal judgment and interpretation of facts): The encounter of the two cultures
was not equal. We need to have in mind that they although Captain Smith and his fellows were not in Virginia to Christianise the
Natives, they thought of them as inferiors, so, it can be said they acted following the valid moral at that time. Although th e Natives
were well-trained and knew the land, which were very important advantages for them, the English’ weapons and diseases and
resources bet them.

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
18. As a colonial writer, John Smith had to struggle to make his language depict a new world. What linguistic strategies did he
use? Note particularly the adaptation of the current English lexicon and the introduction of new vocabulary, restricted to a
number of concrete words derived from Native languages. If we take into consideration that languages reflect the surrounding
world of a people, we understand why Captain Smith had to borrow some Native words and change the meaning of some English
words. Furthermore, he made a lot of descriptions on this work to show the rest of the world how these Natives looked like an d
how they used to act. In addition, he uses many military and hierarchical words to make the new situation easier to be understood
by the English people.

19. According to Everett Emerson, Book III of The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles “is
characterized by richness and literary integrity, and it is full of incident and character.” Discuss this statement. It is quite known
that Captain Smith used to merge fact and fiction in his works so it is not to be said this book can’t be characterized as li terary
integrity. On the contrary, the book is full of incident and character because Captain Smith is got as a captive by the Natives and at
the same time, it is showed how brave the Captain was and how savage and unpredictable the Natives were.

20. Captain John Smith was a person of singular importance in the colonization of America. His practicality, common sense,
hard work, individualism and leadership have been praised by many Americans. Why do you think that he has often been
identified as the quintessential American hero? The American hero was emerged by the idea of white and average American who
tries to get new goals. In addition, this American is hardworking, productive, and innovative and a defense of his country ag ainst
the foreign threatens. Captain Smith is an example of leadership and hard work. After not being supported by the Virginia
Company to go back to Virginia, he decided to do it by himself. It can be said he was not a coward but also a brave person who
was willing to die before staying at home doing nothing. For all these reasons the Captain Smith has been taken as a reference to
build the American hero image

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2. William Bradford 1590-1657

Works: Of Plymouth Plantation (1630)

Genre: Historical diary/account Puritan History

Beliefs: Religion: very imp. 100% Puritan (all is subject to God´s providence)

Moral: Hardship & effort is rewarded by God; God helps people overcome obstacles through faith

Influences: Bible and Puritan religion

Themes: Everything is subject to God’s providence; Building relationship (English settlers- Native Am.)

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
Autobiographical elements: His own account as a settler and a governor.

Purpose and audience: to convince people that God´s providence would care for them and to urge them
to come to the New World. Wanted to tell people how God had granted them safe arrival in the NW.

Focalization, point of view: 1st person narrative and third person plural (they)

Style: Keep in mind background and purpose:(Diction/ tone/imagery/syntax):


Plain Puritan refined style; used language as an effective tool to communicate, not worried about
aesthetics (ornamental speech was for upper classes). Tone: didactic, dignified. Syntax: long sentences.
Diction: full of adjectives
Self representation/depiction: the leader of a community that passes a big trial (fear, dead, despair and
suffering) in order to establish their colony but with hard work and a firm faith they manage to succeed.
Survived as a Puritan (chosen one: narrates how non believer dies). Constant allusions to Bible,
righteous. Identifies himself with Moses leading the chosen people. Never doubts his faith. Never shows
weakness. (a little heroic)

Narrative mode (description, speech, report, comment): description, report, comment

Period/Historical Context: Puritans left England to be free from religious persecution. First to settle
Massachusetts. Time of the first settlers in the New World

Rhetorical devices (metaphors/stereotypical characters..): Bible quotations


How he sees Indians: Savages, barbarians

-Self-educated man/Governor of Plymouth Colony (re-elected 30 times) /spoke several languages

-He embodied the Puritan dream of building a new political as well as religious system in the New
World, the City of God on earth.

- Religious pilgrimage to the “promised land” – America- was backed up by a civil compact, the
Mayflower compact, in order to secure the survival of all, Puritans and non-Puritan alike.

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-Of Plymouth Plantation provides a unique portrait of the trials undergone on crossing the Atlantic
Ocean and in arriving, settling and accommodating to the new landscape. Puritan narratives tend to
illustrate divine providence in their exemplary tales, written with a religious didactic purpose.

-First example of American providentialist historiography.

- READING: Of Plymouth Plantation (1857). [Book I: Chapter IX. ‘Of the voyage and How they
Passed the sea; and of Their safe arrival to Cape Cod’]

 Book I: events that led the Scrooby Community to leave England from Holland, and gave clear
account of the pilgrim’s voyage and the colony’s beginnings (book finished around 1650, not published
till 1857).

 Book II: in the form of annals. Reflects the author disappointment at the gradual decline of the

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once cohesive community, which he considered in danger of dissolution.

-Text 1: From of Plymouth Plantation, Book I, Chapter IX (ten chapters). Of Their Voyage and How
They Passed the Sea; and of Their Safe Arrival at Cape Cod. Wrote in 1630, published in 1857. This
st
excerpt is about the hardships the Pilgrims or Puritans experienced during their travelling and 1
autumn in the New World. When they arrived, they did not have food or shelter and took a desolate
impression from the place. The author refers to natives as barbarian savages making a comparison with
the apostle Paul’s shipwreck in which, according to him, the natives were barbarians but not savage
barbarians with arrows like the ones they found. Bradford describes the new world as bleak wilderness
full of wild beasts and wild men.

The weather was changeable and occasionally extreme.


The Pilgrims felt happy but uncertain when they arrived.
Crossing an ocean is a hazardous business only to be undertaken with God’s help.
The character of the Pilgrims: devout.
The author asks his readers to feel pity for the Pilgrims because they had nowhere comfortable to go.
The author’s description of the landscape invites the reader to think that the immediate future will be
difficult and dangerous.
The main idea behind the excerpt: The Pilgrims were like characters from the Bible, struggling against
the elements to do God’s will.
The Pilgrims’ only source of comfort was looking at the sky and thinking about heaven.
The Pilgrims thanked God for their safe landing.
-Text 2: From Book II of Plymouth Plantation, Chapter XII. Anno 1621. Written in the form of annals
from 1620-1646. It reflects the author’s disappointment at the gradual decline of his community. It was
nd
written when the colony was firmly established, during the 2 autumn. Of 102 passengers only 51
survived the 1st winter. Made friendly contacts with Indians. Had enough supplies to survive and
st nd
recovered strength. The wilderness of the 1 passage turns into civilization in the 2 one.

This episode took place the following autumn, the colony was firmly established. The first winter had
been extremely harsh (out of 102 passengers, only 51 survived)
They made friendly contact with the Wampanog Indians, who taught them how to plant corn. They
celebrated the harvest with a feast later associated with the Thanksgiving holiday. It was a traditional
English harvest celebration which lasted three days and was attended by Indian guests.
Ideas from the reading:

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The Pilgrims spent their first summer making provisions for the following winter.
“All the summer there was no want”: had enough to eat.
“At the end of the summer thy felt satisfied”. The mood of the narrator is peaceful

Tone: The prevailing tone of both passages is dignified.

Plain style: unsophisticated writing with humble modes of verbal expression that were intended to
inform and instruct, not to please. Puritans officially condemned ornate speech (English Aristocracy).
They promoted humble modes to inform and instruct, not to please. But Bradford was a true
Renaissance man, familiar with the literary fashion, his style was not so plain (adjectives, length of
sentences, comparisons, the words,...).

1st person singular: “I” as a member of the Pilgrim’s voyage, as a witness to their adventures. (1 st
person narrator). I was there, I survived, I was chosen.

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
rd
3 person plural: “they” to refer to community as leader of Puritans to emphasise the welfare of the
cohesive community.

Use of biblical sources mainly although he also uses quotations of Seneca.

Divine providence/Providential interpretations (Calvinism) of the facts were most events were regarded
by Puritans as a manifestation of God’s judgement and symbols with spiritual meaning. (e.g. the 1st man
who is “haughty” in 1st passage,1st book and gets punished by God. Disease= evidence of God´s favour).

Bradford’s idea of God: in the covenanted churches god was considered as a contractual partner to the
believers. The Pilgrims struggled to fulfil what they believed to be God’s plan. Good fortune could signify
righteousness and bad fortune divine punishment. Trials can bring out the best in believers (spiritual
order).

Subjective point of view. Spiritual concerns. Predestination. Puritan theology was designed to transform
lives and to inspire action.

Plymouth Plantation pays almost no attention to the beauty of the New world’s flora and fauna and
shows little interest in native culture. But…. opposition between wilderness and civilisation: horror of
the wild (first passage) transformed (second passage) in one year a result of colonisation.

Bradford regarded the Pilgrims as the new Israelites or chosen people and America as the Promised
Land.

The chief influence was the Bible. A biblical reference: there is a direct analogy to Saint’s Paul
shipwreck. Bradford points out a difference because these “savage barbarians” did not provide them
with food or shelter. The Wampanoag had had previous contact with European explorers such as
commercial exchanges sometimes ending in violent disorder.

The genre of Puritan history enhances spiritual life by interpreting God’s design: human history as a
progress of mankind toward a predetermined end. Of Plymouth Plantation is not a chronicle but a
history the work is an intentionally ideological document Bradford produced a good example of
providentialist historiography.

His attitude to native: “savage barbarians” were considered as excluded from Redemption.

 Audience and Context

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Of Plymouth Plantation was written after the original settlement had been accomplished by the
Mayflower pilgrims ("old comers"), and after their intense suffering and sacrifices had finally brought
about security and prosperity for the colony. Bradford writes not to the old comers but to the second
and third generations of colonists whom he believes have strayed away from the original faith, piety,
and spiritual fortitude of their parents and grandparents. In the words of the critic Jesper Rosenmeier,
"Bradford's aim [as a historian] is not to portray the past with the fullest possible objectivity but to
resurrect a past holiness; a holiness that, he knows and never loses sight of, must be resurrected by and
in his audience

 Conscious Craft (not as plain a style as we may think)


Hasty readers may find Bradford's prose to be dry and burdensome, and in fact he deliberately chose to
write his history in what was then called the "plain style," in contrast to the deeply elaborate and ornate

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
style of "euphuism." And yet Bradford's style is anything but plain. The critic E. F. Bradford first called
attention to his use of emphatic couplings to create a variety of sense and description, his use of
syntactical balance and antithesis, his use of alliteration, assonance, and consonance.

The opening paragraph on page 165 provides fine examples:

When as by the travail and diligence of some godly and zealous preachers, and God's blessing on their labors, as in other places of
the land so in the North parts, many became enlightened by the Word of God and had their ignorance and sins discovered unto
them, and began by his grace to reform their lives and make conscience of their ways; the work of God was no sooner manifest in
them but presently they were both scoffed and scorned by the profane multitude; and the ministers urged with the yoke of
subscription, or else must be silenced. And the poor people were so vexed with apparitors and pursuivants and the commissary
courts, as truly their affliction was not small. Which, notwithstanding, they bore sundry years with much patience, till they were
occasioned by the continuance and increase of these troubles, and other means which the Lord raised up in those days, to see
further into things by the light of the Word of God. . . .

Pay attention not only to what Bradford says, but how he says it. His elegant prose style is part of what
makes Of Plymouth Plantation such a memorable and profound record of early American colonization.

Exploratory questions

1.William Bradford himself is the “I” or first person narrator of the history Of Plymouth Plantation. How important is the first
person narrator in the passage extracted from Book I, Chapter IX? What effect does the author attempt to have on his readers
by using a first person narrative instead of a third person one? In contrast to Captain Smith, who uses the third-person because
he wants to distance himself from the narrative voice and give the impression that his accounts of events objectively reflects what
happened; William Bradford uses the first-person because he wants to express subjective impressions and opinions. He wants
readers to take into consideration he and the rest of the Pilgrims were there, they survived and they were chosen. Furthermor e,
the text is stronger and more emphatic because readers can feel identified with them. In other words, readers can put in Will iam
Bradford and Pilgrim’s shoes and be them at least for a couple of hours.

2.Being Calvinists, the Puritans believed that God was in charge of the universe and they interpreted all events as symbols with
spiritual meanings. How did Bradford interpret the death of the young man aboard the Mayflower? In what sense is this
incident an example of God protecting his chosen people? Consider the event described as “a special work of God’s providence”
and comment on the way the author tries to demonstrate the workings of divine providence in his cautionary tale. We need to
take into consideration that Puritans interpreted all events as symbols with spiritual meanings. The death of the young man
aboard was considered a work of God’s providence because he was a profane, lusty and arrogant man who was bullying the rest of
the crew. It can be said that he did not deserve to live since he wasn’t living according to God’s moral. For Puritans, God chose
who lived and who died and, for them, the chosen ones would be those who respect God, his moral and the rest of the “good”
people.

3.Analyse Bradford’s idea of God, bearing in mind that in the covenanted churches God was considered as a contractual partner
to the believers. Remember that the Pilgrims were struggling to fulfill what they believed to be God’s plan. The idea of God for
Bradford, the Pilgrims and the rest of Calvinist was based on a contractual relationship. This means that the two parts of the
contract have to act according to the established rules. In the case of the Pilgrims, they would be believers who spread the word of
God and Christianised the profane people who were living in sin. If they fulfill their part of the contract, God was supposed to
protect and guide them in their lives and eternal life would be waiting for them.

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4.Most events were regarded by Puritans as a manifestation of God’s judgment. Good fortune could signify righteousness and
divine favour, whereas bad fortune could mean divine punishment. At the same time, the concept of “spiritual ordeal” (the ide a
that trials can bring out the best in believers) played an important role in Christian thought. How did Bradford exp lain the
misfortunes of the Pilgrims? As it is explained in the previous question, Pilgrims needed to fulfill their part of the contract in order
to earn eternal life. But nobody said it was going to be easy. Living according to moral and God’s “rules” was not accepted and
understood at many places and at many times. However, this lack of understatement had a good part. This means if Pilgrims wer e
able to get through these difficult times (considered proofs from God to put Pilgrims and Calvinists’ faith to test), their faith would
be reinforced and God would appreciate the effort. In the end, this hard work would be compensated by eternal life.

5.In contrast to other accounts, Of Plymouth Plantation shows little interest in Native culture, and pays almost no attention to
the beauty of the New World’s flora and fauna. The key to that attitude is already evident in the author’s depiction of the
landscape of New England on his arrival. Analyse that description and comment on the perception of nature it implies. The most
important thing for Calvinists was to tell the difference between the good people, those who lives according to God’s rules
(themselves), and the other ones, those who don’t and were condemned to wander around Hell (the Natives). If we look carefu lly
through the first text, we can see all the references to the Natives are disdainful. In the second text the descriptions of t he Natives
are kinder because they helped Pilgrims how to plant corn. This event can be interpreted as the Natives were finally guided by the
light of God and started to find the path which could save them from eternal damnation.

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
6.Describe the balance between the threat from the wilderness and the support that, according to the author, the Pilgrims
received from God. As it’s been said in previous questions, Pilgrims will be protected by God if they follow his rules. So, they
would be saved no matter the wilderness, the Natives or another kind of problems. They saw these difficult situations as proofs
they needed to get through in order to succeed. And they would always succeed if God were on their side.

7.Bradford regarded the Pilgrims as the new Israelites or “chosen people” and America as “the promised land of Canaan”. First,
find in the first passage you have read a specific reference to his important concept in American culture. Then, comment on the
basic difference with Bradford pointed out between the New World, as seen by the Pilgrims, and Moses’s vision of Canaan in
Deuteronomy 3. The reference is found on line 61 and is Pisgah, the mountain ridge east of the north end of the Dead Sea, from
which Moses viewed the Promised Land. The difference between the two events was Pilgrim were not able to go up to the top of
Pisgah to view from this wilderness a more goodly country to feed their hopes.

8.The chief influence on Bradford’s writings was the Bible, which he often quoted or paraphrased. For instance, he drew a
direct analogy to Saint Paul’s shipwreck. Note that, according to the author, the plight of the Pilgrims was even wo rse than that
of “the Apostle and his shipwrecked company”. What difference did Bradford point out between the “barbarians” that Saint
Paul and his followers found in Malta (where the inhabitants built a fire for them against the cold and provided them wit h food
and shelter for three months) and the “savage barbarians” the Pilgrims found in America? Comment on this biblical reference.
In order to understand the Native’s attitude toward the Pilgrims, we should bear in mind that the Wampanoag had had
previous contacts with European explorers, often in the form of commercial exchanges but sometimes ending in violent
disruption of their stable way of life (e.g. In 1614, 27 Wampanoag men were kidnapped by Thomas Hunt and sold as slaves in
Málaga; in 1618, an epidemic brought by the Europeans decimated many of their communities; in the summer of 1620, a battle
took place). The main difference between the “barbarians” that Saint Paul and his followers found in Malta and the “savage
barbarians” the Pilgrims found in America was barbarians’ welcome. The formers were quite welcomed: a fire was kindled for
them because it was raining and cold and were given plenty of food to satisfy the hunger. On the contrary, Bradford and the
Pilgrims were not given any kind of food or offered some kind of accommodation to spend those difficult times. This last situation
is understandable if we bear in mind American savage barbarians had had contacts with European explorers that not always ende d
up as they were supposed to.

9.The genre of Puritan history served the useful purpose of enhancing spiritual life by interpreting God’s design, because human
history was considered a progress of mankind toward a predetermined end. In other words, history was perceived as a
continuum, moving toward a particular outcome, according to God’s plan. Of Plymouth Plantation is not a chronicle but a
history. From the analysis of the passages above, to what extent do you think that this work is an intentionally ideological
document? If you pay attention to the author’s reflections on the ways of Providence, you will be able to decide whether
Bradford produced a good example of providentalist historiography or not. I think this document was intentionally written in
order to spread a specific ideology (in this case Calvinist and Puritan thinking and way of life). However, I believe all the aspects of
their lives were intentionally guided by this ideology. We can say Calvinist create the rules which guided Pilgrims’ lives.

Regarding to the historiography matter, I truly think Bradford produced a good example of it. After reading the work, the
conclusion which can be drawn is no matter how many difficulties you can find along your life that if you truly believe in Go d and
follow his rules, he will be protect you and eventually you will enjoy the life you deserve on earth and the eternal life after death.

9. Puritans officially condemned ornate speech, which they associated with the English aristocracy and the preachers of the
Church of England. Rejecting literary artifice, the English Puritans promoted humble modes of verbal expression that were
intended primarily to inform and instruct, not to please. From the outset, the author of the history Of Plymouth Plantation
declared that he would write in the plain style of biblical simplicity. However, being a true Renaissance man, Bradford was

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similar with the literary fashions of his day, which abounded in figures of speech of greater or lesser complexity. To what e xtent
do you think that he achieved his goal of directness and simplicity in the passages you have read? Bradford’s style was not so
plain as he had wished. For example, many adjectives can be found; the sentences are sometimes too long which can make the
work a little difficult to understand. Furthermore, comparisons and biblical references also are found such as Pisgah or the Saint
Paul event. Lastly, some words are formal such as “haughty”, “profane” “grievous” or “perils”.

10. For Puritans theology was not merely an intellectual exercise. Theology was designed to transform lives and to inspire
action. To what extent is Puritan theology relevant for the analysis of Bradford’s writings? We can say it is not possible to
understand Bradford’s way of life and thinking if we don’t take into consideration Puritan theology. For example, in the beginning
of the first text the justification of bully’s death is shown because he didn’t follow the Puritan theology, and, in the end, he paid for
it. Also, the text shows how God will protect Pilgrims and Puritans if they live according to this theology. We can say at that time
religion and politics weren’t separated and the latter was created according to first one.

11. What attitude did the author express about the Native People in the first passage you have read? Bear in mi nd, that
according to the Puritans, Christ died for the elect alone; therefore, “savage barbarians” were considered as excluded from
Redemption. According to Puritans, only those who follow their theology can be saved and avoid eternal damnation. Obviously,
American savages belonged to that group of people who due to different reasons and circumstances didn’t. Therefore, the

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
attitude from Puritans to the Natives is disdainful as it can be seen in terms such as “savage” or “barbarian” or in the information
contained in lines 51-55 and 58-62.

12. Reread the passage from Book II, Chapter XII and comment on the opposition between wilderness and civilization. Notice
how Bradford’s horror of the wild (which pervaded the first passage) has been transformed in the second passage you have
read, and how his perception of the American landscape and his attitude to nature has changed in one year as a result of
colonization. The term “civilization” implied people used to live by following some rules which basically referred to respect God
and had a pure and honest lifestyle. The Natives didn’t believe in God, so they didn’t know his rules and even worse they didn’t
know they lived in sin, with no possibility to save themselves. Furthermore, the arrival to a new land where different peoples live
in is always scary. Puritans didn’t know the land, weren’t used to new weather or new food. Everything was new, everything wa s
different, and we know when some people don’t want to adapt themselves to a new lifestyle, they usually think is bad. In addition,
the Puritans had reasons to defend this thought because the Natives didn’t welcome them when they arrived. On the contrary, in
the second passage, Puritans’ attitude toward the Natives is kinder since the latter taught them how to plant corn. As it was
explained in previous questions, this event can be interpreted as the Natives were finally guided by the light of God and sta rted to
find the path which could save them from eternal damnation.

13. Bradford had read Smith’s works before he began writing. Contrast the ways in which Captain John Smith and Governor
William Bradford looked at the world and how their different perspectives were reflected in their writings. How does their
rhetoric compare? Rhetoric is the art of using language for persuasion.

Topics John Smith William Bradford

Intentions or purposes Explorer Settler

Point of view Individual self: first person Cohesive community: first person plural

Setting Political Religious

Subject matter Secular Spiritual

Uses of sources Classical biblical

Reliability Fact and fiction Providential interpretation of facts

Style Ornate Ornate although plain was wished

Type of work Informative and entertaining Didactic

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3. ANNE BRADSTREET 1612-1672

Works: Several Poems compiled with Great Variety of Wit and Learning 1678: The Author to her book/Upon the
burning of our house/To my dear and loving husband/On my grandchild Simon Bradstreet

Genre: Poetry. First “American” to publish poetry

Beliefs: Religion: Presence of religious thought. Controversy between God’s will and earthy trials. Came to New
World to escape religious persecution (non-separatists that wanted to reform the Catholic Church). Troubled by
religious doubts all her life.

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
Moral:

Influences: Had a good education in England, wrote poems to please her father. Learned Greek, Latin, Hebrew and
th
French. Influenced by 16 century poets like Spenser, Sidney, Raleigh…and the metaphysical poets like Donne and
Herbert. Also alludes to works by Ovid, Virgil, Cicero and Horace

Themes: Domestic and religious matters. Marital love. Grief for dead family.

Autobiographical elements: She was a settler and a housewife. Had a hard time in the New World. 8 children.

Purpose and audience: Self-expression. At first didn´t write to be published. Her brother published her poems w/o
her permission. Moral lessons in biblical typology. Show common struggles in 17th C. women settlers.

Ambivalence (conflicting feelings), Double meaning (ambiguity): tried to reconcile public life of a Puritan wife and
her private life as a woman, mother, etc. Tension between religious duties and inner feelings. Shows her religious
doubts. EJ of ambivalence: when her house burns and her grandchild dies (religious doubts in the face of tragedy). Her
pride as a poet vs. Puritan humility. Love for hubby vs. love for God. Ambiguity: same poems different readings
(acceptance or rebellion). Consider why she wasn´t totally OPEN??

Style (Diction/ tone/imagery/syntax): Style: Uses plain style mixed w/ ornamental from Renaissance. Artificial style
for the long philosophical poems and shorter wittier ones about everyday things. Tone: Ironic and sarcastic; dignified,
moralizing
Self-representation /depiction: Physically & emotionally tough. Recognized spiritual weakness. Recognized spiritual
weakness (doubts and conflicts between her own personal feelings and her faith)

Focalization, point of view: 1st person singular

Narrative mode (description, speech, report, comment):


Period/Historical Context: Time of the first settlers in the New World
Rhetorical devices (metaphors/stereotypical characters..): lots of figurative language (departs from the literal
meaning of words): metaphors and conceits. She deviated from the plain style of the Puritans.AN AUTHOR’S BOOK IS
HER SON (“The Author to Her Book”), LOVE IS FIRE (implicit in the line “My love is such that rivers cannot quench,”
from the poem “To My Dear and Loving Husband”), HEAVEN IS A LUXURIOUS HOUSE (from the conclusion of “Upon
the Burning of Our House”), DEAD BABIES ARE CROPPED FLOWERS (“On My Dear Grandchild Simon Bradstreet”).
These are all necessary for the poems to be successful (lyrically and rhetorically). Biblical allusions. Makes rhyming
couplets: tetrameters, pentameters. Uses irony and we usually find double meaning. Observes principles of Puritan
rhetoric. False insecurity. Calculated rhetorical pose. Poetic convention to prevent harsh male critic. Coyness
(common in the Renaissance) SAY WHY SHE USED METAPHORS

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The 4 poems belong to her last 2 decades in which she developed her own techniques out of the
aesthetic of conventions using mainly her own personal experiences.
“The Author to Her Book” preface (published in1678)
Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain,
Who after birth didst by my side remain,
Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,
Who thee abroad exposed to public view,
5~adtheee in rags, halting to th' press to trudge,
Where errors were not lessened (all may judge).
At thy return my blushing was not small,
My rambling brat (in print) should mother call.
I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
10Thy visage was so irksome in my sight;
Yet being mine own, at length affection would
Thy blemishes amend, if so I could.
I wash'd thy face, but more defects I saw,
And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
15I stretcht thy joints to make thee even feet,
Yet still thou run'st more hobbling than is meet.
In better dress to trim thee was my mind,
But nought save home-spun cloth, i' th' house I find.
In this array, 'mongst vulgars may'st thou roam.
20In critic's hands beware thou dost not come,
And take thy way where yet thou art not known.
If for thy father asked, say, thou had'st none;
And for thy mother, she alas is poor,
Which caused her thus to send thee out of door.

The speaker is the poet herself, likened to a mother whose child is her book of poems. Her book/child
sprang from her mind, not her womb, and was conceived without the intervention of any masculine
force.
The book is poor and illegitimate. She is a powerless woman who doesn´t have enough resources to care
for her family.
She writes this way to assure readers that her writings are not intended as a challenge (ironic self-
deprecation = autodesprecio)
Much of the coyness and dismissal throughout Bradstreet's preface was a common strategy of the
writers of the Renaissance.
Poem written is written in heroic couplets or rhyming couplets (rhyme on consecutive lines, in pairs)
With the rhythm of the pentameter iambic (five feet formed by an unstressed syllable followed by an
stressed one). This balance and control are the main characteristics of the heroic couples in this poem.
Use of metaphors (comparison of one thing with another, suggesting analogy between them)
Use of pun (paronomasia), play of similar words that have different meanings.
Tone reflects the attitude of the poet's to the theme and to the reader. In this poem she uses apology,
self-deprecation and self-mockery in order to offset (contrarestar) negative criticism and to avoid
literary suspicion (recelo) because she was a woman. It was a skilled manipulation to say what she
wanted to express.
Use of irony and ambiguity is the manner of discourse in which the meaning is contrary to the words.
One thing is stated, but the opposite is implied.
Bradstreed expresses herself as an independent woman because she conceived the book/child without
the male's help and she is able to take care of her domestic duty as a woman.
Anne Bradstreet wrote this poem as the new preface to the second edition of her collection of verses,
posthumously published in Boston under the title of Several Poems Compiled with Great Variety of Wit
and Learning (1678). Bradstreet responded to Woodbridge’s birth metaphor which was common among
seventeenth-century writers.
QUESTIONS
1. In this poem there is an extend metaphor. The speaker of The Author to Her Book is the poet, likened a
mother whose child is her book of poems. The specific metaphor of book as offspring can be traced back
to Plato. Some examples of this:
- “Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain”
- “ My rambling brat…should mother call”

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2. A pun (paronomasia) is a play on words that has different meanings.


- “ I stretch your joints, to make you even feet, “
The effect of this pun is the duality of the child’s feet and the metrical of the lines.
3. If we scan the metre of this poem we could see that is a metric pattern known as iambic, formed by an
unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Iambic is the most common pattern in English poetry.
The poem is written in heroic couplets, also called rhyming couplets because rhyme on consecutives
lines, in pairs (aa,bb,cc,dd). The effect of this metrical pattern is the sense of movement.
4. If we analyse the poet attitude towards her child/book we could see she regards it with kindness,
tenderness and a certain indulgence toward its faults.
5. Like most artists, Bradstreet probably had mixed feelings about her book, but some of her fears were
clearly determined by the fact that she was a literary woman writing in a patriarchal society. Comment
on the tone of her poem, we could pay attention to the flash of anger expressed in lines 15-16. Then in

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
line 7 she blushed and finally she was a protective mother.
6. Bradstreet wasn’t genuinely modest. She was artfully claiming artlessness. The poet, well aware with
of her society’s reaction to women who ventures to write poems in a society when she has to take care
of her family. She has to seem modest.
7. We could see some irony in the entire poem. Especially in lines 13 and 14.
The meaning is contrary to the words. She critics and apologise of her book/child when she was really
prideful.
8. She is just trying to be playful and amusing. She makes a funny apologise of her poem. And the effect
is that readers who are so perceptive to understand ironic discourse then could read under the words of
socially constrained text.
9. In seventeenth-century women were conditioned by social rules. They were very submissive to their
husbands. They were very modest.
10. Comment on the way the poet links motherhood and artistic creativity we should pay attention to
the fact that her child/book is fatherless. In the first line, she calls attention to the fact that her
book/child sprang from her mind, not her womb, and was conceived without the intervention of any
masculine force. This could be interpreted as a sign of independence.
“To My Dear Loving Husband”
1 If ever two were one, then surely we.
2 If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee;
3 If ever wife was happy in a man,
4 Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
5 I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold -
6 Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
7 My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
8 Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.
9 Thy love is such I can no way repay.
10 The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
11 Then while we live, in love let's so persever
12 That when we live no more, we may live ever.
The speaker is the poet herself, expressing her passionate and ardent love for her husband, a love that
outlasts death. It provides a contrasting image with the popular view of the Puritan reserve and restrain.
Use of highly allusive biblical language (song of Solomon)
Bradstreet likens the love in an earthy marriage=mystical marriage of Christ, as a bridegroom, and the
church.
Use heroic couplets in rhymed iambic pentameters and metaphoric style.
Comparison between love and riches of the East, in spite of the fact that Puritans rarely mention such
material purposes, and emphasize the spiritual ones. Use of imagery of wealth (indebtedness)
She doesn't convey the idea of mutual love within the marriage.

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“Upon the Burning of Our House”

1.In silent night when rest I took, 28 And them behold no more shall I.
2 For sorrow near I did not look, 29 Under thy roof no guest shall sit,
3 I waken'd was with thund'ring noise 30 Nor at thy table eat a bit.
4 And piteous shrieks of dreadful voice. 31 No pleasant tale shall 'ere be told,
5 That fearful sound of "Fire!" and "Fie!" 32 Nor things recounted done of old.
6 Let no man know is my desire. 33 No candle e'er shall shine in thee,
7 I, starting up, the light did spy, 34 Nor bridegroom's voice e'er heard shall be.
8 And to my God my heart did cry 35 In silence ever shalt thou lie;
9 To strengthen me in my distress 36 Adieu, Adieu; all's vanity.
10 And not to leave me succourless. 37 Then straight I 'gin my heart to chide,
11 Then, coming out, beheld a space, 38 And didst thy wealth on earth abide?
12 The flame consume my dwelling place. 39 Didst fix thy hope on mold'ring dust?
13 And, when I could no longer look, 40 The arm of flesh didst make thy trust?

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14 I blest His name that gave and took, 41 Raise up thy thoughts above the sky
15 That laid my goods now in the dust. 42 That dunghill mists away may fly.
16 Yea, so it was, and so 'twas just. 43 Thou hast an house on high erect,
17 It was His own, it was not mine; 44 Framed by that mighty Architect,
18 Far be it that I should repine. 45 With glory richly furnished,
19 He might of all justly bereft, 46 Stands permanent though this be fled.
20 But yet sufficient for us left. 47 It's purchased, and paid for too
2 1 When by the ruins oft I past, 48 By Him who hath enough to do.
22 My sorrowing eyes aside did cast, 49 A price so vast as is unknown,
23 And here and there the places spy 50 Yet, by His gift, is made thine own.
24 Where oft I sat, and long did lie. 5 1 There's wealth enough, I need no more;
25 Here stood that trunk, and there that chest; 52 Farewell my pelf, farewell my store.
26 There lay that store I counted best. 53 The world no longer let me love,
27 My pleasant things in ashes lie, 54 My hope and treasure lies Above.

Clear example of the tension the poet experienced between her domestic concerns and her spiritual
aspirations.
Rhyming couplets formed by rhymed iambic tetrameters.
Recalls prized material possessions (her burning house in the big fire of London 1666) and turns to the
Bible to find comfort in the promise of a permanent house in heaven. (Use of biblical references)
Events were interpreted by puritans as divine messages and all disappointments could serve as
corrections for one's fault. But it seems that Bradstreet rather than interpreting the burning of the house
as a divine message, she is just looking in heaven for relief from her misfortune. So she pretends to show
that she will be fine without her material goods, but actually her position is very ambivalent.
“ On My Dear grandchild Simon Bradstreet”
On My Dear Grandchild Simon Bradstreet, Who Died on 16 November, 1669,Being But a Month, and
One Day Old
No sooner came, but gone, and fall'n asleep.
Acquaintance short, yet parting caused us weep;
Three flowers, two scarcely blown, the last i' th' bud,
Cropped by th' Almighty's hand; yet is He good.
With dreadful awe before Him let's be mute,
Such was His will, but why, let's not dispute,
With humble hearts and mouths put in the dust,
Let's say He's merciful as well as just.
He will return and make up all our losses,
And smile again after our bitter crosses.
Go pretty babe, go rest with sisters twain;
Among the blest in endless joys remain.
Bradstreet does not break with tradition of Christian elegies, which are supposed to close with
consolation and the affirmation that death is part of divine plan, but she does not easily accept with
pious (piadoso) resignation the death of her own grandchildren as part of the Puritans providential
scheme.
In this elegy Bradstreet express how hard it is for her to reconcile the deep love she feels for her
deceased grandson and her duty to maintain her faith in spite of her suffering.
The poem can be interpreted as a direct criticism of the goodness of God.
Is written in rhymed iambic pentameter.

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* CRITICS: Two aspects:


- On the one hand: Her public were devout and strict puritans, she was the dutiful daughter of a
prominent man and she was the submissive wife of all-known colony official.
- The other hand: Her private self, emotionally attached to her family as a wife, mother and
grandmother.
- She has unresolved conflicts, of tensions between her religious and her inner feelings. A self-
division based on the tensions between what she thought she ought to feel (Puritan theology told her
what she had to believe) and what she really felt (grief).
- Her later poems show how difficult it was for her to control some of her impulses.
* SOURCES AND LITERARY STRATEGIES.
She acknowledged that she had been troubled by religious doubts all her life, due to spiritual confusion
“concerning verity of scriptures” a remark that should be taken into account when analysing her

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extensive use of biblical sources.
- She felt she had to accept the Principles of Puritan which the typical “plain style” but her work was also
deeply rooted in the ornamented style of the Renaissance tradition.
-She was very much influenced by sixteenth-century poets such as:
Sir Edmund Spenser (c 1552-99)
Sir Philip Sidney (c. 1554-86)
Sir Walter Raleigh (c.1554-1618)
Sir Guillaume du Bartas (c. 1544-90) the French Colonist poet whom she called her ‘ literary
godfather’. He influenced with metaphors.
-She was also inspired by her British contemporaries, the English. Metaphysical poets such as: John
Donne (c.1572-1631) and George Herbert (c. 1593-1633).

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4. Mary Rowlandson (1637-1711)

Works: A True History of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs Mary Rowlandson 1678

Genre: Captivity narrative, jeremiads design.

Beliefs: Religion: very imp. 100% Puritan (all is subject to God´s providence)

Moral:

Influences: Puritanism/Religion

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Themes: her religious ordeal

Autobiographical elements: She was a settler and a housewife. Was kidnaped and kept captive.

Focalization, point of view: 1st person narrative

Purpose and audience: Promote her religion, showed how it helped her survive. Moral lessons in biblical typology.
Show common struggles in 17th C. women settlers

Style (Diction/ tone/imagery, syntax): Style: plain style (characterized by being simple and direct), which Puritans
were encouraged to use/ no embellishment, straightforward/ Tone: Anxious, troubled, didactic. Imagery: vivid
description of the Indians’ assault.

Self representation/depiction: Truth/purpose??She presents the community as a vulnerable target for the savage
natives and she is a powerless victim who finds strength in God. Through bible quotations showed to be devout.
Model Puritan that accepts her ordeal, and emerges a better and wiser person for it. Does not conceal her
weaknesses. Physically & emotionally tough. Recognized spiritual weakness. A pure sinner
Narrative mode (description, speech, report, comment): report/comment/description/speech (depending on the
excerpt chosen). Look to see if there are any exclamation marks or question marks (speech).

Period/Historical Context: Time of the first settlers in the New World

Rhetorical devices (metaphors/stereotypical characters..): Bible quotations. Metaphors: her child / a lamb

How she sees Indians: Negative portrayal. Hellhound dogs, beasts, pagans, heathens, but as time goes on she sees
them as more human. She develops understanding, near friendship.

From a Narrative of the Captivity & Restoration of Mrs. Rowlandson (1667-1668)


From the violent and brutal clash between Indians and British colonist in Massachusetts during King
Philip’s War (1675-1676) grew a new literary genre: “Indian Captivities”. Some colonist who had been
prisoners of the Indian wrote autobiographical accounts of their experiences. These tales became the
first best sellers in American literature. These accounts of captivity continued to be successful until the
19th century. The early examples of the genre emphasized religious aspects while later tales focused
mainly on adventures aspects.
A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson belongs to this genre.

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Rowlandson’s account of her 3-mongh capture by a hostile Indian force during King Philip’s War became
one of the most popular narratives of its type in Britain and in America during the 17 th and 18th
centuries, going through 30 editions after its first publication in 1682.

Biography
Mary White was born about 1637 in Somerset, England. She arrived to America with her nine siblings
when she was only a child.
Her father, John White and his family moved to the frontier settlement of Lancaster where her father
was one of the founders.
Around 1656 she married the Reverend Joseph Rowlandson, the first minister of the church of Lancaster.
She had four children, one of whom died in infancy.
After the release of Mary Rowlandson and her two surviving children (the youngest one died on the
attack), they lived in Boston for a year. In 1672 they moved to Wethersfield (Connecticut) where her
husband returned to ministry. He died in 1678. A year later, she married another community leader,
Captain Samuel Talcott and lived in the same town until her death.

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Her work
In February 1676 a band of Indians (Wampanoag), surprised the Puritan frontier village of Lancaster,
where Rowlandson lived with her children and husband.
Rowlandson was captured and separated from two of her three children and her youngest one was
mortally wounded.
A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson was written in 1677 or 1678 two
years after her release.

The narrative is chronological, organized around twenty “removals”, a term she used to refer to the
stages of her forced march.

The purpose of the writing is didactic. She illustrates the Puritans typological way of thinking. She sees
each stage of her captivity and ransom as a demonstration of the truths of biblical stories and teaching.

Modern literary critics have pointed the influence of Rowlandson’ Narrative by the tradition of the
American “jeremiad”, a form of sermonic or poetic lament which attributed misfortunes of the Israelites
to their abandonment of the covenant with God and called on them to repent so as to restore the
covenant and have a happier future.

Her narrative illustrates the application in daily life of the Puritans beliefs:
-The Puritan held that divine Providence operates in an absolutely arbitrary manner. The magnitude of
God’s punishment for sin was unknowable. Minor transgressions might provoke God’s greatest wrath.

-She considered Indians as mere instruments for punishment in order to prove the covenant with God.
Her opinions of the Indians changed as the narrative progresses. First, she considered them “a company
of hell-hounds” or “ravenous-beasts”. Then she started to use the neutral term of “Indians”.

-Her eventual redemption and reunification with her surviving children and husband affirmed her faith in
the Providence. She, as the Puritan, had the belief that they were the chosen people of God.

-In terms of style, the story is told in a natural “artless”, plain manner, typical of the Puritan literature.

-It’s written using first-person narrator.

She has the Bible as a main source of inspiration, especially the Old Testament. About one third of the
biblical references come from the Psalms, used as a spiritual resource because she found in King David’s
way of dealing with religious struggles a very useful mode to express her deep anger against the enemies
and her confidence in divine retribution.

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She uses four narratives modes: description (of people, objects, geographical settings, etc). Report (of
actions) speech (either direct or reported) and comment (moralizing disquisition of digression), focusing
more on the report and comment modes.

-Celebrated for her role in the development of both the captivity narrative and American women’s
autobiography.
-Political and economic reasons for the Native attacks were disregarded (they were starving and their
lands taken off), focusing rather, on Indian attacks as God’s punishing any break in their religious
agreement, where the natives are just instruments used by God.
-Both John Smith and Mary Rowlandson wrote captivity narratives based on their personal experience
when they were captured, and later escaped/ freed/ ransomed from their Native Indian captors. The
great success of this narrative genre was due to its depicting the anxieties and fears of the colonists.
- Smith’s History emphasized his active role first, and then provided a romantic explanation for his
freedom, Rowlandson’s account, A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson,
subtitled The Sovereignty and Goodness of God, stressed its religious dimension. That is, her captivity

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started and ended according to God’s will. She interpreted it as a trial (ordeal) God had sent her to prove
her faith.
- Both agree with Bradford in providing dehumanized representations of the Indians in negative terms
(wolves, ravenous beasts …). Contrary to Smith, Rowlandson expresses her anxiety, and does not
represent herself as a heroine. Besides, Smith’s captivity narrative forms part of a larger narrative.
Rowlandson’s is a full-length text. By demonizing the Indians, all of them were justifying and
legitimating Indian genocide. The narratives projects stereotypes that supported the religious and
political aims of the colonists and gave them the excuse to expand their western territory. They were not
considered humans so they did not have the right to possess the land.

-Until her capture she had led the ordinary life of a Puritan housewife.
-Her own voice and style dominate the text.
Didactic purpose: Divine providence is the all-pervading principle of the Narrative, of which God is the
centre of everything that happens.
- Allusions to scriptural passages. She assumed that her readers would be familiar with the Biblical
passages so she didn’t cite them in full.
-Her attitude and descriptions towards the Indians changes along the Narrative from considering them
as “company of hell-hounds””/bloody heathen” to distinct individuals, some better than others, just
ordinary humans. There was a gradual transformation in Rowlandson: trade with an old Indian, a squad
gave food to her, “thy were pagans but thy were kind to her”, she got used to their food.

Exploratory questions

1.How did the author picture the raiding party in the opening passage of her narrative? What terms did she use to refer to the
attackers? Would you term such dehumanizing representation as “racist stereotyping”? Remember that the early Puritan
settlers did not perceive the Natives as human beings. At the beginning of her Narrative, Mary Rowlandson rendered predictable
racist stereotypes of the Natives by calling them “murderous wretches”, “wolves”, “hell-hounds” and “ravenous beasts”. The
simile she chose to depict the massacre of the colonists at the hands of the raiding party, “like a company of sheep torn by
wolves”, illustrated the hunter-predator myth very precisely. In contrast with the colonists, whom she invariably called
“Christians”, she referred to the Natives as “the bloody heathen (pagano)” and “those merciless heathen”, ignoring the economic
and political reasons they might have had to undertake the assault. Furthermore, Rowlandson’s word choice to report the
attackers’ violence actions contributed to the dehumanizing representation of the Natives (e.g. the phrase “the Indians gaping
before us with their guns, spears, and hatchers to devour us”).

2.In what sense could captivity narratives such as Rowlandson’s have been used as anti-Indian propaganda in order to justify
the expropriation of land previously occupied by Native People? Note the symbolic role of the attackers as a malign force, th at
is, as the representatives of the forces of Satan, who threatened the Puritan hopes of establishing a kingdom of God in the New
World. Apart from the Puritans, other colonists regarded the Natives as the most important impediment to their territorial
expansion in the New World. The propaganda function of the immensely popular captivity narratives was evident, for they did
much more than merely entertain readers. Such narratives projected stereotypes which supported the religious and political aims
of the colonists. Imagining the indigenous inhabitants of the New World as beasts, rather than as human beings, reinforced the
perception that they did not deserve to keep the lands they lived in. Furthermore, the publication of accounts that presented the
Natives as heathens, infidels, devil-worshippers, instruments or agents of Satan’s bidding, and even actual devils contributed to
considering them a formidable threat to the theocracy that the New England Puritans sought to establish. The discourse of most

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captivity narratives not only softened guilt about the side effects of the invasion and subsequent colonial expansion, but staunchly
endorsed the appropriation of land and the annihilation of its inhabitants as if they were religious duties undertaken to bui ld the
City of God on earth. Despite the much higher numbers of indigenous people captured by colonists, captivity narratives exclusively
highlighted the relationship between Indian captors and captive colonists, overlooking that this phenomenon occurred in both
directions.

3.By comparing the opening passage of the Narrative with the extract from the “Ninth Remove,” can you notice the author’s
shifting attitude toward the Narragansett? Why do you think this change in her point of view came about?
In the opening passage of her Narrative, Mary Rowlandson:
a) Saw the raiding party as a chaotic group of bloodthirsty savages collectively characterized by lawless animality.
b) Focused exclusively on the destructive violence of the raiders.
c) Highlighted the fact that she only heard how the attackers “scornfully shouted, and hallowed” and were “roaring,
singing, ranting, and insulting”, but she did not report any example of direct or indirect speech on their part.
d) Underscored the inability or unwillingness of the aggressors to trade or reach agreements with their victims (she
specifically recorded that one of the attackers did not accept the money which he was offered by one of the settlers
who wanted to save his life).
e) Mentioned various kinds of weapons which the raiding party used to wound and kill the colonists.

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f) Emphasized the cruelty of the enemies toward children
g) Designated the Narragansett with a number of derogatory names (“murderous wretches”, “wolves”, “hell-hounds”,
“ravenous beasts”, “the bloody heathen”, and “merciless heathen”).
On the contrary, in the “Ninth Remove” Mary Rowlandson:
a) Saw the Narragansett as members of an organized society, and differentiated them as individuals with distinctive
human traits.
b) Made plain how she peacefully socialized with them in a number of ordinary situations without ever being “offered the
least imaginable miscarriage”, and explicitly recognized their kindness.
c) Revealed that she engaged in conversation with them, and reported their exchange of views.
d) Underscored their ability and willingness to trade and reach agreements (she specifically recorded that, in order to
please her master, she offered him the knife she got in return for the two shirts she herself had made and traded)
e) Mentioned that she obtained a knife (which probably was to be used merely as a cutting instrument rather than as a
weapon)
f) Emphasized the help she received to pay a visit to her son.
g) Refrained from using any derogatory terms to designate the Narragansett, and simply referred to them as Indians.
The change in Rowlandson’s attitude toward the Narragansett, which is so obvious when comparing the introductory passage of
her Narrative (where they are perceived as diabolical savages) with the section entitled “Ninth Remove” (where they are
recognized as ordinary human beings), probably came about through her close interaction with these people. Curiously enough,
she spent most of her captivity at the service of Quanopen, who had been one of the hated leaders of the attack on Lancaster, and
who later became for Rowlandson, according to her own words, “the best friend that I had of an Indian.”
4.Can you find any words derived from Native languages? Make a list of them and write down their definitions. Why did the
author include such words in her text? What can we infer about Native daily life from Rowlandson’s Narrative?

Papoose: Native American baby. A term derived from the Narragansett word papoos, which means “child”.

Squaw: Native American woman or wife. A term derived from the Massachusetts word squa, which means “young woman.”
Although Mary Rowlandson did not mean to be insulting, this term has often been used in disrespectful way and should be
avoided because nowadays it is generally considered very offensive.

Wigwam: Hut or tent made by fastening skins, rush mats or sheets of bark over a dome-shaped framework of poles. A term
derived from the Abenaki word wikewam, which means “house.”

Mary Rowlandson probably used these Algonquian words because they were rather precise terms which had already entered the
lexicon of the English colonists and helped her to describe indigenous culture. Such loanwords also gave a flavor of authenticity
and accuracy to her account. We can infer that Rowlandson became well-acquainted with the daily life of the Narragansett, for
she as not imprisoned or otherwise isolated, but dealt with various members of that community quite unrestrictedly.

5.Mary Rowlandson was surprised at her own capacity for endurance and continually thanked God for such gift. Apart from
God’s help, can you find in the passages above any traces of her survival skills? Note the transformation she underwent (e.g.
the change in her attitude toward food) and pay attention to the ways in which she gradually tried to adjust to Native values
and practices (e.g. how she developed an ability to barter (trocar). Mary Rowlandson’s Narrative reveals the transformation of a
bold and determined woman who resolved to cope with trauma and survive by adaptation. She clearly understands that practical
necessity will force her to undertake a cultural crossover, and decides to accommodate to what she once considered barbarian
ways of life. She proves that she has learned to function in the alien milieu of the Narragansett when she exchanges her sewing
skills for a knife. Likewise, her own explication of her gradual acceptance of typically Native food over the course of her captivity
demonstrated that she has drawn important lessons from her experience of living with members of another society. Indeed,

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Rowlandson does much more than simply state that starvation compels her to end up eating what she rejected during the first
week of her captivity. She goes further when she analyzes her change in attitude toward unfamiliar good, moving from disgust
with what she calls “filthy trash” to relishing a piece of bear, which she even finds “savory.

6.Mary Rowlandson has been praised for her capacity to bring her emotions as a captive into perfect agreement with Puritan
doctrine. How does the Narrative demonstrate Puritan thinking at work? Does she use her experience to reaffirm her beliefs
about good vs. evil? Can you find any particular instances in which the author’s grief overcomes her general acceptance of
divine will? Analyze the process through which the author transforms each event or occurrence into a sign of God’s “goodness. ”
According to Puritan doctrine, the ordeal of captivity was considered a religious trial sent by God for purposes only known to Him.
If the captors were devils or instruments of the devil, their wicked actions could be viewed as one of God’s mysterious ways of
testing, purifying and strengthening Christians. Captivity was often translated into spiritual allegory, so that physical suggested
both spiritual regeneration or renewal of the soul in conversion and future redemption in heaven. Throughout her Narrative, Mary
Rowlandson always strove to consistently apply these Puritan beliefs. However, she became so traumatized that she even
contemplated suicide. Although at the beginning of her Narrative, she clearly revealed her assurance that the binary opposition
good vs. evil exactly corresponded to that of Christian vs. heathen, in the course of her account she gave signs that she also found
virtue in the ethical conduct of non-Christians. Likewise, although she tried to see all occurrences as decreed by divine providence,
there came a point when she contributed the tokens of the Narragansett’s hospitality to their own kindness and generosity, rather

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than to God’s mercy.

7.Analyze Rowlandson’s use of the four narrative modes: description (of people, objects, geographical settings, etc.) report (of
actions), speech (either direct or reported) and comment (e.g. moralizing disquisition or digression). How are the modes
articulated) Is there a balance, or are some modes more important than others? Rowlandson makes very little use of speech
(only one sentence is found: “Lord, what shall we do?”). The narrative mode which prevails throughout the narrative is report ,
entirely aimed at recounting real actions and events with strikingly graphic realism. Description (of people, objects a nd
geographical settings) is so well intertwined with report that it enhances vividness almost imperceptibly. On the contrary,
comment is clearly notices, to the point of becoming quite obtrusive for modern readers. Since the stated purpose of
Rowlandson’s Narrative was to edify her children and friend, author’s original audience probably expected her to interpret all sorts
of actions and events in terms of providential hermeneutics, using abstract generalizations. However, today’s readers are likely to
be disturbed by her frequent moralizing disquisition and digression.

8.Look at May Rowlandson as the protagonist of her book, taking into account that there is always a potential distance
between the author and the first-person narrator. To what extent is the Narrative a genuine self-portrait? Comment on the
internal tension deriving from the author’s honest expression of her personal feelings and the external pressure to conform t o
Puritan orthodoxy. Note that, although she gives ample evidence of her strength, she is far from always depicting herself as a
heroine. For instance, in a passage not included in our selections she acknowledges her greed when she explains how she stole
the food given to a fellow prisoner, and English child, after having eaten her portion. Mary Rowlandson portrays herself both as
a dynamic character that evolver over the course of her narrative, and as a well-rounded character, with a variety of complex
traits. Her spiritual autobiography contains psychological commentary about her variable emotional states, revealing the classic
symptoms of the survivor syndrome, including depression, anxiety, insomnia, disorientation, guilt, despair, and grief. If her
Narrative appeals to modern readers, it is probably thanks to its immediacy, presumable truthfulness and seemingly accurate self-
representation. Although she tends to emphasize her strength and resourcefulness, she also acknowledges her weaknesses and
other personal faults, in accordance with the Puritan practice of exposing the sinful heart to public judgment.

Apart from being the main character to her account, Rowlandson also presents herself as a very reliable narrator, for she car efully
records whether she is an eyewitness of the specific actions and events she reports, or if her information is based on hearsay.

9.Do you consider Rowlandson’s Narrative a good example of the typically Puritan plain style, which is supposed to be simple
and direct? Although most modern readers may be unacquainted with some of the words used by Rowlandson, her contemporary
audience was not likely to be puzzled by her vocabulary or any other aspects of her prose style, characterized by an absence of
rhetorical ornamentation. Since she sought to communicate her ideas as clearly as possible, she achieved her goal by adopting the
Puritan plain style, marked by didactic intent and an absolute rejection of literary artifice. She explicitly extolled and co nsciously
strove for simplicity and directness, the two main values which influenced the mode of verbal expression that prevails in her work.

10. Can you find any hints of a subversive or contradictory subtext hidden behind the surface of the manifest text? You may
look for a clue in the episode of the crossing of the river in the “Fifth Remove,” where the author explicitly records the
determination of the Indians to flee from the colonial troops, without leaving behind any of the weakest members of their
community, and then contrasts such resolute behavior with the failure of the English army to rescue the prisone rs, through lack
of courage and passivity. In the passages above there are also other hints that undermine certain preconceived notions about
the “Indians” (e.g. when the author reflects on their food and makes observations which tend to undermine her read ers’
expectations concerning the exoticism of the Native People). In the “Fifth Remove”, Mary Rowlandson describes “the strange
providence of God in preserving the heathen,” emphasizing how hundreds of Narragansett (including many women carrying
babies, as well as various kinds of movement-impaired people, “old and young, some sick, and some lame”) manage to convey
their entire settlement across a river that the English troops cannot across. She underlines the extraordinary mobility of the

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Indians, is spite of being burdened by all their possessions, and sets it in sharp contrast with the lack of “courage or activity”
exhibited by the party of rescuers. Even if she justifies her captors’ success by claiming that God preserves them so that many
continue to “try” the captives, in this passage there is an explicit reproach directed at the English, and an implicit appreciation of
the humane behavior of the divinely favored -rather than hellish- Indians.

11. Look carefully at the passage above and comment on the author’s use of the Bible. About one third of the Biblical
references in the Narrative come from the Psalms. Note that Rowlandson mentioned the book of Psalms as a spiritual religious
struggles a very useful model to express her deep anger against her enemies and her confidence in divine retribution. She did
not feel the need to give complete quotations because she assumed that her readers would be familiar with the Biblical
passages she echoed. One of the basic theological principles of the Puritan faith was the unmediated relation between the
believer and Christ, who manifested himself in the believer’s soul and in the Bible. Consequently, Scriptural exegesis was a regular
cultural practice among the Puritans, who proclaimed the supreme authority of the Bible and made it accessible to the entire
community of believers. Being a minister’s wife, Mary Rowlandson was likely to be more steeped in the Bible than the average
members of her congregation. She must have learned many biblical passages by heart, and was probably able to quote them from
memory for her purposes, drawing conclusions on her own. Moreover, since one of her captors gave her a Bible taken as plunder
during the raid on Medfield, she spent time scrutinizing the book in order to find any messages from God that would assure her
spiritual survival. One or two years after her rescue, when she wrote her Narrative, she often quoted passages she said she had

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looked at while a captive.

12. Did Rowlandson’s eventual redemption affirm her faith in God? Did her world view change during her captivity? Comment
on the concluding remark with which the Narrative ends. The concluding remark of Mary Rowlandson’s Narrative demonstrates
that she interpreted her earthly redemption as a divine sing of her spiritual salvation. The author contended that her purifying and
strengthening ordeal taught her to trust Good, and overlook any minor temporal problems which might trouble her, so that she
ended up considering them as not worthy of attention. Regarding changes in her worldview, certain passages of her account
reveal that she questioned some of her preconceptions, and ceased to interpret human existence in Manichean terms of good and
evil, she observed how the same people who had committed acts of brutality also performed deeds of virtue, just as she would
have expected from any charitable Christian.

13. How does Mary Rowlandson’s presentation of herself compare to that of Anne Bradstreet? Anne Bradstreet (c. 1612-1672)
and Mary Rowlandson (c. 1637-1717) developed self-fashioning strategies in accordance with the expectations of their fellow
Puritans, who demanded edifying portraits of virtuous wives and mothers: honest, humble, diligent, and pious. Much of their s elf-
abasement can also be interpreted as a calculated rhetorical pose, a poetic convention, and a defensive maneuver to protect
themselves from the harsh criticism of certain male readers, rather than as evidence of genuine insecurity. In their writings, both
authors conveyed numerous autobiographical elements concerning the material losses and psychological hardships they endured,
and depicted themselves as being physically and emotionally tough, though they also acknowledged their spiritual weaknesses.
Strictly complying with the principles of Puritan rhetoric, they rendered every personal experience of their lives as a moral lesson
cast in terms of biblical typology. They often renewed their trust in God in the face of adversity, while showing a wide rang e of
feelings which exemplified frequent tensions between faith and doubt. These two highly literate writers discussed only the private
concerns which religious people of their time would consider ethically relevant, and shared with their readers their percepti ons
th
about fairly common struggles in the arduous existence of 17 -century female settlers.

14.Compare these passages by Rowlandson with John Smith’s earlier account of his captivity, paying particular attention to
a) The presence or absence of religious thoughts
b) The way they represented their captors as diabolical savages
c) Any differences between the authors that may be attributable to gender (e.g. Smith’s self-confident tone vs.
Rowlandson’s sincere acknowledgement of her anxiety.)
Note that Smith’s short account was just a passage within a long book whereas Rowlandson’s captivity narrative was the first
full-length work of the genre. Although Captain John Smith’s account of his three-week captivity is not a separately published
captivity narrative, and many scholars contend that it should not be classified as one of its true examples, it is widely recognized as
the foremost precursor of this literary genre. Mary Rowlandson’s account of her eleven-week captivity, which strictly follows the
jeremiad design, is the first and most famous full-length work of the genre. Smith’s text is focused on his adventures, whereas
Rowlandson’s is centered on her religious ordeal.
Both Captain Smith and Mary Rowlandson depicted their captors as diabolical savages. Furthermore, Captain Smith called
Powhatan’s subjects “grim courtiers”, thus comparing them with the attendants at any European loyal court. However, Mary
Rowlandson did not see the Narragansetts as courtiers, but revealed her steadfast tendency to her captors as “the bloody
heathen”, “those merciless heathen”, and later simply as “the heathen”.

John Smith proudly construed the account of his captivity to emerge as a hero who shamelessly boasted about his exploits. On the
contrary, since Mary Rowlandson wrote for the spiritual edification of her readers, she was constrained to present herself as a
poor sinner, humbly acknowledging her failures, and ascribing any success in her story to divine providence, rather than to h er
own accomplishments. John Smith’s worldly concerns and literary education throw light on his wish to ornament his captivity
account with Greek and Latin quotations drawn from the works of secular authors. On the other hand, Rowlandson’s religious
bent explains why she adopted the Puritan plain style and restricted herself to quoting from an English version of the Bible.

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Gender differences also justify some divergences between the works of the two authors regarding both subject matter and style at
a time when the social roles of men and women were very far apart.

15.How does Mary Rowlandson’s presentation of history compare to that of Captain John Smith and Governor William
Bradford? The writings of these three authors illustrate the complex relationships between history and rhetoric. Mary
Rowlandson’s presentation of historical events differs from John Smith’s because she tried to be as accurate as possible, whereas
he felt free to blend fact and fiction. Since Rowlandson and Bradford shared a Puritan vision of the world, they interpreted al
historical events in providential terms, and considered history as a continuum moving toward a particular outcome, according to
God’s design. Both writers typified Puritan colonial discourse, which denied the very fact of invasion, for the members of that
religious group believed they were not claiming America by conquest, but reclaiming what by virtue of God’s promise rightfully
belonged to them. As a result, although Bradford and Rowlandson honestly thought they were recording a truthful version of th e
actual events they had witnessed, in fact they were construing rather biased historical accounts which omitted key factors. For
instance, Rowlandson candidly depicted the colonists as the innocent victims of the unbridled cruelty inflicted on them by th eir
enemies, overlooking how the Algonquian tribes were suffering the devastating effects of disease and starvation. If she had
explicated King Philip’s War as the culmination of tensions between Natives and European settlers over land rights, she would
have placed the raid on the small town of Lancaster in the larger context of a struggle in which about 600 colonists and 3000
Native Americans were killed.

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5. John Edwards 1703-1756

Works: Sinners in the hands of an Angry God 1741

Genre: Sermon /oratory sermon (written to be listened to, not read)

Beliefs: Religion: Religious subjects: “the last great Puritan: Condemnation and salvation. Calvinist. Advocate of the
Great Awakening. God´s providence. Everything was based on God’s providence. All depends on God’s will.

Moral: Deism the most significant threat to Christianity

Influences: Studied Newton and J. Locke. Adapted theirs ideas to his own theories of biblical revelation

Themes: the hand of God prevents the sinners from falling into hell

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Autobiographical elements: Theologist and philosopher: Studied Newton and J. Locke. But he adapted theirs ideas to
his own theories of biblical revelation

Purpose and audience: To sermonize and terrify people into obeying God (not to give comfort)

Subversion/hidden meaning:

Style (diction/ tone/imagery/syntax): Style: Plain style (simplicity and clarity, but does use metaphors) Didactic and
terrifying sermons. Imagery: Horrible image of hell and its tortures, to awaken dormant audience, to make audience
FEEL. Tone: Puritan/in crescendo
Self-representation/depiction: Saw him-self as a savoir of the sinners. Presents his sermons from a negative pint of
view. Theologian and philosopher

Narrative mode (description, speech, report, comment): description (language of sensory experience), comment
(doctrinal)

Period/Historical Context: Great Awakening

Rhetorical devices (metaphors/stereotypical characters..): (SAY WHY he used metaphors)Edwards strove to make
his audience understand the nature of sin and reject evil. Metaphors and similes intended to fill people with fear and
revulsion when thinking about hell (“that lake of burning brimstone,” “the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the
wrath of God,” “a wide and bottomless pit,” “a great furnace” and “the bottomless gulf”), sin (“bitter and poisonous
fruit”), and the sinner (“a spider,” “some loathsome insect” and “the most hateful venomous serpent”). Metaphors
refer to the wrath of God in terms of a “dreadful storm,” “a whirlwind,” and “great waters that are dammed” but can
be “let loose.” The vulnerability of humans “the chaff of the summer threshing floor. Biblical allusions. Horrible image
of hell and its tortures, to awaken dormant audience.

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The author and his work

Jonathan Edwards, philosopher and theologist


-The greatest advocate of the so-called “Great Awakening”.
- Brilliant use of rhetorical strategies to move audiences whose immediate reaction he wanted to
provoke. He struggled to reconcile reason with emotion. In his opposition to Deism (a rational religion,
the existence of God could be proved without the aid of the Bible) Edwards focused upon the
importance of the emotional side of religious conversion.
-He communicated his ideas in a language of sensory experience so as to make his audience not only
understand but feel. The essential imagery is kinaesthetic, basic on bodily motion, rather than visual. To
this end, he uses a spider to better illustrate, convince and persuade his audience (Exploratory question
9, shift of verb tenses, shifts in personal pronouns).
-His most well known sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God follows the tripartite structure of a
Puritan sermon: Text, Doctrine and Application. The Text is a Biblical quotation. The Doctrine, after the
main thesis is established, a series of considerations (reasons) placed in a logical order abound in

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demonstrating its truth. The Application consists in applying those principles to everyday affairs. At the
end, a simple (plain) conclusion is added.

Imagery: consumed by fire, by sin in the flames of hell. Nature: Slippery places, man liable to fall –
remember that in English fall is a synonym for sin. Slippery declining grounds, pit, fire (glowing flames),
bottomless gulf, falling rock, spider’s web, storm, thunder, fury of a whirlwind, floods, spider (loathsome
insect), venomous serpent (snake = Satan), flames of wrath. All images are negative, either of destructive
natural phenomena or destructive animals. However, the sermon concludes in a positive light: there is
still time to repent and convert.

The focus of the sermon is not on hell, but on the sinner who is dangling over the abyss suspended on a
slender thread.
The key image of the sermon is not that of the lake of burning brimstone but that of the spider.
He uses imagery to give his congregation a mental picture of God holding sinners above the fiery pits of
Hell. After filling their hearts with fear, he uses this image to show them that there is indeed a light at the
end of the tunnel in the form of God's mercy and forgiveness.
Edwards uses several rhetorical devices that contribute to the effectiveness of his sermon, such as
figures of speech or tropes to compare abstract concepts of God's wrath and the sinner's evil to common
experiences. His use of metaphors and similes spans over the paragraphs.
Vivid metaphors were created and presented to his parishioners, creating within their minds pictures of
hellfire and eternal damnation, devaluing their love and desires, glorifying their love towards a
contemptuous God. Similes were presented to them, allowing Edwards to describe intangible objects
such as love and God like a light, or as the will of the soul.
Edwards also uses repetition and parallelism to get his point across. In this sermon he is trying to
persuade the people to have a change of attitude, and to stop being sinners.
“Their foot shall slide in due time” is an example figurative language.
“They brought forth bitter and poisonous fruit” is best described as a controlling metaphor.
In the opening paragraph of the sermon “They” refer to the wicked Israelites.
“His wrath towards you burns like fire” is a conventional simile.
Throughout the text the sinner is compared to an insect, a spider and a snake.

Exploratory questions

1.State briefly the main theme and thesis of this sermon. If we take into account the title of the sermon, it is clear the main thesis
of this work. Edwards wants to point out that the mankind is a sinner and their only hope to be saved is to accept the angry God’s
will. Furthermore, in the first extract (taken from the Text and the Doctrine) Edwards highlights that the Israelites, although having
lived under the means of grace (the preaching of the word of God and the administration of the sacraments of baptism and the
Lord’s Supper) had brought the sin into this world. He also gives four reasons to justify and explain the punishment and
destruction Israelites have been always exposed.

With the extract from the Application, Edwards wants to warn people that they are living in sin, which is going to wake God’s
wrath up which, at the same time, means that God is going to punish every sinner in this world. However, Edwards does not want
people to be punished. Instead, he wants sinners to be saved and the only way to do it is by converting them into Puritanism or

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orthodox Calvinism. So, it can be said this sermon it is a way to persuade people to convert themselves into Puritanism and, more
specifically, into the “Great Awakening”.

2.The author used terrifying imagery and this and other sermons of the same period. Make a list of the images that may have
frightened Edwards’s audience, and arrange them thematically into groups. Remember the concept of image: the writer likens
an inwards state or experience to something outward which conveys the same experience. The lake of burning brimstone; the
dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; hell’s wide gaping mouth open; plunge into the bottomless gulf; a spider’s
web would have to stop a falling rock; the world would spew you out; black clouds of God’s wrath hanging directly over your
heads; hand of God; the sovereign pleasure of God stays his rough wind; your destruction would come like a whirlwind; you would
be like the chaff of the summer threshing (trillar: Quebrantar la mies tendida en la era, y separar el grano de la paja.) floor; the
wrath of God is like great waters; the floods of God’s vengeance have been withheld; there is nothing but the mere pleasure of
God that holds the waters back; if God should only withdraw his hand from the flood-gate, it would fly open; the bow (arco) of
God’s wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string; the God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a
spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire; you have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince.

3.Although other sermons illustrate much better Edwards’s attitude to nature and his sensitivity to its beauty, analyze the
images from the natural world that are used in the context of this sermon. Take into account that Edwards includes nature as a

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source of revelation, on the grounds that the created world provides ample evidence of God’s power and glory.

 “your destruction would come like a whirlwind:” a whirlwind is a column of air moving rapidly round and
round in a cylindrical or funnel shape. So, if the wrath of God is like a whirlwind means the wrath is going to
destroy everything so quickly that no one will be able to escape. Furthermore, the effects of a whirlwind take a
long time to be palliated and this means the effects of God’s wrath can be even everlasting.

 “you would be like the chaff of the summer threshing floor”: chaff is the husks of grain or other seed
separated by winnowing or threshing. As a consequence, it can be said that sinners will be so useless that after
God’s punishment won’t be able to start over.

 “black clouds of God’s wrath hanging directly over your heads”: black clouds are sign of a storm, and storm
also implies heavy rain, thunders and flashes of lightning. A storm is synonymous of destruction and if God’s
wrath is hanging over sinner’s heads means they have no chance to run away. Also, if by any chance, a flash of
lightning hits somebody this person is going to die immediately or suffer a lot if he/she lives. So, there are two
alternatives: death or painful lives.

 “the wrath of God is like great waters; the floods of God’s vengeance have been withheld; there is nothing but
the mere pleasure of God that holds the waters back; if God should only withdraw his hand from the flood-
gate”: it may be thought that if you are hit by strong waters, it is not going to be so painful as hit by a flash of
lightning or a whirlwind. But it is completely wrong. If God wanted to open the floodgate, there would be a lot
of painful consequences: people will be drawn and those hit by the waters will be cut in half.

4.Edwards is said to have invented a “language of sensory experience that stirred the passions of his country congregation.”
Give three examples of the preacher’s appeal to the senses.

 All the images and metaphors about hell evoke the heat and the pain of being there.

 The image of the spider is used in order to feel disgusting and revolting about yourself for being a sinner.

 The slippery ground is used in order to have insecurities and to realize without God all kind of floors is not safe.
Furthermore, if the floor tears and breaks, you will be fall down on Hell.

5.How successfully do the images work in this sermon? Are they all artistically effective? In my opinion, the images are quite
successful and explicit. As it can be seen in question 3, all the metaphors and comparisons perform the function of convincing
sinners to convert themselves into orthodox Calvinism. All these images are so painful that nobody would like to be in that
situation. Obviously, everybody wants to be saved and not to suffer eternally. If they way to earn eternal salvation, they have to
start living purely and sin-free. Undoubtedly, they will start over before God unleashes his wrath.

6.Note the author’s frequent use of the word “wrath” and analyze it in each context, taking into account that some of the most
striking images in the sermon are those which display the fearful wrath of God. The word “wrath” in this sermon is used to
express how angry is God with all those sinners who live in the Earth. We need to take into consideration that God created the
Earth so that the mankind could live sin-free. However, the plan didn’t work out as it was expected and, according to Edwards,
Israelites brought sin into the world. So, it is expected God to be really, really angry and disappointed. And the best way for him to
express his wrath is to punish those who, insensibility, do not believe in him and do not follow his rules.

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7.Analyze the biblical language of this sermon, paying particular attention to the author’s transformation of his sources. Note
how he uses allusion much more often than quotation. Biblical language and references are always a good way to justify what is
said. In this case, Edwards knows that by using biblical references, his works, and specifically this sermon will be stronger and even
more reliable. The Bible is considered sacred and not questionable. So, we can say the Bible is synonymous of truth. Edwards
alludes three cites of the Deuteronomy in the first extract. The reason that he prefers allusions instead of quotation can be
because the text is livelier and also he assumes readers already know the Bible, so it is not necessary to write those sentences
again.

8.It has been observed that the preacher of this sermon expresses and increasing concern for his aud ience. Do you agree? I truly
think the preacher is concerned for his audience. Jonathan Edwards is a preacher, so his job is to lead parishioners to the eternal
salvation. He wants every sinner to convert into Calvinism in order to be saved. And he thinks that the best way to accomplish his
mission is by writing about the consequences from living in sin. Edwards was such as religious man that he was even more
th
conservative that his own grandfather. This means he never questioned the Bible and he believed that 17 -century Puritans had
found the way to be saved. Thus, for him it made no sense to make any reformations. In conclusion, it is necessary to follow the
strict rules of Calvinism to reach the eternal salvation.

9.Professor J.A. Leo Lemay, a great scholar of American colonial literature, has postulated that much of the escalating

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emotional appeal of Sinners is due to its increasing immediacy of:
a) Personal reference (by shifting from they to we to you)
b)Time (by shifting from the past tense to the present, and by heightening the effect with a repetitive now)
c) Place (by shifting from Israel to here).
Analyze the sermon in the light of this theory. When Edwards wrote this sermon he did it with a purpose. He wanted to
demonstrate that living in sin is dangerous and can have dreadful consequences. In order to achieve this goal, he showed what
happened to Israelites. So, what happened to them (leaving the marked path), so many years ago and in Israel can happen again
with his people at that time and in the United States. So, it can be said he takes the Israelite case as an example so that his
parishioners do not make the same mistakes and can be saved and enjoy the eternal life.
10.This sermon slowly builds up toward a climax. Look at the text and indicate where the moment of greatest tension is. After
explaining reasonably what happened to Israelites and showing that the humankind is exposed to be punished unless they
conversed into Puritanism and Calvinism, he decided to gather in one paragraph all the dreadful and painful images that had
already come out in the rest of the text. It is the penultimate paragraph that begins with “O sinner!” and with it Edwards wants
sinners to consider for the last time –in case they hadn’t considered yet- that living in sin is a way with a dead end.
11.In other sermons, Edwards movingly tried to portray God’s love. Analyze the author’s concept of God in this sermon. The
image of God that Edwards gives is angry, resentful and merciless with those who do not believe in him and do not f ollow his
commandments. Furthermore, in this text God is related to the word “wrath” which shows how mean God can be. Moreover,
Edwards also says that all humankind’s lives depend on God. So, basically God is the owner of humankind’s lives and He is free to
do with them whatever he wants. This last idea can be seen in the sentence “you find you are kept out of the hell, but do not see
the hand of God in it”, which shows the world depends on God’s will.

12.Both similes and metaphors are figures of speech in which one thing is described in terms of another, or something is
likened to something else. The only difference between these two figures is that in a simile there is an explicit comparison
(recognizable by the use of the words “like” or “as”), whereas in a metaphor the comparison is implicit. Analyze in their context
the following similes:
- Your destruction would come like a whirlwind (torbellino): a whirlwind is a column of air moving rapidly round and
round in a cylindrical or funnel shape. So, if the wrath of God is like a whirlwind means the wrath is going to destroy
everything so quickly that no one will be able to escape. Furthermore, the effects of a whirlwind take a long time to
be palliated and this means the effects of God’s wrath can be even everlasting.
- You would be like the chaff (paja) of the summer threshing floor: chaff is the husk of grain or other seed separated by
winnowing or threshing. As a consequence, it can be said that sinners will be so useless that after God’s punishment
won’t be able to start over.
- The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed: it may be thought that if strong waters hit you, it is not going
to be so painful as hit by a flash of lightning or a whirlwind. But it is completely wrong. Severe floods can make
people drawn and those hit by the waters will be cut in half.
And the following metaphors of hell:
- That lake of burning brimstone: this image makes reference to a great deal of sulphur destroying everything that falls
down on it. If the hell is a lake of burning brimstone means that neither nobody can survive nor can be saved.
- The dreadful pit: pit is a large hole in the ground that is also bottomless and extremely dreadful. So, if you, by any
chance, fall down on a dreadful pit you will not survive, and if you do, you will agony for the rest of eternity, because
the pit is so deep that nobody will be able to help you.
- The bottomless gulf: a gulf is a deep inlet of the sea almost surrounded by land, with a narrow mouth and bottomless
means that it does not have bottom. So, although it can be positive that there is some ground to live in hell, this
land is bottomless and it seems that it will never have and end. So, those who fall down on it, he will be eternally fall
down.

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13.According to Cicero, oratory should instruct, convince and excite the reader. To what extent do you think that Edwards
achieved such goals in front of his audience? Note that Edwards has been considered a master at the art of persuading. As I said
in previous answers, I truly think Edwards is a master of oratory. Undoubtedly, he had persuaded and convinced all those who had
listened to him or read this sermon. In those times, when religion (Puritanism/Calvinism) was such an important matter, nobody
can be unaware of it. Religion was a very competitive market, where all kind of religions tried to make a difference. Obviously, the
most powerful and important religion was that one which had more parishioners and the way to get them was by writing sermons
or giving speeches. And Edwards fulfilled his goal successfully.

14.Edwards was not only a man of faith with strong religious feelings, but also a man of thought. He argues for a synthesis o f
faith and reason. What features of this sermon reveal that its author lived in the “Age of Reason”? No tice not only his tendency
to explain rationally (which implies a faith in human ability to reason logically), but also his recurrent use of the word “r eason”
throughout the sermon. In the first extract, Edwards wants to make clear that Israelites have made a mistake and needed
punishing. In order to reinforce the statement “Their foot shall slide in due time”, he gives four reasons which clearly expl ains all
the implications and the consequences. Furthermore, it is well known Edwards used to read Locke and Newton and this influence
can be reflected in the use of the word “reason”. He tries to rationalize every sentence he is using in the text, so that the readers
do not have any questions or doubts about it. It is a good way to make the text even more convincing.

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
15.According to Benjamin Trumbull, Edwards delivered this sermon in a level voice but, in spite of his calmness, “there was s uch
a breathing of distress, and weeping, that the preacher was obliged to speak to the people and desire silence, that he m ight be
heard” (A Complete History of Connecticut). In the revival of 1741-42, practically the whole adult population of Northampton
was brought into the church. How effective do you think this sermon would be if it were delivered nowadays? Is there anything
in it that may impress modern readers? Can you find any traces of what some modern readers may call “grotesque harshness”?
Why do you think that this sermon has instigated so many dismissive caricatures of its author? Nowadays we live in a society
where there is freedom of religion and more countries in the developed world are secular. This means that religion is still
important for millions of people, in a lot of cases it does not receive the support of the state, which means that it can be less
powerful as it used to be. However, these kinds of speeches can be very convincing in specific countries and culture groups. As a
consequence, it may not be so effective as it used to be.

Modern readers like me who are used to watching thrillers and reading black novels are not afraid of anything. The first time I read
the text made a great impression on me, but I am not going to convert into Puritanism or Calvinism. This does not mean that t he
images from the text are not considered grotesque, because obviously they are, but they still don’t fulfill their goal, which is to
convince people to become Calvinists.

As I said before, we live in a society where there is freedom of speech and nobody likes to be told what they have to do.
Furthermore, the images are so grotesque that they can even be considered ridiculous and because of this, this text has been
target of dismissive caricatures. The reality shown is so far away and distant that many people do not take this sermon serio usly.

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6. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706-1790)

Works: Autobiography (1731)

Genre: Autobiography, self-help book


Beliefs: Moved away from Puritanism towards Deism. Learn HUMILITY from Jesus and Socrates.
Deist: believe in superior being on rational grounds. Free thinking- Stopped attending church to
read and study. Sins are errors.
Moral: Every man has the same rights. Equality and independence is a matter of hard work not
divine providence. Ethic and moral behaviour, not praying. Morality was a key for achieving
worldly success. Everything is useful for the individual and for society in attaining success. Education is
the best tool to improve human life

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Influences: English Enlightenment writers, such as John Locke, Lord Shaftesbury, and Joseph
Addison. Enlightenment: representation in government/science over religion/rationality.
Socrates and Pythagoras.
Autobiographical elements: all, he talks of his life: I, I, I… He used himself as the experimental
subject

Purpose and audience: He shared his insights with others to help and encourage them also on
their way to success in a capitalist society with a rising middle class. Wanted to make good
citizens. Self-scrutiny, public duty, to better himself and the community.
Style (Diction/ tone/imagery/syntax): diction and tone are colloquial to reach the great public
but not overly familiar, uses aphorisms and idioms. Neoclassical/ Puritan style, no formal beauty
or pretensions—wants to get his ideas across. Humorous touch.
Self-representation/depiction: Keep in mind purpose/truth of statements: a determined man
(self made) striving for self-improvement through temperance, industry or humility. Free
thinking Deist. Practical, enterprising and disciplined. Role models for citizens to follow. "Typical
American of the kind he wanted to settle in his country" and presented himself as "a benevolent
live-and-let-live Deist who does well by working hard and doing good to his fellow men
regardless of such matters as their station in life, politics, or religion."

Narrative mode (description, speech, report, comment): description, comment (doctrinal)

Period/Historical Context: American War of Independence, Enlightenment, Age of Reason

Rhetorical devices (metaphors/stereotypical characters..): aphorisms, idioms

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The author and his work

-Benjamin Franklin was a self-taught young man who never went to University and achieved the kind of
education that only the upper classes could afford.
-He learned languages (French, Spanish, Italian, and Latin) and read the works of the most important
English Enlightenment writers, such as John Locke, Lord Shaftesbury, and Joseph Addison.
-He broke with the narrow sectarian aspects of Puritan tradition, and embraced a quite moderate form
of thinking Deism (deísmo: doctrina que reconoce un dios como autor de la naturaleza, pero sin admitir
revelación ni culto extreme). In spite of his Deism, he developed some typical Puritan habits: constant
self-scrutiny (autocrítica), an unfailing (inagotable) devotion to hard work and public duty, and a strong
desire to better himself and his community.
He shared his insights with others to help and encourage them also on their way to success in a capitalist
society with a rising middle class. Thus, he initiated an American genre –the self-help book- with Poor

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
Richard’s Almanac, his most popular work, which made him rich. He began to issue the Almanac in 1732,
under the pseudonym of Richard Saunders, and continued publishing it for twenty-five years. Poor
Richard’s Almanac contained factual information and advice for being socially successful and achieving
wealth in a series of memorable sayings collected from various sources or invented by himself.
-Franklin compressed moral points into witty aphorisms that played an important role in molding the
American character. Some of these aphorisms were to reappear in The Way to Wealth (1757) and have
become standard American proverbs or sayings.
-Franklin also started a lucrative career as a printer and tradesman by reprinting the works of the classics
and of great Europeans.
- He helped to found many of the city’s public institutions (fire company, library, college and hospital). He
won worldwide esteem for his scientific research in different fields (medicine, physics, agriculture,
economics, etc.) and conducted important experiments with electricity, which transformed
miscellaneous knowledge on the subject into a coherent discipline. His accomplishments included the
invention of the lightning rod (pararrayos), the Franklin stove (estufa), a simplified clock, a machine for
duplicating handwritten documents, and the glass armonica.
-At the age of forty-two, he went to England (1757-62) and France (1779-85) to work as a diplomat. As a
member of the American delegation to the Paris peace conference, he was one of the negotiators and
signed the Treaty of Paris (1783), which brought the American War of Independence to an end. Back in
the US, in 1785 he became president of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, and in 1778 he
retired from public life. In 1790 at the age of 84, he died in Philadelphia.
-Franklin’s political achievements included his leadership of the American Revolution, his help in writing
the Declaration of Independence, his participation in 1787 convention at which the U.S. Constitution was
drafted, his presidency of an anti-slavery association and his promotion of universal public education. His
final public act was to sign a memorial to Congress recommending the dissolution of the slavery system.
Autobiography
Franklin’s Autobiography is considered the greatest work of its kind produced in colonial America and a
classic piece of Americana, although it was composed largely in Europe and was first published in Paris in
French translation a year after the author’s death. Franklin worked on it in several places and at four
different times over a period of more than eighteen years: England 1771, France 1784-85, Philadelphia
1788, and Philadelphia 1789-90. He started writing his Autobiography when he was 65 and stopped
composing it at the age of 84 because of illness. He only recorded the first part of his long life, since his
account ends in 1757, when he was 51 years old.
The work is divided into four sections:
The 1st one divided in 5 chapters covers the years from his birth to his marriage. In it, he acknowledges
having made mistakes in his youth on Boston and Philadelphia and having learnt from them. (1706-1730)
nd
The 2 one is a description of the author’s efforts to achieve moral perfection and the necessary
precepts to succeed (only ONE year, 1713). The most famous section:

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- He describes his plan for self-improvement through the practice of virtue.


- He aims at making good citizens rather than good Presbyterians.
- He puts his ideas into practice using himself as the experimental subject by modifying
his behaviour.
rd
In the 3 section, he focuses on applying such precepts, the promotion of civic causes and the progress
of his political career.
4th section is centred on the dispute between Proprietaries and the Pennsylvania Assembly, resulting in
the tax exemption of the former abolished.
His primary motive for writing the history of his life was to provide a model for public conduct. He
believed that people could and should act in their own interest as long as this self-interest was not in
conflict with society.
His Autobiography is written in a neoclassical version of the Puritan plain style. Franklin developed his

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supple prose style as a tool to communicate his ideas clearly. His and tone are colloquial without being
familiar.
-He translated his personal experiences into general propositions that could be applied to other people.
His morally oriented pragmatism impelled him to consider the usefulness of everything both for the
individual and for society in attaining worldly success. Franklin did not mention sins, but mistakes or
errata.
From The Autobiography, 2nd section
The extract from American Literature to 1900 is from the second section of Autobiography, in which the
seventy-eight-year-old autobiographer looks back at his youthful years and describes his plan for self-
improvement through the practice of virtue. Franklin had internalized the Puritan habit of introspection,
or moral self-scrutiny, but he aimed at making good citizens rather than good Presbyterians. He put his
ideas into practice using himself as the experimental subject. We will learn about how young Franklin
attempted to modify his behavior with a practical scheme, which did not pertain to Christian salvation
but to earthly success.
Presents 13 virtues (temperance, silence, chastity, justice, sincerity, ….)
Wants to master them one at a time (a week at a time), repeating this course of 13 weeks 4 times a year.
First Temperance, then silence, then order,… all methodically written down in his notebook.
Benjamin Franklin was able to reconcile his Deistic ideas (belief in a rational religion) with some typical
Puritan habits: constant self-scrutiny, devotion to hard work and public duty, and a strong desire to
better himself and his community. In fact, he was a man of the Enlightenment (Age of Light), also called
Age of Reason, characterized by the belief in the use of man’s reasoning powers to improve and take
control, as well as impose order, in his life and his world, a belief-system that would inevitably lead to the
American Revolution first and to the French Revolution afterwards.
Apart from being an scientist, inventor, diplomat, printer and writer, among other professions, he is at
present well-known for embodying the self-made man, able to rise from poverty and becoming who he
wants: wealthy, respected and politically influential. Not only his The Way to Wealth but also his
Autobiography provides numerous examples for readers to imitate his behaviour, so as to learn to help
themselves. Being a self-educated man, he proved that education was the best tool to improve human
life. Actually, he saw in education the best tool to set humanity free.

-He established a pattern, from self-made man to a self-made nation.


-Franklin sought to balance individual self-interest and social interests, when the well-being of the
former strengthens the latter. If Franklin helped to forge the myth of the American dream, as it is said,
then certainly, the American Dream has to be definitely associated with the ethics of capitalism.

Compare and contrast Edwards and Franklin: When compared to Jonathan Edwards, Franklin’s emphasis
on errata or mistakes instead of sins, marks a clear contrast between Edward’s theological perspective
where man’s life is totally dependent upon God’s will, and Franklin’s leaving man’s destiny in his own

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hands (man’s power to change his life). Besides, Franklin’s philosophy of life permits learning from errors,
and has faith in man’s abilities rather than on God. It might be said, that for Franklin man is his own
God/good. In addition, Edward’s emphasis on emotions contrasts with Franklin’s focus upon reason and
logic. Education rather than religion matters most. Franklin undertook a scientific approach to morality.
By analysing his errors, he proposed making rational and logical amendments that would lead to self-
control. Edward’s men should allow God to control their lives; they are controlled by God. Instead of
Franklin’s independence of man, Edward supports man’s dependence upon God’s grace and good will.
Both give a lot of importance to introspection, self-analysis (Franklin’s daily examination), for, firstly, man
needs to become aware of himself, of his positive and negative actions and features, so as to be able to
allow for changes.
Exploratory questions

1.Analyze any two Franklin’s precepts in their social and historical context, bearing in mind that the author ordered the virtues
th th
from easiest to hardest to achieve. The two precepts I have chosen are chastity and humility, in the 12 and 13 places
respectively. According to Franklin, chastity refers to having sexual intercourse only for health or offspring. He condemns having
sex because of dullness, weakness and hurting another’s reputation because it could be negative effects to the subject making the

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action. In a time when the towns and cities were relatively small, where everybody used to know everybody else, a lot of things
could be wrong if somebody has sex with prostitutes. So, in this sense, the only person who was going to get hurt was that on e
who was having sex. He was the stupid, weak and dull. Furthermore, Franklin was living in the Enlightenment when reason used to
guide everybody’s lives. Thus, having sex with prostitutes was not reasonable at all.

The other precept is humility. According to Franklin, this precept refers to imitate Jesus and Christ. In a time, when a lot of things
were discovered and invented and especially when the US became independence from the UK was very difficult not to take any
credit for it. For Franklin, all things needed to be done in order to help oneself or other people; so, it didn’t make any sense to do
things only for taking the credit. Socrates and Jesus were two people who were willing to die in order to save the rest of the
population. They never searched for any credit but also they wanted people to live humbly and especially to help each other.

2.Consider the relevance of the following sayings from Poor Richard’s Almanac for the analysis of the thirteen virtues singled
out by Franklin: “Tongue double, bring trouble”, “Humility makes great men twice honorable”, “Early to bed and early to rise,
makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise”, “God helps them that help themselves”, “He that hath a trade, hath an estate”, and
“Have you somewhat to do tomorrow; do it today”. All of these sayings are directly linked to the thirteen virtues Franklin wrote
about:

 “Tongue double, bring trouble” is linked to the virtue of silence that refers to speak not but what many benefit
others or yourself. Avoid trifling conversation. The saying exactly means this. In other words, if you speak too
much, you will probably get into trouble by saying something you shouldn’t. Thus, sometimes it is better not to
speak or say things you are quite sure about.


th
“Humility makes great men twice honorable” is linked to the 13 precept humility. Franklin thought that if
somebody helped another person or if he/she discovered something useful for the community, they will be
even more respected and beloved if they didn’t take any credit for it.

 “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise” is linked to the precepts of order,
resolution and industry because it means that there is the need to have a timeline in order to be more
productive, to do things when they need to be done and perform without failure. This entire means there is
the need to rest in order to have a more productive, organized and successful life.

 “God helps them that help themselves” is linked to all the precepts because if somebody is able to live
according to all of them, he/she is not only going to help him/herself but also the entire community. Having an
organized life helps the rest of people to have their lives organized too.

 “He that hath a trade, hath a state” means that if somebody has a skill, he/she has something of value that will
always be his/hers. So, it can be said that it is linked to all the precepts because any of these can be the value
thing.

 “Have you somewhat to do tomorrow; do it today” is linked to industry because it basically means that there is
no time to lose time and it is advisable to be always employed in something useful.

3.In the text above look for and comment on any evidence of the author’s interest both in the individual and society. He
believed that people could and should act in their own interest as long as this self-interest was not in conflict with society. How

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does Franklin try to achieve a balance between individual freedom of conscience and the social need for order? Benjamin
Franklin’s primary motive for writing the story of his life was to provide a model for public conduct; so, he translated his personal
experience into general propositions which could be usefully applied to other people. These propositions or precepts tried to
guide everybody’s lives, in the sense, that tried to make then more productive, more moderated and even more organized. Thus, if
somebody follows these precepts, he/she won’t have the necessity to be in conflict with the society, and if all the members of the
community have an organized life, there will be no chances to have any conflict or misunderstood in the public life. Furthermore,
the Enlightenment is the time of reason and reason is supposed to set people free from all the vices of the physic life. This is how
Benjamin Franklin tried to conciliate being independent with living in community.

4.Compare Franklin’s system of values with that of Jonathan Edwards, bearing in mind that they were opposites in many ways,
in spite of being contemporaries. Remember that the Reverend Edwards saw in Deism the most significant threat to
Christianity. In your analysis you may want to consider some particular aspects, such as Franklin’s supreme confidence in hard
work (rather than in God’s providence), his utilitarian ethics (the usefulness of morality in achieving worldly success rathe r than
seeking salvation), his reputed optimism and his concept of errata (instead of sins). The main difference between these two
authors is the purpose of having a life directed by moral and precepts. Jonathan Edwards was a conservative Puritan, so he
believed in God strongly, and he really thought that the only way to be saved was by living a life without any vices or sins. And in
case of sinning from time to time, it was necessary to be forgiven by praying and doing all it was necessary in order to regr et all

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the sins. However, Benjamin Franklin truly thought that living following the thirteen precepts could help to have a more organize d
and productive life. And this would be very helpful and practical to be better at work and develop the self-confidence.

On the one hand, Edwards believed that all the things used to happen were caused by God. He had the power and the supremacy
to guide or punish people’s lives, and all the sinners who were still having a great life was because God didn’t want to puni sh them
yet. Franklin thought that they only owners of people’s lives were people themselves. They had the skill and the chance to make
their lives productive and make benefits (for example, making money or having a good quality of life by reading and learning).

On the other hand, Edwards was an extremely pessimist man. He thought that nobody could be saved by God unless they had a
very strict life following the strict commandments. Furthermore, you never could lower your guard because in that moment of
weakness, the sin would take over you and you would be condemned to the eternal punishment. On the contrary, Franklin was
very optimistic. He thought that with hard work everybody could achieve their goals and living by respecting him/herself and the
community. He was so optimistic that he knew he could never change his life in a couple days. He designed a whole plan with
which he tried to achieve an errata-free life but he knew that it would take time and he would have to examine himself for the rest
of his life. This is an example of self-determination and optimism. If he had been pessimistic, he would have never thought of
creating such a long-term plan.

Finally, it is obvious why mistakes for Edwards are sins and for Franklin are errata. Edwards was a very Puritan reverend and his life
was marked by religion and God. So, for him all the bad things or mistakes were sins that offended God. For Franklin, the mis takes
did use to hurt God but also himself. His life was not marked by God but also by the society and himself. His environment was
secular not religious. And in a kind of life like this, mistakes could only be errata not sins.

5.An autobiography is a portrayal of the self (generally an attractive image) rather than simply an expression of the author’s
feelings. Writers of autobiographies always create themselves as characters, which are always somewhat different from their
authors. Throughout his Autobiography Franklin endeavored to create a hero who was a “typical American of the kind he
wanted to settle in his country” and presented himself as “a benevolent live-and-let-live Deist who shoes well by working hard
and doing good to his fellow men regardless of such matters as their station in life, politics, or religion.” Did the author succeed
in painting a credible portrait of himself, or do you think that modern readers may perceive the deceitful pose of a man who
was advertising himself? How does Franklin’s self-presentation compare to the one of the authors you have already read? Note
how Franklin can be analyzed in contrast with the writers whose work focused on the relationship between their lives and
God’s providential actions. In my opinion, Franklin succeeded in presenting himself as a humble man who was trying to achieve an
errata-free life. When I read the extract of his Autobiography for the first time, I first thing I thought that the text could have been
written nowadays. Furthermore, the thirteenth precept is humility; so, it would be ridiculous and senseless to promulgate tha t
precept if he was not going to follow it. He would lose credit and he wouldn’t be so successful. Also, he explains in detail his plan
to achieve his dreamt and perfect life in order to help other people to do it as well. Finally, he was the created of the sel f-help
book, and I think he did it because he really wanted to improve people’s lives. However, it is true that when somebody writes an
autobiography is because they think their lives are worth sharing, and this can be interpreted as selfish.

6.To what extent is Franklin’s Autobiography a typical work of the Age of Reason? Could the author seem naïve in his reliance
upon reason, or did he also take into account the irrational force of human emotions? The Age of Reason is commonly known as
the Enlightenment. It was a time when the empiricism and reason started dominated all the fields of society and also the works by
Franklin. With his Autobiography he was trying to help other people to make their lives better. But as I said in before, he knew it
wasn’t going to be easy. For that reason, he created a long-term plan which helped to achieve the wished goal. This plan
exemplifies that Franklin didn’t be carried along the difficulty and the pessimism but also he wanted to be successful and he did
whatever needed to be done.

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Also, in the extract of the Autobiography from the book, he analyzes carefully why he hadn’t been successful before and he
reaches the conclusion that everything comes with a price. In that case, the price was examining himself for the rest of his life and
following all the precepts. Moreover, the latters are presented clearly and ordered from easiest to hardest to achieve, because he
knew that it was necessary to achieve the easiest one first and raising the difficulty so that people was gaining the necessary self-
confident to achieve all of them. This way of analyzing his errata and presenting the virtues shows that reason was constantly
marking his life.

7.In an essay entitled “Benjamin Franklin” (written in 1917-18 and published in the volume Studies in Classic American
Literature) D.H. Lawrence stated that he admired Franklin but did not like him, and charged him with setting up a “barbed wire
moral enclosure” of “shalt-not ideals”. D.H. Lawrence rejected being turned into a “moral machine” or “automaton” and, since
he thought it was “rather fun to play at Benjamin”, he proposed an alternative series of maxims to ridicule Franklin’s precepts.
Compare the following three maxims by Lawrence with those you have already read by Franklin:

 Silence: be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, saw what you’ve got to
say, and say it hot: this precept means that when you really believe in something or you are defending
something with all your efforts you need to speak loudly and firmly. No matter if what you have to say it
is not profitable or even trivial, you need to say because it is a way to take it out. In contrast, Franklin’s

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precept of silence means that it is necessary to avoid trivial conversation because benefit cannot be
taken from it. Lawrence thinks speaking always have benefits because it is a way to make bounds and
relations with the society, no matter if it is not a “business” talk. Moreover, people are not machines so it
is healthy to get swept by feelings and emotions.

 Sincerity: to be sincere is to remember that I am, and that the other man is not me: every person is
different, so if you are truly yourself that means that the rest of the population is not you. This is what
makes you unique. Even if you don’t think justly and innocently, that is the way you think. According to
Lawrence, nobody can make you think as it is supposed. This precept is linked to the previous one in the
sense that people are not automatons and they have their right to think like they want.

 Humility: see all men and women according to the Holy Ghost that is within them. Never yield before the
barren: this is the funniest and most critical precept of the three precepts. If for Franklin humility means
to be as humble as Jesus, for Lawrence means that it is not reasonable to believe in someone that
supposedly was given birth by the Virgin. The only purpose of this precept was to make fun of Franklin
because he presented as Jesus as a model when he was supposed to follow the reason all the time. And,
for Lawrence, presenting someone as a model when there were no proves of his existence, it is not
reasonable at all.

8.According to J.A. Leo Lemay, Benjamin Franklin “gave us the definitive formulation of the American Dream”. Remember that
some of the most important aspects of the American Dream are: the rise from poverty to wealth, from dependence to
independence, and from helplessness to power. This means that there is hope for each person to change one’s life, shaping it
into whatever form one may choose. To what extent do you think that Franklin helped to forge the myth of the American
Dream? To what extent do you think that Franklin’s maxims embody the spirit of capitalism? The American Dream refers that no
matter in which place you are, you can do whatever you propose if you work hard and believe strongly in yourself. If we take into
account the thirteen precepts, we soon realize that they were made in order people to be successful, independent and self-
confident. These three qualities are necessary in you want to follow the American Dream or, in other words, to live the dreamt
life. Furthermore, the American Dream is the basis of the capitalism. This economic system promotes that those who work hard
need to be compensate for that. Thus, the more you work, the more successful you will be. In conclusion, it can be said that
Franklin’s thirteen precepts are in the deep basis of capitalism.

9.writers give an account of their lives they get involved in a creative balancing activity, because all autobiographies are
simultaneously objective and subjective. How does Franklin balance objectivity and subjectivity in the passages you have read?
Note how, although autobiographers are not supposed to invent fictitious incidents, they select certain incidents, and discar d
others. Likewise, they emphasize some of their traits and try to hide others. In the extract I have read the objectivity and
subjectivity are easily recognized. In the whole text he talks about how hard it is to live an errata-free life and he also talks about
his own experience. Furthermore, at the end of the text he shows his plan and how he is going to proceed. In the middle, he
presents the thirteen precepts which are defined in an objective way. It is true that the definitions are created by Franklin , but he
tries to present them in an objective way. Thus, these precepts can be considered universal and it would be easier for the society
to follow them.

10.The Autobiography is “written in a neoclassical version of the Puritan plain style, without formal beauty or pretensions to
emotional force” (K. Silverman). Franklin’s “mastery of style –that pure, pithy, racy, and delightful diction- (…) makes him still
one of the great exemplars of English prose” (M.C. Tyler). Franklin developed his supple prose style as a tool to com municate
his ideas clearly, since his stylistic creed was “one cannot be too Clear”. Analyze the passages you have read from Franklin’ s
Autobiography commenting on the way the author expresses himself, noting that his diction (choice of vocabulary and

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arrangement of words) and tone are colloquial without being familiar. As it was said many times before, Franklin wrote his
Autobiography so that the society could follow them, and in this way be more successful in their lives. Obviously, if this was
Franklin’s purpose, he needed to write it in an easy way to be understood. Their precepts are in the basis of the American Dream
and capitalism, whose maxim is everybody can achieve their goals if they work hard. So, the Autobiography was written for all
public, especially from the middle-class people, who, in some cases, hadn’t enjoyed university education. If Franklin wanted these
people to read his works, the style needed to be direct, clear and concise. Prove of this are the words used, which are colloquial
but, at the same time, save the distances so that the text could be the more objective possible.

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7. OLAUDAH EQUIANO (1745-1797)

Works: The interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavuus Vasa, the African, written by
himself (1789)

Genre: Slave narrative, autobiography, social protest

Beliefs: New believer.100% Christian Anglican/Age of Reason/ Black people=Israel people. The Bible is his
companion and comfort

Moral: it was not Christian to treat slaves that way. Education forges freedom. He defends interracial marriages

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Influences: Picaresque novel

Themes: Hostile environment./The whites are depicted as savage./Denial of humanity; deprived from
rights, literacy./White supremacy./He defends interracial marriages.

Autobiographical elements: Presents his autobiography to show his life, to what extent it has changed. Tries to
convince the audience of his moral and intellectual capacities. Confident of his skills. Self-made man.

Purpose and audience: Aims at abolishing slavery. States that blacks can write. White audience: abolitionists and
slavery supporters.

Point of view: First person narrative. First hand and supplemented with others’ memories.

Style (Diction/ tone/imagery/syntax): Ornate style. Formal prose (to demonstrate he was educated and
credible). Innocent eye perspective. Imagery: vivid description of the harsh conditions in the slaves ship

Self-representation/depiction (is he true to facts?/purpose?): experienced man who suffered and became
a better person for it (slave to gentleman). Speak about his portrait (finely dressed with a bible in his hand)
Former slave. Gentleman writer.

Narrative mode (description, speech, report, comment): description, speech (direct), report and comment

Period/Historical Context: Enlightenment, age of Reason. Antislavery controversy England

Rhetorical devices (metaphors/stereotypical characters..): Simile: “like so many sheep in a fold”. Imagery (in
the sale of slaves): “the beat of a drum”; “noise and clamour”, “terrified Africans”, “ministers of destruction”. Biblical
quotations: “O, ye nominal Christians!” “Do unto all men as you would men should do unto you”. Satire: “a new
refinement in cruelty”

Others depiction: The whites are depicted as savage.Denial of humanity, deprived from rights, literacy. White
supremacy.

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The author and his work

-Olaudah Equiano, an Ibo from what is now Nigeria, was about eleven years old when he was kidnapped
–-he was shipped in 1756 first to Barbados in the West Indies and then, to Virginia, where he worked on a
plantation. Later, he was sold to a British naval officer, Michael Henry Pascal, for service aboard his ship.

-Equiano spent most of his time at sea, and thus enjoyed many more opportunities for development than if
he had been confined on a plantation. (same master for about ten years on various vessels engaged in
commerce and naval warfare).

-Equiano went to England, where he expected to encounter less racial discrimination, and spent much of
the rest of his life in London, supporting himself with different jobs.

-Equiano travelled to Turkey and Italy as personal servant to an English gentleman, and sailed on
exploratory expeditions to the Arctic and Central America.

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-Like many other abolitionists of that time, he began by rejecting the slave trade; only later did he
envision the gradual abolition of slavery itself. Until slavery ended, he felt that the best service he could
give to his fellow countrymen was to treat them "with care and affection,"

In England, Equiano began to contribute to the abolitionist cause. He was already well known in London
newspapers when his two-volume autobiography came out. Equiano's autobiography was first published
in London in March 1789, coinciding with the beginning of this parliamentary enquiry into the slave
trade, and was frequently quoted during the proceedings.

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by
Himself

The fact that the author emphasized in the title of his autobiography that he had written it himself was a
way of asserting his authorship and an expression of his desire to refute claims that blacks had no ability
to write. The fact that he used his two names, both the African and the one imposed upon him in the
Western world, supports the thesis that his double identity was an extremely serious concern for the
author.

Apart from the title, the portrait used as the frontispiece of Equiano's autobiography also merits attention.
It displays an African elegantly dressed as an English gentleman and holding an open Bible. The message
conveyed by such an image is clear: the author is both a refined and devout African.

Equiano's narrative has a three-part structure, each one with a distinctive form, style, and tone. It begins
with a sympathetic survey of Ibo culture, continues with an account of his capture in Africa, and then
focuses on his life as a slave:

 The first part of the narrative includes tremble scenes, but is also filled with comic anecdotes of
the picaresque behaviour (cheating, compromising and cajoling) that the young slave was
forced to practise for survival purposes.
 In the second part of the narrative, from the moment the author gains freedom in 1766, the
character changes and, since he is no longer a slave, he takes full responsibility for his life as a
mature religious man, not a picaresque hero any more.
 In the third part of the narrative, the tone of the work becomes even more pious and the style is
characteristic of the spiritual biographies that Methodist preachers such as John Wesley
encouraged convert to write.

From: American Literature to 1900. GIBERT MACEDA, Mª Teresa

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The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African, Written by
himself. (1798)
His text inaugurates a new literary genre, the slave narrative, which, in fact, would become the chief
vehicle for antislavery propaganda. Using the doctrines of both Christianity and the Enlightenment to
argue for the abolition of slavery, he not only associates physical emancipation with spiritual deliverance,
but also proves both his learning and logical thinking, as well as reliability. He showed that Blacks were
not intellectually inferior but just illiterate, for when given the educational opportunities, their rational
thinking was the same as that of the whites. Besides, he will reverse racist stereotypes and use them
against the white, when he proves that white behaviour is more savage than that of the blacks, or that
their assumed Christian values are not practised in their dealings with the slaves.

Compare Equiano and Franklin: Both Equiano and Franklin’s autobiographies depict self-made men,
capable of transforming their lives through self-education, providing models of behaviour to be imitated
by readers, thus displaying a didactic purpose. Equiano’s prose is much more ornate, since he needed to
prove the white audience he was addressing of his writing prowess in order to provoke respect and

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admiration for his writing skills. Franklin was addressing a different audience, an audience that was his
equal.
-Some parallels between slave and captivity narratives can also be drawn: abrupt removal from a state of
harmony in order to confront the evil of bondage, a forced existence in an alien society where the
protagonist has to develop survival strategies and sometimes grows in spiritual strength as a result of
suffering (not John Smith). When compared to Mary Rowlandson, Equiano proves to be a man of the
Enlightenment in as much as he is confident in his ability and the help of education to forge his freedom,
whereas Rowlandson’s life is totally dependent upon God’s will.
-Equiano combined the doctrines of Christianity and the Enlightenment to argue for the abolition of
slavery, he regarded himself as a typical man of the Enlightenment.
He chose autobiographical mode to present himself as an eye-witness giving a convincing personal
testimony, the authors of these narratives attempted to prove that they were reliable narrators.
He presented himself in the formal pose of an elegant gentleman dressed in fine clothes. He posed as a
model of civility, a distinguished writer who was claiming dignity and seeking authority. His portrait
conveyed the idea that being black was not inevitable equated with being a slave.
He wanted to visually and verbally communicate the certainty of his social ascent and to transmit a
conforming assurance of his successful assimilation into American culture. He emphasized that he had
written the autobiography himself in a desire to refute claims that blacks had no ability to write.
His artificial prose style (rhetorical devices) was deliberately used strategy as well, calculated to stir up
certain emotions and to persuade his readers that he had such admirable traits.

Exploratory questions
1.The authors of slave narratives attempted to prove that they were reliable narrator who always told the truth. What
resources of credibility does Equiano use in order to persuade his readers that his work is not fiction, but an authentic and
extremely accurate account of actual facts? In order to offer an honest recollection of his childhood he uses his own experience,
information acquired from conversations with other Africans, and texts from historical sources and abolitionist literature of his
time. Furthermore, in the first part of the story he presents himself as a naïve boy who thinks he will be the meal for white people,
and afterwards, as an anti-hero, who travels from place to place making minor crimes because of the circumstances. In the second
part, he presents himself as a sensible adult who takes responsibility for his life since he is not a slave anymore. His change is
explained because of the natural evolution and change in the human beings, who, depend on the circumstances, will act in a
different way. In other words, he highlights he is only a human telling his life. Also, he prefers no including violent and gruesome
events in order not to be accused of exaggerating and fabricating things

2.The authors of slave narratives addressed white readers presenting the slave as “a man and a brother,” to use the words of
the inscription on a famous antislavery medallion. What strategies does Equiano use in order to portray himself as “a man and
a brother” in his appeal to his white audience? Equiano was kidnapped with his sister, so, the time they were together, Equiano
was playing the role of brother who needs to protect her. Then, he stops being naïve and starts being an anti-hero who does
anything that is necessary in order to survive. This survival spirit can be linked to the American survival spirit, which is the basis of
the American hero. Equiano presents himself as a human who does things he does not want to do, but he has to in order to
survive. Then, when he is free he decides to take responsibility for his life instead of not “apologizing” for what he has done, and
has the determination of behaving like a true man who faces the truth and fights for what he thinks is the right thing: aboli shing
slavery. In the last part of his Narrative, he uses the Christianity to defend his cause and make white people think on the
consequences of slavery. It can be said he behaves like a man because he wants white people to behave like men as well.

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3.Analyze Equiano’s skillfully deployed strategies of self-representation, starting with the idyllic portrait of his early years and
paying particular attention to the changes that take place from the moment he is suddenly torn from his peaceful environment.
How does he use his marginal status to observe and describe the evil behavior of his white enslavers from the innocent
perspective of an amazed child who come from a remote and strange land? Contrast this innocent eye perspective with the one
adopted by the author at the end of the second chapter, when he is no longer a naïv e alien boy, but an acculturated and
extremely articulate man who addresses his fellow Christians within the same system of values. Comment on how each of
these two perspectives corresponds to a distinctive voice and how both voices interplay in the passages you have read. When
he was a little boy he thought the white people who had kidnapped him and her sister were going to eat them. He was naïve and
innocent and he didn’t know anything about life out of Africa. Also, he depicted white people as criminals who were making a lot
of cruel things to their own benefit. But he learnt fast and started to play the role of anti-hero in order to survive. He can say life
made him grow up faster and take him out of his childhood. When he is a free man, instead of criticizing white people and
searching for culprits (sust. culpable), he prefers contributing to the abolitionist cause by writing letters to newspapers and
officials, and afterwards his Narrative. Also, he uses Christian religion and Enlightenment principles in order to make white
audience reflect on how slavery can be supported by those who proclaim the ideas of liberty and equality and love for God and
the humankind. These two perspectives corresponding of different periods of Equiano’s life and reflects perfectly the different
ways of thinking and the circumstances he has found along his life.

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4.Note that Equiano, throughout his narrative, is consciously and overtly engaged in self-construction. If, according to him, he
was “neither a saint, a hero, nor a tyrant,” how did he want his readers to perceive him, then? Bear in mind that one of the
reasons why Equiano chose the autobiographical mode was to present himself as an eye-witness giving a convincing personal
testimony. In your analysis take into account that even the most truthful autobiographies are never purely factual because the
autobiographer’s recording or chronicling is by definition neither neutral nor passive, but subjective and creative. Equiano
claims he is not a saint, a hero, or a tyrant, but in the first part of his Narrative, he presents himself as an anti-hero who tries to
adapt himself to the difficult circumstances of his life in order to survive. In the second part, he grows up and claims he want to
take responsibility of his life, because he is not a slave anymore. Obviously, he wants the audience to perceive him as a human
being, as a person, which because of being a slave was taken away from it. Although he consults some historical books belonging
to the abolitionist literature to make his autobiography more truthful, he also expresses his feelings, his impressions and his
thoughts, and shows how slavery was perceived by a naïve boy, an anti-hero and a grown-up who tries to abolish it. Furthermore,
with his autobiography the other side of the story, the story from the point of view of the defeated is told.

5.Reread William Bradford’s account of life aboard the Mayflower and his arrival in the New World. Then, compare it with
Equiano’s aboard the slave ship and his first impression upon landing. Try to point out the similarities and differences between
both perspectives or points of view. William Bradford’s account of life aboard the Mayflower is “linked” to God’s precepts and
Puritanism. All the things happen for a reason, and the reason is always related to Puritan way of life. Then, when they arrived to
their destination, the Natives are told to be savages who didn’t have the consideration of welcoming Bradford and his people.

On the contrary, Equiano tells how hard the life was while he was living in the ship. Slaves were not considered humans, so they
had no rights. They were hungry and thirsty and the white people made them jump in order to see their skills and abilities. We can
say the similarities are both authors tell how people from Europe and Africa arrived to a different New World, which both didn’t
know a great deal about. Furthermore, the stories are hard, violent and gruesome. And both works are autobiographies, so the
stories are told by a first-person narrator. Finally, both used religion to get their goals, Bradford in order to justify the situation,
and Equiano in order to change it.

Regarding the differences, Bradford’s story is told by a Puritan perspective, with which all the events and facts were conseq uences
of God’s will. Moreover, the Natives are depicted as devils and savages who were living in sin and wouldn’t be saved by God. We
can say his perspective is from the winners. In other words, Bradford and his people had the power to impose, and actually they
did, their Puritan way of life, religion and thinking. Equiano’s story is told by a slave and loser perspective. Equiano and his mates
were powerless and they couldn’t do anything to change the events as long they were not free.

6.The parallels between slave and captivity narratives include: the abrupt removal from a state of harmony in order to confront
the evil of bondage, the description of a forced existence in an alien society where the protagonist develops survival strate gies
while longing for freedom and grows in spiritual strength as a result of suffering. Compare Equiano and Mary Rowlandson in
order to comment on how the former combined the traditions of both the American autobiography and the Indian captivity
narrative. Both Equiano and Rowlandson were kidnapped, the first one for a great period of his life and the second one for a
shorter period, compared to Equiano. As the question says, both had to develop different strategies in order to survive.
Rowlandson depicts her kidnappers as terrible and savage and claims the only reason she hasn’t been raped is because of God’s
will.

Equiano also depicts his early life as hard and with a lot of suffering and depicts his kidnappers as heartless people who only
wanted to take out some profit from the slavery selling.

7.Slave narratives were an important means of challenging slavery by countering stereotypes about Africans (e.g. that they
were innately depraved, that they had no family values, etc.) and provoking reflection on the ills of the institution. How di d

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Equiano try to refute common racist misconceptions about Africans so as to change his audience’s attitude toward black
people? How did he make his readers aware of the horrors of slavery? Bear in mind that Equiano, as a reformer calling for soc ial
justice, added a new dimension to the autobiographical tradition, that of social protest. How effective do you think Equiano’s
th th
autobiography was as a political tool in the context of the 18 -and-19 -century debates over the issue of slavery? Remember
that this autobiography appeared in 1798, during the height of the antislavery controversy in England. When Equiano was able
to buy his freedom, he stopped playing the role of anti-hero and took responsibility for his life from that moment. He also proved
he was able to write and think and defend his ideas by entitling his autobiography with both the African and the European names,
which was a way of asserting his authorship and an expression of his desire to refute claims that blacks had no ability to wr ite.
Also, he became a hard worker who was able to amount a great fortune because of his writings and the several jobs of his life. He
represents the spirit of the American Dreams and the average American, who will do whatever is necessary in order to succeed.
Furthermore, he appeals to Christianity to make white people think about the consequences of slavery. Equiano’s autobiography
was a political tool in order to abolish slavery, because he himself sent copies of his work to the Parliamentary members of Great
Britain so that these people were aware of the miseries of slaves. Equiano and his mates thought white people being aware of that
tried to abolish slavery. Eventually, they succeeded, because in 1807, ten years after Equianos’ death, the abolition of the slave
trade was effected throughout the British Empire, and slavery was abolished by law in all the British colonies in the Americas i n
th
1838. Nearly 90 years elapsed between the Declaration of Independence and the ratification of the 13 amendment to the US

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Constitution in 1865.

8.Equiano’s double voice is compellingly powerful and highly eloquent. Comment on the way the author expresses himself to
heighten the impact of his account and carry his message effectively. Support your views by providing examples of his
rhetorical devices (emotional appeals, citation of authoritative sources, use of logical proof, and other stylistic effects) from the
extracts you have read. Try to pay particular attention to the rhetorical strategies used in the last two paragraphs to de scribe
the selling of the slaves and the separation of relatives and friends. Bear in mind that Equiano’s narrative was not only a
contribution to the antislavery movement but to literature as well. Equiano uses explicit descriptions in order to make his
autobiography more objective and present the facts like they were, although we know it is impossible to narrate 100 %
objectively. Furthermore, he described many times how he felt: hungry, scary, surprised, and powerless. Also, he uses a lot of
dialogues in order to reproduce more reliable dialogues. In the last part of the text, he uses a lot of questions with which he wants
to make white people think on the consequences of slavery.

th
9.Apart from portraying himself as a devout and humble Christian, Equiano was partaking of the secular strand of 18 -century
autobiography when he presented himself as a worthy person who achieved worldly success through honest hard work,
frugality, economic acumen, intelligence, and an extraordinary ability to exploit opportunities for advancement. He also
showed some anxiety to convince readers of his talents, as if he felt that his audience might be reluctant to recognize his
accomplishments. Compare Equiano with Franklin as authors of autobiographies which were typical produc ts of the
Enlightenment, paying attention both to form and content. What do these two self-made men have in common? In what
differing ways do they try to assume authority? Concerning style, can you suggest any reasons to explain why Equiano’s prose is
more formal, even ornate, than Franklin’s? Remember that Equiano was denied full admission into the world of Franklin and
explain why the former was so keen on his verbal dexterity (habilidad). Both Franklin and Equiano were self-made men. Neither
of them had university education and both were self-taught. Both used Enlightenment precepts in order to change the perception
of things, Franklin in order to promulgate the idea of the American average who succeeds thanks to the sweat of his brow and
Equiano, apart from that, to abolish the slavery.

Franklin gains authority by creating a series of “objective” precepts considered universal and supposedly all those who defen ded
the Enlightenment had to follow. Equiano gains authority by proving he was able to write, despites being black. Furthermore, he
uses Christian references to be more objective and to achieve a wider audience.

Franklin’s style was plain because he thought complexity was in the pure and simple things. He didn’t need to create long and
complex sentences in order to present his ideas, he preferred using plain and clear style so that his message could attract more
readers. Equiano’s style was more complex because he needed to demonstrate not only he could write, but also he could write
correctly and express ideas in a complex way. At that time, Franklin was thought that he could write but not the same thing was
thought about Equiano. For this reason, he needed prove his ability harder.

10.Violence plays a central role in all slave narratives. Analyze how Equiano depicts violence throughout the passages you have
read. Equiano wanted his work to attract as many readers as possible and it was also used as a political weapon against slavery.
Although he described carefully all the events, of which most were very violent, he decided not to use explicit violence because he
was afraid of being accused of exaggerating or fabricating events. He preferred readers to take their own conclusions and ima gine
how cruel, unfair and violent the facts were.

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8. PHILLIS WHEATLEY (1753-1784)

Works: POEMS: “On Being Brought from Africa to America”(1768) /“To the university of Cambridge, in
New England”(1767) /To His Excellency General Washington”(1775)
Genre: Slave poetry, Elegy (with exhortation to the living), Political poetry (To his Excellency…)
Beliefs: Deeply Christian. Sin was worse than slavery. Freedom (artistic, political, spiritual and personal)
Moral: Conversion to Christianity means: assimilation into dominant culture, access to theological claims,
and the hope of eternal salvation. Criticises Christian prejudice against blacks and Christian hypocrisy
Influences: Read Latin and Greek. Read Horace, Virgil, Ovid, Terence and other classics and by the poets:
John Milton (blank verse), Alexander Pope (heroic couplets) and Thomas Gray
Themes: Religious, moral. Public events, nature, imagination, memory. Freedom (political, artistic,

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spiritual), black’s freedom from slavery
Autobiographical elements: References about her native land, teaching in America and conversion to Christianity
Purpose and audience: White audience: abolitionists and slavery supporters. Sensitize whites towards
abolishing slavery. States that is not Christian like to treat human beings in such a terrible way. Writes
poetry to vindicate the black’s natural right to freedom (political, artistic and spiritual)
Ambivalence (conflicting feelings)/Ambiguity (double meanings) Why wasn´t she totally open??? Pleased
to have been brought to America (because she was saved from Paganism). But still against slavery!!. Gives
advice to university students (superiority). Pride in America as emerging Nation but ashamed of its slavery.
Ambiguity: different readings EJ: TO GW, nationalistic poetry or condemnation of slavery.
Style (Diction/ tone/imagery/ syntax): Neoclassical English style (Fusion of pagan/Christian traditions).
Inflated ornamentation. Accusatory tone
Self-representation/depiction: Former slave. Educated by her family.
Narrative mode (description, speech, report, comment):
Period/Historical Context: The War for America´s freedom about to start. Enlightenment, age of Reason
American Revolution (1754-1788)
Rhetorical devices (metaphors/stereotypical characters..): neoclassical style using invocation, hyperbole,
inflated ornamentation and an overemphasis on personification. Irony. Classical allusions. Conventional
and lexicalized metaphors: “realms of night,” “veil of night” or “golden hair” (all from “To His Excellency
General Washington,” clearly an imitative poem).
There are, however, other examples that attest to the originality of her imagination: SKIN
COLOR IS A DYE, CHRISTIANIZED SLAVES ARE REFINED CANE SUGAR (“On Being Brought from Africa to
America”), SIN IS A POISONOUS SNAKE IN ITS EGG, PROMISING STUDENTS ARE
BLOOMING PLANTS (“To the University of Cambridge, in New England”).
Heroic couplets and blank verse (To the university…)
Masters rhetoric devices: irony, puns, ambiguity, hyperbole, invocation, and overemphasis on personification…
Biblical allusions
Pun (paronomasia): Cain, “cane”; die, dye
Identification: Negroes = Jews (same suffering)
Visual image (“serpent egg” = sin prevented from developing)

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The author and her work


-Phillis Wheatley was born in Senegal or Gambia, in West Africa. Kidnapped at 7-8 years old.
-Brought but a wealthy Christian merchant
- She was assigned only very light housekeeping tasks on account of her frail health. Phillis was raised
almost as a member of the family along with the Wheatley’s eighteen-year-old twin children, Nathaniel
and Mary (received a better education than many white girls)
- In 1771 she became a baptized member of the “Old South Congregational Church,” which the pious
Wheatleys attended, and became well acquainted with the Bible. In addition to English, she learned
Latin and Greek, and was able to read Horace, Virgil, Ovid, Terence and other classics. She also studied
theology, philosophy, astronomy, geography and history. Under the influence of the Bible, the classics,
and English writers such as John Milton, Alexander Pope and Thomas Gray, she began writing poetry.
-First published poem, “On Messrs. Hussey and Coffin” (a religious piece about two gentleman who

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
narrowly escaped drowning), appeared in a Rhode Island newspaper in 1767, when she was about
fourteen years old. The first poem she published in Boston was an elegy on the death of the evangelical
preacher George Whitefield. In 1772 John Wheatley tried to help her publish a thirty-poem book in
Boston, but could not find enough subscribers or publishers. In order to prove that she was the actual
author, she had to endure a face-to-face examination by a committee of eighteen dignitaries from New
England
-In 1773 Nathaniel Wheatley took Phillis to London in the family-owned ship for health reasons and also
to seek support for her book, still in manuscript form. Before her departure, she wrote “Farewell to
America,” anticipating her sea journey, her arrival in England and her first view of London. It was
considered as a sentimental piece, lamenting her parting from Susanna Wheatley, but this poem was
also her most direct expression of resistance to enslavement
-From June 17 to July 26, 1773, Phillis Wheatley stayed in England, where she prepared her book for the
press and met a number of notables such as the Earl of Dartmouth, Benjamin Franklin, and the Lord
Mayor of London. During her stay in England, the poet received a copy of Milton’s Paradise Lost,
Smollett’s translation of Don Quixote, and she purchased a set of Alexander Pope’s complete Works with
the five guineas which the Earl of Dartmouth had presented to her. Just after her own volume of poetry
was published, she returned to Boston in order to nurse Susanna Wheatley, who was very ill.
Her master granted Phillis Wheatley freedom in 1773. Following the death of her mistress, the poet
rejected the advice to return to Africa because she felt that she would have looked “like a Barbarian” to
the African “Natives,” “being” an utter stranger to the language. After her manumission (release from
slavery) she was allowed to remain in the house until Mr. Wheatley’s death in 1778. Soon after that, she
married John Peters, a free black man, and had three children, all of whom died in infancy. She tried to
have a second volume of new poems and letters published by subscription in Boston but failed to gather
enough sponsors. Since her husband was in debt, she worked as an instructor in a school and as a
servant to support her family. Her last years marred by ill health and financial difficulties. She died in
complete poverty around the age of thirty-one.
Work
Wheatley’s Poetry on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral was the first collection of poems published in
English by a black person. They thirty-nine poems which appeared in the London volume were not
exactly the same ones that had been proposed for the failed Boston edition, because her American
patriotic poems had to be left out, probably to avoid offending her British readers. Apart from that, two
religious poems (“To the Deist” and “To the Atheist”) were omitted, others were altered, and some new
ones were added. In the “Preface,” the collection was presented as the work of a “native of Africa”
whose genius had impressed the many members of the English nobility and gentry she had met in
London. In an additional note, Archibald Bell offered to show the original attestation of Phillis Wheatley’s
authorship.
The mere fact that a black female slave wrote poetry at all attracted so much attention in her time, that
neither the contents nor the quality of her poems drew a great deal of interest or were really discussed.
Abolitionists used Wheatley’s case as a challenge to that assumption of African inferiority based on a

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supposed lack of artistic ability. Many years after the abolition of slavery, criticism continued to focus on
the poet while virtually ignoring her poetry. Much of our contemporary scholarship still tends to
concentrate on the historical significance of her work rather than on the intrinsic merits of her verse.
Nevertheless, nowadays some research is being devoted to analysing her poems and evaluating them as
works of art.
Poems was a slim volume written in a style much that of Alexander Pope. She followed the neoclassical
conventions of dominant English verse in the 18th century: the use of invocation, hyperbole, inflated
ornamentation, and an overemphasis on personification. Her fusion of pagan and Christian traditions is
characteristic of English neoclassical literature. She dealt with religious and moral themes. The elegy was
her most recurrent poetic form, and in it she concentrated more on exhortation to the living than
portraiture of the deceased. She also celebrated public events and wrote poems about nature,
imagination and memory.
Freedom was a repeated theme throughout her work:
 Political freedom: supporting independence from Britain through the American

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Revolution,
 Artistic freedom: using poetry to escape from an unsatisfactory material world to a world
of imagination,
 Spiritual freedom through religion and ultimately death: her elegies showing how she did
not consider death as destruction, but as a release from suffering in order to enjoy the
rewards of an afterlife in a heavenly world.
Although Wheatley considered sin a much worse captivity than enslavement, she did not cease to voice
her vindication of the black’s natural right to freedom from slavery. Four months before her own
manumission (release from slavery), she insists that love of freedom is a principle implanted by God.
There is a mixture of resignation and hope in the phrase that no Christian would have dared to
contradict: “God grants Deliverance in his own manumission way and Time.”
Important: In spite of having been well treated by her masters, who were always supporting and
encouraging her to write and to publish, she would try to express her desire to break her bondage in
indirect ways, following the example of her admired satirical playwright Terence, taken to Rome as a
slave but able to liberate his bonds by the power of his pen. Her Poems on Various Subjects, Religious
and Moral, were the first collection of poems published in English by a black person. Used by
abolitionists to challenge the assumption of African inferiority. The volume was written in a neoclassical
style using invocation, hyperbole, inflated ornamentation and an overemphasis on personification.
Besides, her poems tend to link political to artistic freedom, and physical to spiritual deliverance as well.
Actually, for her, sin is a much worse bondage than enslavement.
Pay attention to the double meanings present in the poem, “On Being Brought from Africa to America,”
where black colour is associated with sin (blackness of evil), and Cain with cane (refined sugar cane),
thus associating the wickedness of slavery with crime and sin. Since slavery cannot be attacked directly,
for it was legal, she chooses to focus upon racism and white superiority as well as the contradiction
between their Christian beliefs and unchristian actions. For Christians all human should be equal,
brothers and sisters within the Christian family.

Compare and contrast Equiano with Wheatley: When compared with Equiano, Wheatley’s critiques are
less explicit, more indirect. Instead of ‘African’ she prefers to use ‘Ethiop’ which implies a more positive
view of her race. When she points at the contradictions between the political freedom represented by
George Washington and the existence and maintenance of slavery. Instead of Equiano’s humour we find
rhetorical irony and shifts in tone. She also uses more classical allusions than him.

-On Being Brought from Africa to America(1768 and revised in 1773)


1. 'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
2. Taught my benighted soul to understand
3. That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:
4. Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
5. Some view our sable race with scornful eye,

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6. "Their colour is a diabolic die."


7. Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,
8. May be refin'd, and join th' angelic train.

 Line 2. Benighted: ignorant. Literary “be-night-ed” means overtaken by night, that is, in a
state of darkness.
 Line 3. The term Saviour can be interpreted both as “delivered from sin” and in
conjunction with God’s deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt.
 Line 4. Redemption may refer both to religious salvation and redemption from slavery.
 Line 5. Sable: black; the color of a sable, or marten. In Wheatley’s time, “sable race” was
considered a more elegant way to refer to black people than the term “Negroes,” used in
line 7.
 Line 6. Die: dye, color.
 Line 7. Cain slew his brother Abel and was marked by God so that nobody would kill him.
In the past, this mark has sometimes been taken to be the origin of dark-skinned people.

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
 Line 8. Refined: purified. Angelic train: procession of angels.

This short poem, probably written in 1768 and revised for the London volume of 1773, has been cited as
an instance of Wheatley’s denigration of her native African homeland and of her supposed full
acceptance of dominant discourses in colonial Boston. However, readers will perceive how Wheatley
used certain stylistic strategies to undermine such difference in tone and content between the first four
lines and the second half of the poem:
 Central idea: There is always hope of redemption for pagans.
 First quatrain: the poet expresses her gratitude for being introduced to Christianity and
assumes a non-threatening tone by using the confessional voice that would attract her
genteel audience. It is clear that the poet is neither disapproving Africa because of its
black population nor justifying the enslavement of Africans, but basically criticizing the
paganism of her homeland.
 Second quatrain: the author adopts an accusatory tone that abruptly reserves the
movement of the poem. She makes a direct challenge to racial prejudice through an
allusion to injustice in line 5, which is morally censorious of those who show contempt
for blacks because of the color of their skins. The term “scornful” (desdeñoso) is used
here to qualify those who despise (despreciar profundamente) blacks, just as “scorn” is
the main characteristic ascribed to those who crucified Jesus in the poem “To the
University of Cambridge, in New England.” Line 6 appears in quotes, recorded as an
actual comment made by those who thought that black was the color of the devil. Line 7
begins with an imperative, “Remember,” which resounds as an unmitigated command
intended to reproach the so-called Christians who have been quoted in the previous line.
The last two lines contain a radical refutation of some 18th-century racist notions
according to which the souls of black people were everlastingly doomed. The poet
denies any connection between spiritual darkness and skin color. Wheatley counters the
notion that black people are damned when she firmly asserts that they may expect to go
to heaven and join the ranks of the purified because they belong to the same Christian
community as her white audience. By italicizing the terms Christians, Negroes and Cain,
the poet links them rhetorically so as to tell her readers that both Christians and
Negroes, like Cain, are the descendants of Adam and Eve, and not only inheritors of the
original sin, but also equally able to be redeemed or saved by God. There is a further
subversive message in the use of the word “refin’d” because it evokes God’s address to
the people of Israel in the words of the prophet. The biblical allusion reinforces
Wheatley’s identification of “Negroes” with Jews, emphasizes their common suffering
under bondage, and strengthens their hope. This last past of the poem also contains a
pun on the name of “Cain,” pronounced like “cane,” both susceptible to be “refin’d” or
purified, Cain by being turned into a saved soul, and cane by being transformed into
sugar. This punning, together with the one on “die/dye” (line 6), emphasizes the extent
of Wheatley’s accusation when we consider these word associations in their historical

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context.
This eight-line poem is among the shortest Wheatley wrote. Like most of her other poems, it is written
in heroic couplets (iambic pentameters, rhyming in pairs). Wheatley did not try to be original, but
made efforts to master her models (Alexander Pope’s heroic couplets).
The poem is written in heroic couplets (iambic pentameters which rhyme on consecutive lines).
There is a change in tone: In the first quatrain, the poet expresses her gratitude for being introduced to
Christianity, and denies any connection between spiritual darkness and skin colour. The tone is of
gratitude. Salvation can be universal.
In the second quatrain Wheatley makes a direct challenge to racial prejudice trough an allusion to
injustice. The tone is accusatory.
She confronts racism, presents black people on the path of spiritual salvation and asserts the supreme
importance of religion over white racial superiority)
To the University of Cambridge, in New England (1767- published in 1773)
1. While an intrinsic ardor prompts to write,

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2. The muses promise to assist my pen;
3. 'Twas not long since I left my native shore
4. The land of errors, and Egyptain gloom:
5. Father of mercy, 'twas thy gracious hand
6. Brought me in safety from those dark abodes.
7. Students, to you 'tis giv'n to scan the heights
8. Above, to traverse the ethereal space,
9. And mark the systems of revolving worlds.
10. Still more, ye sons of science ye receive
11. The blissful news by messengers from heav'n,
12. How Jesus' blood for your redemption flows.
13. See him with hands out-stretcht upon the cross;
14. Immense compassion in his bosom glows;
15. He hears revilers, nor resents their scorn:
16. What matchless mercy in the Son of God!
17. When the whole human race by sin had fall'n,
18. He deign'd to die that they might rise again,
19. And share with him in the sublimest skies,
20. Life without death, and glory without end.
21. Improve your privileges while they stay,
22. Ye pupils, and each hour redeem, that bears
23. Or good or bad report of you to heav'n.
24. Let sin, that baneful evil to the soul,
25. By you be shun'd, nor once remit your guard;
26. Suppress the deadly serpent in its egg.
27. Ye blooming plants of human race divine,
28. An Ethiop tells you 'tis your greatest foe;
29. Its transient sweetness turns to endless pain,
30. And in immense perdition sinks the soul.
 Line 1. Intrinsic ardor: inner passion
 Line 4. Egyptian gloom: “And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven, and there
was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days” (Exodus 10:22).
 Line 5. Father of Mercy: God.
 Line 6. Abodes: home, place where one lives.
 Line 7. Scan: study, examine.
 Line 15. Revilers: those who rail, or assail with abusive language.
 Line 18. He deigned: he lowered himself; he humbled himself.
 Line 24. Baneful: deadly, destructive.
 Line 25. Shunned: avoided.
 Line 26. The egg of the deadly serpent is a powerful visual image which represents the

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sin that must be prevented from developing.


 Line 28. Foe: enemy. In Wheatley’s time, “Ethiopian” was a name sometimes applied to
all black peoples of Africa. Throughout her poetry, she describes herself either as an
“Ethiop” or an “African.” Though Wheatley was born in West Africa and Ethiopia is in East
Africa, she frequently associated herself with his noble biblical identity.
 Line 29. Transient: ephemeral.
 Central idea: Students should reconcile knowledge and faith.
The poem was written in 1767, and published in 1773, at a time when Harvard College, located in
Cambridge (a suburb of Boston) was often referred to as the University of Cambridge. Although a
superficial reading of this poem would suggest that Phillis Wheatley was ashamed of her blackness, or
more thoughtful analysis of its third stanza might reveal how subtly she expressed that she took pride in
it. The use of the term “Ethiop” (line 28), is a positive allusion to her racial identification because it
brings to mind Moses’s Ethiopian wife Zipporah, the Queen of Sheba and other Ethiopians noted for
their piety throughout the Bible. The name of Ethiopia evoked for the poet’s audience the ancient

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
kingdom often mentioned in the Bible, where the word “Africa” does not appear. Ehtiopia’s “blameless
race” had been honored by Homer. Lines 3-6, if extracted from their context, could suggest that the
author accepted the view that rescued from “the dark abodes” of “the land of errors, and Egyptian
gloom,” but we should pay attention to the ambiguities which appear in lines 12 and 17-20. In lines 28-
30, she points out the paradox of hypocritical Christians who profess to be the messengers of Christ and
yet fail to practice what they preach. She is telling the young Harvard men to avoid sin and laziness, and
to make the most of their fortunate positions.
This poem is written in blank verse: unrhymed iambic pentameters. This represents one of the few
exceptions to her usual preferences for rhyme. In her blank verse she tried to emulate John Milton.
This poem is written in blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameters) which are much more flexible than
the heroic couplet.
In this poem at first, Wheatley doesn’t seem to be ashamed of her blackness and what she expressed is
pride on it.
She implies that they are in serious need of moral rectification in an Africa, that is, a marginal outsider
without the privileged educational resources that the students of Harvard College have, she is telling
them to avoid sin and sloth, and to make the most of their fortunate position. She feels compelled to
advise them on moral matters.
To His Excellency General Washington(1775)
1. Celestial choir! enthron'd in realms of light,
2. Columbia's scenes of glorious toils I write.
3. While freedom's cause her anxious breast alarms,
4. She flashes dreadful in refulgent arms.
5. See mother earth her offspring's fate bemoan,
6. And nations gaze at scenes before unknown!
7. See the bright beams of heaven's revolving light
8. Involved in sorrows and the veil of night!
9. The goddess comes, she moves divinely fair,
10. Olive and laurel binds Her golden hair:
11. Wherever shines this native of the skies,
12. Unnumber'd charms and recent graces rise.
13. Muse! Bow propitious while my pen relates
14. How pour her armies through a thousand gates,
15. As when Eolus heaven's fair face deforms,
16. Enwrapp'd in tempest and a night of storms;
17. Astonish'd ocean feels the wild uproar,
18. The refluent surges beat the sounding shore;
19. Or think as leaves in Autumn's golden reign,
20. Such, and so many, moves the warrior's train.
21. In bright array they seek the work of war,
22. Where high unfurl'd the ensign waves in air.

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23. Shall I to Washington their praise recite?


24. Enough thou know'st them in the fields of fight.
25. Thee, first in peace and honors—we demand
26. The grace and glory of thy martial band.
27. Fam'd for thy valour, for thy virtues more,
28. Hear every tongue thy guardian aid implore!
29. One century scarce perform'd its destined round,
30. When Gallic powers Columbia's fury found;
31. And so may you, whoever dares disgrace
32. The land of freedom's heaven-defended race!
33. Fix'd are the eyes of nations on the scales,
34. For in their hopes Columbia's arm prevails.
35. Anon Britannia droops the pensive head,
36. While round increase the rising hills of dead.
37. Ah! Cruel blindness to Columbia's state!

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
38. Lament thy thirst of boundless power too late.
39. Proceed, great chief, with virtue on thy side,
40. Thy ev'ry action let the Goddess guide.
41. A crown, a mansion, and a throne that shine,
42. With gold unfading, WASHINGTON! Be thine.
 Line 2. Columbia: an allegorical representation of America, the land of Columbus found.
The name of Columbia was used as early as 1761 to designate English America as
opposed to Britannia. Toils: works, labors.
 Line 5. Bermoan: deplore, lament
 Line 9. The goddess: liberty personified, associated with Athena.
 Line 15. Eolus: Aeolus, the god of the winds.
 Line 18. Refluent surged: waves ebbing and flowing back.
 Line 19. Compare with John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book I, lines 301-2: “His (Satan’s)
legions…/ thick as autumnal leaves that that strew the brooks.”
 Line 22. Unfurl’d: open, spread out. Ensign: flag, banner.
 Line 30. A reference to the defeat of France by British regular and colonial militia forces
in the Seven Years’ War, also called the French and Indian War (1756-63).
 Line 35. Anon: immediately, at once.
Her skill in adapting the conventions of neoclassical verse within the context of American revolutionary
politics deserves critical attention. This poem was written in 1775, when the author was still living at the
Wheatley Home, and published both in the Virginia Gazette and in the Pennsylvania Magazine in 1776.
After reading it, George Washington invited her to visit him, and that same year she personally met him
at his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The tone of this poem (patriotic) illustrates a shift away from the voices Wheatley used in her former
statements of Christian piety. The author here seems to wholly embrace classicism by her choice of
pagan themes, and speaks in a hyperbolic neoclassical voice that both echoed and contributed to the
rhetoric of the rebels in the Revolutionary War. In her quest for authority or search for validation, she
invoked the muses rather than relying on the biblical prophets who had so influenced her previous
writings. While evoking the suggestive decorative neoclassical imagery, she subverts (asentar las bases)
the grandiose aims of her explicit praise by resorting to irony when referring to America, the country that
had enslaved her and still kept under oppression so many people of African descent, as “the land of
freedoms heaven-defended race” (line 32).
Phillis Wheatley’s poem “To His Excellency General Washington” is composed of 42 lines that centre on
the theme of “freedom’s cause.” Within the poem, Wheatley explains the colonist struggle with pursuing
freedom from England, which entails initiating a civil war. Wheatley uses the term “Columbia” to refer to
America, the country righteous for taking stance against England. Wheatley uses the “Celestial Choir” as
a poetical muse, which inspires the poet’s writing. Beginning with lines 9 through 12, Wheatley provides
a description of the “goddess of Freedom.” The goddess comes from heaven for the purpose of involving
herself in the civil war between the colonists and Britain. The reference to “olive branch” in the poem
represents a symbol of peace. In the subsequent lines, Wheatley uses the literary technique of simile, in

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which she compares the battle forces of America to the Greek forces of Eolus, king of the winds. The
simile Wheatley uses prepares the reader for the references to military language used poetically (i.e.,
“first peace” to refer to Washington as the commander-in-chief of the army). By the end of the poem,
Wheatley urges Washington to continue the objective of pursuing freedom for the colonists. She
references the goddess of freedom as a guide for Washington. By the end, Wheatley suggests that
Washington will win and become head of state. Themes of this poem include divine right and freedom.
 Images for battlefields:
 “Refulgent surges beat the sounding shore”
 “Tempest and night of storms”
“Oceans feel the wild uproar”
Wheatly embrace classicism by her choice of pagan themes, inspired from classical mythology. The main
theme of the poem is more a paean to freedom than an eulogy (elogio) to Washington, by the use of
rhetorical irony.

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
The tone is adapted to the heroic subject, it is a patriotic tone.
She evokes suggestive decorative neoclassical imaginary, she subtly subverts to the grandiose aims of her
explicit praise by resorting to irony when referring to America.

-Discuss binary oppositions in Olaudah Equiano and Phillis Wheatley’s writings (focusing on the texts
selected in units 7 and 8).

Binary oppositions can be either explicit or implicit in a text. In the case of Equiano’s narrative, an
explicit binary opposition that we can think of easily is the opposition between slavery and freedom.
During his narrative, Equiano tells us how he was deprived from his freedom by describing his
kidnapping and his imprisonment on the slave ship. Other binary oppositions that we can identify in a
very explicit way are the ones presented in lines 24-30 and 86-91. The oppositions: black vs. white, evil
vs. good and mercy vs. cruelty are evident in these lines where he describes positively how he was
treated by people who spoke the same language as him, and describes negatively the treatment received
from the whites. Another example of these oppositions is the one represented by ignorance vs.
knowledge. Through the text is possible to find many examples where the author was amazed by the
functioning of the slave ship and all that it contained, for instance, in lines 101-105. At the end of
Equiano’s writing his tone changes to be more accusative and we can find another opposition, Christians
vs. Pagans.
In the poetry of Phillis Wheatley we can also find more examples of binary oppositions similar to the
ones mentioned above. In her poem “On Being Brought from Africa to America” we find mercy vs.
cruelty, pagan vs. Christian, salvation vs. damnation and black vs. white. Especially, the word “benighted”
at line 2 acquires certain symbolism since it makes clear the opposition between night and day or light
vs. night. To these oppositions we can add one more, found in “To the University of Cambridge, in New
England” which is evil vs. good. Finally, in “To His Excellency General Washington” at line 32, we find
another binary opposition full of irony: freedom vs. slavery.
All these oppositions present at these authors’ writings call into question the surface meaning of
some assertions made in these works. In both cases, the oppositions found help to reassure their own
identity as Africans, as Christian people, and as intelligent and educated as whites can be. In addition,
the most subversive fact is that both writers were able to gain literacy under the oppressive institution of
the salve trade and the widely accepted idea of white superiority. With the clever use of rhetorical irony
in Wheatley’s works and Equiano’s powerful and highly eloquent double voice, they were able to not
only to contribute to the tradition of American Literature but helped to support the antislavery cause.

Exploratory questions
1.Discuss the poem “On Being Brought from Africa to America” as an elaboration on the theme of the “for tunate fall,” that is,
the belief that enslavement was an introduction to Christianity and, consequently, to eternal salvation. Then, consider wheth er
this reading of the first half of the poem at a literal level provides a satisfactory interpretation of the whole poem or not. In this
poem Phillis Wheatley is thankful for being brought to America, obviously, not for being a slave, but also for being able to become
a Christian, something that couldn’t have happened in her homeland Africa. So, it can be said that thanks to being a slave and
suffering its consequences in life, she will enjoy eternal redemption.
The reading of the first half of the poem doesn’t provide a satisfactory interpretation of the whole poem because the idea
extracted is Wheatley is denigrating Africa and accepting the dominance in colonial Boston. However, the only thing Wheatley is

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doing is deploring the African paganism, neither disparaging Africa because of its black population nor justifying the enslav ement
of Africans.
2.Discuss the poem “On Being Brought from Africa to America” perhaps the most controversial of Wheatley’s poems, in the light
of Olaudah Equiano’s words about racial prejudice: “Let the polished and haughty European recollect that his ancestors were
one, like the Africans, uncivilized, and even barbarous. Did Nature make them inferior to their sons? And should they too have
been made slaves? Every rational mind answers, No. Let such reflections as these melt the pride of their superiority into
sympathy for the wants and miseries of their sable brethren, and compel them to acknowledge that understanding is not
confined to feature or color.” In this poem Wheatley claims that every Christian person in the world, no matter the country,
continent, race, culture, and the color of the skin, as long as respects God and follows Him, will be saved and will enjoy the eternal
life. Although Wheatley writes both Christians and Negroes, as if the latter were not considered Christians, in the next line she
claims all of them will be refined; this means purified and joined the angelical train. So, she makes perfectly clear that the
important thing to be saved is to believe in God, not taking part of paganism, like in her African homeland.
3.According to John C. Shields, the poem “To His Excellency General Washington” is “more a paean to freedom that a eulogy to
Washington.” Explain why you agree or disagree with this interpretation. When you analyze the slave poet’s references to
freedom, note the ironic definition of America as “The land of freedom’s heaven-defended race!” (line 32). Remember that
when authors resort to rhetorical irony, they mean the exact opposite of what they say, because irony is a manner of discours e
in which the implied meaning is contrary to the stated words. The main theme of this poem is “freedom’s cause”. Within the
poem, Wheatley explains the colonists’ struggle with pursuing freedom from England. Wheatley uses the term “Columbia” to refer
to America, portraying the country as righteous for taking a stance against England. Only by the end of the poem, Wheatley urges

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Washington to continue the objective of pursuing freedom for the colonists and suggests that Washington will win and become
head of state. So, more than a tribute to Washington is a paean to freedom.
If the line 32 is interpreted literally we might think that America is the land of freedom for only those who are Christians, and, as it
has been said in the previous question, at that time only white people were considered Christians. However, Wheatley de fends
that all of those who are Christians, no matter the color or the race, will be saved.
4.Analyze any instances you can find of Wheatley’s acute racial awareness of self-consciousness in her writings, bearing in mind
that she drew frequent attention to her African heritage. Pay particular attention to line 7 of the poem “On Beings Brought from
Africa to America” and comment on how the poet deals with the color stigma of Cain’s sin attached to black people, an idea
which has been used to validate the perception of the whites’ racial superiority. Comment also on Wheatley’s identification as
an “Ethiop” in the poem entitled “To the University of Cambridge, in New England” (line 28). Although it may think that
Wheatley is not proud of Africa, her poems show the opposite. In line 1 of “On Being Brought from Africa to America”, the
reference “Pagan land” is found and refers to her homeland Africa. With “Pagan” Wheatley denounces the lack of Christianity in
the continent, but through it she doesn’t express her hate to it.
In line 7 of the same poem, we can find “Negroes, black as Cain”. The latter was a more elegant way to refer to black people than
the “Negroes” term. Wheatley puts the two terms together to highlight that both refers to the same race, black pe ople. Also,
“Cain” directly refers to the biblical character of the same name who killed his brother Abel. He was considered the first ki ller of
the mankind. So, if white people called black people Cain was because they thought they were inferior and sometimes killers.
In line 28 of “To the University of Cambridge, in New England”, it is found the term “Ethiop”, which is positive because it evokes
Moses’s Ethiopian wife, Zipporah, the Queen of Sheba. Also, it evoked the ancient kingdom mentioned in the Bibl e, where the
“word” does not appear.
5.Although Phillis Wheatley recorded few memories of her childhood in Africa, she remembered that her mother was a sun
worshipper (adoración) who “poured out water before the sun at his rising” and prostrated herself in the direction of that
raising sun. This memory of her mother’s morning ritual libation has been related to the fact that solar imagery plays an
important role in her poetry. Discuss any references to the sun that you can find in the poem you have read pay ing attention to
their dark-light and night-day imagery. When analyzing the night symbolism, bear in mind the importance of the word
“benighted” in “On Being Brought from Africa to America” (line 2). In the line 2 of “On Being Brought from Africa to America”, the
term “benighted” can be found. This term literally means overtaken by night or in a state of darkness. In this poem, it evokes the
idea of being ignorant in her homeland because she was a pagan instead of a Christian, and she was missing the purpos e of the
earth life, which is to believe in God and follow Him in order to be saved. So, terms such as “light” and “day” are in Wheatl ey’s
poetry positive and evoke the idea of the final redemption, and terms such as “dark” and “night” are negative and evoke the idea
of suffering in hell.
6.Analyze the tone of Wheatley’s poems paying particular attention to any relevant shifts. Remember that the tone reflects the
poet’s attitude both to the theme of the poem and to the reader. Wheatley’s poetry appears to be that thing that is not. When
her poems are read for the first time, the reader understands a different thing. For example, in the poem “On Being Brought f rom
Africa to America” the reader may think that she hates Africa, when what she really heats is the African paganism; in the poem “To
the University of Cambridge, in New England” the reader may think that she hates her homeland again, but she is really proud of
being both African and Christian, and from the last poem “To His Excellency General Washington”, the reader can extract the idea
that it is a eulogy to George Washington, when in reality it is a paean to freedom. This effect is made by the intentional ambiguity –
the purposeful use of wording that can be interpreted in divergent ways –and by the verbal irony –a manner of discourse in which
the implied meaning is contrary to the literal meaning of the stated words.
7.Discuss Wheatley’s attitude to slavery and freedom throughout her poems in the light of her following comment: “[…] in every
human Breast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Love of Freedom; it is impatient of Oppression, and pants for
Deliverance, and by the leave of our modern Egyptians I will assert, that the same Principle lives in us.” (From a letter to the
Reverend Samson Occom, a converted Mohegan Indian dates 11 February 1774). Wheatley was sold as a slave when she was
young to a very wealthy and educated family. She was lucky because she was taught how to read and write, which means being
illiterate. Through her poems she is claiming that she is not defending slavery and also claiming it should be abolished.
Furthermore, freedom as a theme was very recurrent in her poetry, throughout political freedom, artistic freedom, and spiritual
freedom, and she voiced her vindication of the blacks’ natural right to freedom from slavery. Moreover, she claims that love of
freedom is a principle implanted by God for every human being, including black people. So, every human being, no matter the race
or the color, will be free at some point, maybe not in this world, but in eternal life.
8.Compare the meter and the rhyme of the three poems and comment on the main differences between the effect of the heroic
couplets and that of the blank verse, bearing in mind that heroic couplets are generally subject to the danger of monotony,

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whereas blank verse is a much more flexible form. Note how Wheatley gives additional emphasis to some words by breaking
the iambic rhythm (e.g. “Once” and the beginning of line 4 of “On Being Brought from Africa to America”). “On Being Brought
from Africa to America” and “To His Excellency General Washington” are written in heroic couplets and “To the University of
Cambridge, in New England” in blank verse. Although the heroic couplet is associated to monotony, it can also be related to
stability and to make a poignant point that leaves a lasting impression with the reading, through the use of rhyme and rhythm.
When she needs to highlight an idea she breaks the iambic rhythm, and in this way, a bigger impression will be made to the reader.
And it is often considered the closest meter to natural speech in English.
On the contrary, “To the University of Cambridge, in New England” is written in blank verse because this is a much more flexible
form, it gives the poetry a good sound and it lets the poets continue to structure the poems rhythmically while giving them the
freedom to write in ways that sound more like regular speech.
9.Parallels can be drawn between Phillis Wheatley and Mary Rowlandson as pious women who longed for freedom. How does
the virtue of the female captive in Wheatley’s poems compare to that of Mary Rowlandson? Mary Rowlandson was captive for a
couple of months and during that period she tried to look for freedom, although she didn’t succeed. Mary Rowlandson in her
Narrative tells how difficult is to be captive and is thankful to God she is not being sexually assault. She has faith that her captivi ty
is going to end at some point and that is a proof needs passing so that she can enjoy eternal life. Phillis Wheatley is not free either;
she is an African slave searching for freedom in America. In some way, she feels free when she becomes a Christian and finds God’s
guide but she wants slavery and bondage to end and all of this is expressed throughout her poetry. In such a way, both Mary
Rowlandson and Phillis Wheatley are two women who are looking for her freedom, not only in a physical sense, but also in a
spiritual one.

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10.Link Wheatley’s religious references (e.g. her depiction of God, her warnings about sin, etc.) with other moral concerns in the
works of authors you have already studies throughout the American literary tradition. After reading Wheatley’s poetry, the
reader can extract a clear conclusion: she is happy of becoming a Christian and enjoying eternal redemption. If we take into
consideration the importance of religion to Wheatley we can linked her to William Bradford, Mary Rowlandson and Jonathan
Edwards. In the poetry of the four of them religion can be considered the main theme, and which articulates their lives. Without
religion, they feel unprotected and are afraid of not being saved and the consequence of this is spending the eternity suffer ing in
hell. Also, they think that the God’s will is which prevails and everything in the Earth is a result of it.

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9. Washington Irving

Works: The Alhambra 1832: Legend of Don Munio Sancho de Hinojosa

Genre: Short story, fiction narrative (not novels) (Shows the transition from neoclassicism to Romanticism:
Elements of the two. Sentimentalisms over rationalism) Romantic Orientalism. Turns history into fiction:
caricature, stereotypes.

Moral:

Influences: Sir Walter Scott. Travel spurs his imagination.


Remote Dwellings, exotic landscapes. /Reads the European Romantics. German Folk and fairy tales.

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Themes: Love and death. The marvellous. (Magic spells, incantations, charms, talking animals), weird phenomena
Spanish Romance; expository description. Old times were better

Autobiographical elements: Father of American Fiction. Sketches, poems, plays, essays. Studied law. Never
in the bar. First professional American writer of international re-known.

Purpose and audience: Traces of didactic purpose

Focalization / point of view: Second hand narrative (intermediary). Embedded narrative (frame story)

Style (Diction/ tone/imagery/syntax)(talk about period and genre) Normal diction. Lofty diction, chivalry
and battles.

Others depiction: Stereotyped characters (Romanticized and prejudiced).

Narrative mode (description, speech, report, comment): Description (people, places, objects), report (hunt, fight,
pilgrimage), speech (direct), comment (Spanish features)

Period/Historical Context: Shows the transition from neoclassicism to Romanticism: Elements of the two.
Sentimentalisms over rationalism. Early American Romanticism.

Rhetorical devices (metaphors/stereotypical characters..): Frame story.

From the Alhambra (1832)


- Spanish Romance (it is an introductory prose piece which illustrates Irving's perception of
the Spanish culture).

- Legend of Don Munio Sancho de Hinojosa (extract exam sample 4)

-He was the first to create short story masterpieces.

-Transition from neoclassicism to romanticism, combining elements from both movements.

-Classicist concern with technical skill and traditional themes to produce balanced artificial patterns,
contrasts with romantic focus with spontaneity, individuality and originality. Romantic sensationalism
(intense and uncommon emotions, fantastic setting or magic) prevails over rationalism, and moral

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exhortation gives way to a purely aesthetic appreciation, though didactic purpose is not completely
absent; besides, his enthusiasm for foreign landscapes and interest in the past, the medieval era in
particular.

He followed Sir Walter Scott’s attention to the German folk and fairy tales of bewitchment. His visit and
stay in Spain will also be reflected in his collection of short stories The Alhambra: A Series of Tales and
Sketches of the Moors and Spaniards”. Feeling uneasy about blending fact and fiction, Irving resorted to
the method of telling a story by presenting it as second-hand (as a legend, or folk-tale), presenting
himself as an intermediary (i.e. editor or finder of lost papers), to avoid responsibility when describing
mysteries, illusions, or supernatural events. Using a fictitious intermediary narrator, as well as publishing
anonymously or under a pseudonym involves creating a frame story in which the writer feels free to
adapt any legend while dispensing historical accuracy.

Irving’s attraction for Spanish legends was largely due to their high ‘oriental’ flavour, absent from other

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European cultures, and also by its code of honour, its chivalric tradition, courtesy, romantic generosity,
high disinterestedness, high-minded, proud-spirited, disdainful of material gains, generous, although
poor not vulgar.

“Legend of Don Munio Sancho de Hinojosa” also entails a captivity narrative (Some Moors made captive
by some Christians). However captives are not insulted or dishonoured, but become guests of honour;
when the king is to be made captive, he escapes. Furthermore, when the Christian knight died in battle,
the freed spirits magically or miraculously ‘escape’ on a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem.

Using stereotypical characters –representing certain virtuous or vices, rather than individuals- Irving
tries to recapture ancient virtuous modes of behaviour in clear contrast with American contemporary
ones. In addition, comment is the narrative mode that dominates the story, where the fictive narrator
keeps praising the virtuous of past actions and behaviour between two distinct, sometimes hostile,
communities, and present situation, mostly concerned with material gains. The Spanish legend is used
as an excuse to expose the writer’s preferences. Besides, he appeals to the reader’s emotional
response(s) to persuade them of his ‘correct’ analysis and values: Chivalric, courteous, generous
behaviour. In clear contrast between real and fictive accounts of war fares between European colonists
and the Indians, for example, or between the British and the Americans, Irving’s legend presents an
ideal as well as magic portrait of past war events as possible models to be imitated. Furthermore, he
made his narrator reliable when he supported his story with historical texts.

Irving shares with most European romantics their enthusiasm for exotic landscapes and their keen
interest in the medieval era. Often escaping from material environment into a world of fantasy.

In order to entertain his expanding public, he combined, in a prose style, fact and fiction. He used an
ornamental style to create a particular ATMOSPHERE, diction (choice of vocabulary and arrangement of
words), pace and imagery.

He used the four narratives modes: kinds of utterance through which a narrative is conveyed. The 4
narrative modes can reveal character.

His narrative technique involves the creation of a frame story (story within a story), in which the author
becomes a mediator between the original storyteller and the reader, by the use of this strategy, the
artist feels free to adapt legends while dispensing with historical accuracy.

His narrative voice conveys (transmite) a powerful self-assurance.

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Exploratory questions

1.Analyze Washington Irving’s concept of “Spanish romance” and consider whether his explanations provide a good
introduction to the theme of the “Legend of Don Munio Sancho de Hinojosa.” Washington Irving was attracted to Romanticism
thanks to Sir Walter Scott. He shares with romantic writers their enthusiasm for exotic landscapes and their keen interest in the
past, particularly for the medieval era. So, it can be said that the main purpose of Irving was to arouse intense and uncommon
emotions, throughout remote settings, far away in time (medieval era) and space, the creation of a world of fantasy.

“Legend of Don Munio Sancho de Hinojosa” represents perfectly his idea of Romanticism. The main plot of the work i s the conflict
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between Christians and Muslims in the Iberian Peninsula from 8 to the 15 century, which means that it is a supposed recreation
of the past, especially of the medieval period. Furthermore, although the work was written in Spain itself, th e place is not
considered the same because it was the Spain of the medieval times. Moreover, in the plot fact and fiction are merged and the
presentation of the fact is idealized in order to create a fantasy world.

2.The introductory remarks (comentario) to the “Legend of Don Munio Sancho de Hinojosa” are written in an ingratiating
(halagador) prose style. What kind of audience do you think the author is addressing? Do you think that this kind of writing
might have been prompted by the author’s opposition to “the degeneracy of the present times” which he had already

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denounced at the age of nineteen? As a reader, how do you feel about these remarks nowadays? In my opinion, the kind of
audience this work is addressed to is the general audience from the future. This means the time Irving was writing this work, he
was not thinking about the audience of that time, but of the future time. The evidence for this statement is not based only on his
own statement “the degeneracy of the present times,” but also on his response to the critics of his time with the one “If my
writings are worth anything, they will outlive temporary criticism; if not, they are not worth caring about.” When he said th ese
words he wanted future readers to be amazed of his work. For this reason, he is so keen on fantasy and medieval times because
these works will be always exotic for any kind of readers, no matter the time and the location.

Regarding the ingratiating remarks, I have to say they sound too flattering to me. Personally, I do not like the fantasy genre and
these ingratiating remarks are a way to make the story even more fantasized and idealized and to gain readers’ favor. So, I d o not
like them.

3.Analyze the plot and setting of the “Legend of Don Munio Sancho de Hinojosa.” Are the e pisodes arranged in chronological
manner? When and where do they take place? Remember that the plot of a work of fiction refers to its pattern of events, that
is, the way events are arranged in a time sequence. The setting is the context (time and place) in which such events happen.The
plot and the setting of the “Legend of Don Munio Sancho de Hinojosa” can be divided into two parts according to the chronolog y.

The first part takes place in Castile during the medieval period. Don Munio Sancho de Hinojosa is presented as a noble knight who
fights to defend Castile against the Moors Conquest of Spain. In this part, Abadil, a powerful Moor, asks for a kind of truce to
marry a lady peacefully. Because of the fact that Don Munio was a gentleman, he offers his own castle to celebrate the wedding
for fifteen days.

The second part of the story takes place several years after the first part and in Salmanara Don Munio and his nobles were called
by the King of Castile in order to fight against the Moors. Although Doña María, the wife of Don Munio, does not want his husband
to go into the battle, he decides to do it, because he needs to defend his and Castile’s honors, thinking according to the medieval
knight code of honor. In the battle, Abidail, unaware of the fact that the knight who is fighting against is Don Munio, kills him.
After this event, Don Munio is buried in the convent of San Domingo, and soon after this, Doña María joined him.

Furthermore, the same day when the battle takes place and Don Munio and some knights passed away, in the Holy Temple at
Jerusalem, their spirits appeared to fulfill their vow of pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre.

4.Analyze how Don Munio and his wife are portrayed, both as individuals and as types, paying particular attention to the
author’s tendency to rely on stereotype characters. A stereotype is a generalized, oversimplified character, whose thoughts and
actions are excessively predictable because they have become conventional. You may want to consider the following questions:
Are these two characters believable? Do they suggest real people, or abstract qualities? How does Irving tell the reader about
Don Munio and Doña María? Does he use the description of their physical appearance, or does he rather emphasize their
actions, thoughts, and emotions? Don Munio represents the prototype of the ideal medieval knight who fights to defend not only
his honor, but also Castile’s and his king’s. Doña María is the prototype medieval lady, who both supports his husband to go into
battle and is also afraid of him dying, like it happened in this story.

If we read the story carefully, we realized physical descriptions are not provided. Irving prefers focusing on their actions, thoughts,
and emotions, which really defined how they are, and most importantly, how they are perceived: Don Munio as a strong, brave
and honorable knight who needs to do constantly exploits and save and protect people, and Doña María as fragile, faithful and
loyal, who needs constantly saving. Moreover, in their relationship, we can see the dependency of Doña María, who represents
women, to Don Munio, who represents men. When Don Munio passed away, Doña María is not able to survive without him; she
passed away soon after, showing that a lady will not able to live without his knight.

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In conclusion, we can say Don Munio and Doña María do not represent real people, but idealized characters in an idealized wor ld.

5.Discuss the way in which Irving addressed the practice of telling short stories using as an example the frame of the “Legend of
Don Munio Sancho de Hinojosa.” Note how the frame is located at the end of the introduction entitled “Spanish Romance” and
at the end of the story itself. Do you think that the author gains distance by his use of this narrative device? What othe r reason
may have led Ivring to present his stories in this kind of frame? The frame story as a narrative technique was innovative in
Irving’s times. This technique implies that the author becomes a mediator between the original storyteller, Fray Prudencio de
Sandoval in this case, and the reader. With this technique, the author not only gains distance and avoids responsibility of t he facts
presented, but also he feels free to adapt legends while dispensing with historical accuracy, and to turn into serious literature his
skillfully crafted elaborations of folklore materials.

6.Analyze the author’s use of the four narrative modes: description (of people, objects, or geographical settings), report (of
actions), speech (either direct or reported) and comment (e.g. moralizing disquisition or digression). How are the modes
articulated? Is there a balance, or are some modes more important than others?
All the four narratives are found in the text:
 Description: for example of characters such as Don Munio, Doña María, Abadil and his fiancée, and places such
as the convent of San Domingo.

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 Report: the battle between Moors and Christians, the death and the funeral of Don Munio and the apparition of
Don Munio and other knights in Jerusalem.
 Speech: the dialogue between Don Munio and Abadil in the first part of the text, the dialogue between Doña
María and Don Munio, between Don Munio and his knights, the grief of Abadil when he realizes he has just slain
Don Munio, and the dialogue between Doña María and his steward.
 Comment: this narrative mode is incrusted in the depiction of Don Munio, Doña María and Abadil and especially
at the end of the excerpt, when Don Munio and his knights arrived in Jerusalem as good Christians.
I think all the narrative modes are important for the text, but the report and the description modes are the more used in the
excerpt, precisely because it tells the story about a knight who gives his own life to protect Castile in an idealized Spain, it is crucial
to relate and describe the events themselves and the setting.

7.Sometimes, when trying to appeal to the emotions, Irving slipped into the sentimental. What traces have you found of the
author’s tendency to sentimentalize? Bear in mind that sentimentality is an excessive reliance on emotional effe ct, or pathos so
great to strain the reader’s willingness to believe. Pathos is the quality in a work of art which evokes deep feelings of
tenderness, pity, or sorrow. The description of the characters is quite idealized. This means that if at some time these people
were real, probably they were not as they are described in the excerpt. In order to create that idealization, Irving needs to
sentimentalize the descriptions. For example, when Don Munio is called to go into battle, Doña Muría suffers a lot beca use she is
afraid of him dying and when Don Munio is slain by Abadil, the latter is feeling terribly grief. And as it has been commented in a
previous question, after Don Munio’s death, Doña María does not live much longer; we can say she dies of sorrow. So, this last
example is the one which shows better the excessive reliance on emotional effect.

8.Critics have often referred to Irving’s feelings of nostalgia for an idealized past. Can you find any evidence of the author’ s
nostalgic mood in the writings you have just read? The setting of almost of his stories is past time, especially the medieval period,
because in this setting he can create an idealized and a fantasy world to all his adventures and stories. Furthermore, the romance
was born and achieved its greatest splendor in the medieval period when the chivalry honor code used to dominate people’s lives
and any lady’s honor could be sullied. Irving created a world where fact and fiction merged and the reader does not know what is
true and false.

9.In 1857 Irving wrote to Samuel Austin Allibone about The Alhambra: “Every thing in the work relating to myself and to the
actual inhabitants of the Alhambra is unexaggerated fact: it was only in the legends that I indulged in romancing; and these
were founded on materials picked up about the place.” Discuss to what extent the author indulges in romancing throughout
the “Legend of Don Munio Sancho de Hinojosa.” As it has been said in some previous questions, romance was a literary genre
born and developed in the medieval period, when the chivalry honor code used to rule people’s lives, when ladies used to be
saved by knights, and these latter preferred to give their own life as defending his honor and his realm than to live breaking this
honor. In “Legend of Don Munio Sancho de Hinojosa” all of these features can be found: Don Munio is a gentle and faithful knight
who gives his life defending Castile, Doña María and Abadil’s fiancée are completely depended on their men and finally the
excerpt finished with the apparition of Don Munio and his knights in Jerusalem in order to fulfill their vow of pilgrimage according
to the Castile’s faith, which idealizes more the characters.

10. You have already analyzed several examples of the typically Puritan plain style. How does Irving’s style compare to the plain
style of the Puritans? Irving’s contemporaries greatly appreciated the high finish and perfection of expression of his best c rafted
works. Do you find his polished style graceful and elegant, or too ornate and artificial? How does the author’s refined style
contribute to the creation of a particular atmosphere? Bear in mind that style refers to the habitual manner of expression of an
author, and includes among other elements: diction (choice of vocabulary and arrangeme nt of words), imagery (the use of a
consistent pattern of related images), and pace (the rate at which an action progresses, by compressing or expanding the

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narration). The concept of atmosphere refers to the intangible equality evoked by a work of art thr ough its appeals to both
extra-sensory and sensory perception. The Puritan plain style is quite simple and direct, because it is used in order to give a
straight message, which can be understood by as many people as possible. We need to take into consideration that the purpose of
works written in Puritan plain style is to transmit an important and moral message.

On the contrary, Irving’s style is not plain, but ornate and artificial because his purpose was to write an idealized story, in other
words, a romance. For that purpose, he needed to create a fantasy world, a world which sounds to the reader far away and
unreachable, and the better way to do it is to over-ornament it.

Among the diction we can find words related to war, court, chivalry, emotions, feelings and character. The imagery evokes an
idealized and a fantasy place of Castile, the toughness of the battlefield, the sorrow of the death and the unbelievable apparition
in Jerusalem. The pace is quite slow because there are a lot of descriptions which fits very well with the romance because of the
fact that in that reality, etiquette and honor codes used to be followed constantly.

11.In the works of the American writers you have already read you have become acquainted with the way in which they
represent violence, particularly in the context of historical war or confrontation or armed forces (Smith and Bradford), and in
captivity an slave narratives (Rowlandson and Equiano). How does Irving’s literary representation of violence contrast with

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those other examples? How would you define his concept of war? Does he try to present it in a realistic way, or does he prefer
to idealize and glorify it? If we take a look on this excerpt and we read again the part when the battle takes place, we can see that
there is no explicit violence; this means we do not actually read how Don Munio was killed, the only thing we read is that he had a
wound in his arm, and because of this, he was not able to fight properly and died in hands of Abadil. Furthermore, the violen ce in
this text is linked to the war, the only place where Moors and Christians fight. Out of war, both sides used to get along well or, at
least, they used to respect each other so much that Don Munio offered his own castle to celebrate Abadil’s wedding. Moreover,
the war and the violence are only presented in relation to the defence of the realm of Castile’s honor; and if someone died fighting
in the war, he was considered that he was doing his duty. So, it can be said that Irving idealizes the concept of war.

12.The “Legend of Don Munio Sancho de Hinojosa” does not end in a happy-ever-after manner. What do readers get instead of
a happy ending? What is the effect? What kind of feelings does the author want his audience to experience when they finish
reading the tale? May readers conclude that the writer has played with their expectations? Are there any hints at the beginning
of the story that allow readers to anticipate its ending? The excerpt ends with the death of Don Munio and some of his retinue
and their apparition in Jerusalem to fulfill their vow of pilgrimage. If the reader does not know anything about romances the effect
is surprising, because he/she expected a happy-ever-after ending. In this sense, some readers may think that Irving was playing
with their expectations. Furthermore, in the beginning of the story there are no clues about the ending, especially when the
reader sees the hospitality of Don Munio for offering his own castle to celebrate Abadil’s wedding. However, if you know that the
excerpt is a romance, or in our case students of English Studies, the ending is not surprising because romances are usually ended
with the death of the main character, which usually coincides with the leader knight, in a battle or war defending his realm or
lady’s honor.

13.In his youth, Washington Irving wrote witty parody and bold satire, and often displayed a rather irreverent kind of burlesque
humor with which the author often amused his audience. Later on, he developed a gentler and more subtle humor, of which
you will find an instance in his description of the Spaniards of his time, compared and contrasted with other contemporary
Europeans. Comment on the humor of this particular passage from “Spanish Romance,” and then explain why no comic aspects
are to be found in the story that follows. At the end of “Spanish Romance”, Irving concludes that “the Spaniards are the most
high-minded and proud-spirited people of Europe” (lines 47-48) not because the strength of the Spanish “race” but because of the
influence of the Moslems, who throughout the evasion of Spain, a higher civilization and a nobler style of thinking was brought
into Gothic Spain. So, Spain with the Moslems would not be as a good country as it is. On the contrary, in “Legend of Don Munio
Sancho de Hinojosa” the main character was a Christian knight who defends Castile from the Moor invasion. That is the reason
why in this excerpt, Christians are described as the “good” ones and Moors as the “bad” ones, in order the reader to defend Don
Munio’s side.

14.In Irving’s time, many works of fiction were presented to readers as if they were truthful narratives told b y alleged reliable
narrators. Irving often reserved the procedure, and turned history into fiction. How does he use history in the story you hav e
read? How does he deal with the issue of the reliable narrator? Is he interested in appearing trustworthy? Doe s he perceive
history as progress? In what ways does he differ from other American writers who had previously used historical materials?
Irving creates such a story whose setting (time and place) are completely real. In other words, there are evidences of the existence
of the medieval period and the Arabic conquest of Spain and the consecutive reconquest. So, there were different kind of
relationships between Muslims and Christians. In this setting, a story would take place but with a more realistic touch.

In order to make his excerpt more trustworthy, Irving creates a reliable narrator, Fray Prudencio de Sandoval, who has writte n the
“History of King Don Alonzo VI,”, in which the legend of Don Munio can be found.

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The main difference between Irving and other authors is that the latter use historical materials to present the side of the history
they are defending. However, Irving uses historical materials so that he can create fantasy stories and legends in far -away time
and space. For him, history is just an excuse to imagine a world where knights save ladies, and the latter died for their men.

th th
15.To what extent do the texts you have read illustrate Irving’s aversion to both 18 -century rationalism and 19 -century
materialism? Why do you think the author, while opposing these two tendencies, managed to achieve the popular success that
th
turned his literary career into such a profitable business? 18 rationalism is any view appealing to reason as a source of
th
knowledge or justification and 19 materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter or energy; that all things are
composed of material and all phenomena (including consciousness) are the result of material interactions. So, Irving’s romanticism
has nothing in common with both of these approaches. Irving was interested in idealized worlds, fantasy, and creation that
nobody could ever distinguish one fact from fiction.

In my opinion, Irving was so successful because he was going against the current and giving different stories to the public. People
who used to read Irving’s works were probably kind of bored of reading rationalist and materialist works. They wanted somethi ng
different, and Irving could provide it.

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10.James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851)

Works: The Last of the Mohicans 1826

Genre: Novel (first American), frontier romance

Beliefs: Political independence had been won, now literary independence.

Moral: profound thinker and social critic. Defends right to own land, but on the other hand says we are
destroying it (in the novel Pioneers) This book formulates a ‘theory of racial difference’ which is linked to the
‘ideology of savagism’. Through the novel, ‘racial purity’ or ‘purity of blood’ is an important value.

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Influences: Novel of manners (Jane Austen) Sir Walter Scott and captivity narrative, historical romance,
epic tradition. Milton’s paradise Lost (Magua)
Themes: Vanishing Indian: the native culture tends to disappear. Cyclical theory of history. Shows ambiguity:
destruction of natural resources and folk epic of the settlement of America. Interracial love and friendship

Autobiographical elements: Read captivity narratives, never had real experience. Forced to write for
economical reasons, so he needed to broaden his audiences. True events about the murder of Jane McCrea
(John Vanderlyn’s painting) inspired Cora’s death scene

Purpose and audience: General public. Wanted to foster America´s “mental independence”. He wrote to
support his family financially.

Others depiction: Native Americans as the personification of uncontrolled violence. Indian allies of the English are
depicted as noble savages, Indian allies of the French are called ‘demons of hell’, ‘risky devils’… Unable to become
acculturated or ‘civilized’ (‘the ideology of savagism’). Stereotyped image of the Indian warrior

Style (Diction/ tone/imagery/syntax): period/genre Shows ambiguity: destruction of natural resources


and folk epic of the settlement of America./Melts history and fiction./Sentimental novel. From romanticism
into realism. Appeared to write very quickly and carelessly. Solid, robust, athletic writing. Opposition Plot
more important than character. Used action in frontier stories. Forceful diction and fast pace.
Grandiloquent speeches. TONE: artificial and sentimental. Ponderous, inflated prose. Ornate diction.
Wordy and stilted style.
Point of view: Never among Indians: sources on Indian history. Third person narrative, omniscient narrator.
Narrative mode (description, speech, report, comment): Description (people, places, objects), report (slaughter,
chase, fight, stabbing = fast pace), speech (direct)
Period/Historical Context: American Independence. Westward movement. Problematic account of
destruction by demands of history. Sir Walter Scott was influencing writers.

Rhetorical devices (metaphors/stereotypical characters...):. Metaphors: “crimson tide”, “torrent”(blood)


“Pale-faces are dogs” (white women) Vivid descriptions (sounds: Indian war cry; image: bloodshed) Symbols: Hawkeye
(colonial hybridity); “the last of the Mohicans” (death of Indian culture)

How they see Indians: Native Americans as the personification of uncontrolled violence. Indian allies of the English
are depicted as noble savages, Indian allies of the French are called ‘demons of hell’, ‘risky devils’, unable to become
acculturated or ‘civilized’ (‘the ideology of savagism’) Stereotyped image of the Indian warrior

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- From The Last of the Mohicans (published in 1826): Chapter XVII/ Chapter XXXII
The Last of the Mohicans became Cooper's most popular and internationally famous novel. It is an
example of American standard of the romance genre characterized by adventure, fantasy, improbability,
extravagance and myth and the treatment of social issues through the allegorical mode, even though the
author wanted it to be read as a historical narrative. Cooper's plot includes certain real events but freely
adapted to suit the narrative needs and many biographical details are pure fancy. The setting of the
book is the French and Indian War in which the British and the French (each allied with different Native
American tribes) were fighting to control the northern part of the continent. This adventure story is built
upon the typical structure of capture, pursuit and rescue of the captivity narrative. (But exaggerated)
Learning objectives
- Examine the development of some basic features of American romanticism in the works of the young nation's first
major novelist, whose fiction promoted his country's "mental independence."
- Learn how Cooper's Leather stocking Tales exalted the character of Natty Bumppo as a typical American hero, and

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helped to shape the concept of American nationhood by contributing to the myth of the American Frontier.
- Recognize how Cooper articulated in literary terms his ambivalent attitude toward the conflict over possession of the
American West by contrasting:
1. The logical principles that made him support the settlers' rights of ownership.
2. The emotional attraction the beautiful scenery of the wilderness exercised on him and made him deplore the
irreparable damage caused by the advancement of civilization
- Consider The Last of the Mohicans by the standards of the American romance, a literary genre characterized by:
adventure, fantasy, improbability, extravagance, myth, and the treatment of social issues through the allegorical mode
- Analyze the contrasts in The Last of the Mohicans which directly supported the on going Indian Removal policy when the
book was first published (e.g. the binary opposition of the noble Uncas, who seems to be the last of the Mohicans vs.
the diabolical figure of Magua, his antagonist)
Biography:
-First to succeed in the field of long fiction by using typically American materials, motifs, settings, and a
distinct powerful narrative voice –not just a mere colonial echo of the Old World discourse.
- Cooper himself agreed that his fiction was targeted at fostering America's "mental independence." As a
profound thinker and social critic he raised key issues of political.
-(Westward movement) Nineteenth century Americans began to imagine the wilderness beyond the
advancing and endless frontier as a purifying space able to offer a rebirth of innocence.
-Raised near Otsego Lake, in upper New York State, where his father founded a frontier settlement that
would later become Cooperstown (New York). He spent his boyhood in a rapidly changing environment
and witnessed the quick transition between two competing ways of life, the one that was disappearing
and the one that was emerging
-The depression after War of 1812 sharply reduced the value of his inherited estate, and the death of five
of his brothers left him in charge of supporting their widows and paying their debts. As he had just
started a literary career and having to rely on his book sales to earn his living, he made efforts to
broaden his readership.
- Daniel Boone is the tough and self-reliant white man who spent his whole life in the wood as a hunter,
trapper and scout. Natty Bumppo, Cooper’s most famous character and one of the best known in
American fiction, shares many traits with Daniel Boone, who had become a legendary hero even before
his death. They are both halfway between civilization and savagery. Natty Bumppo appears for the first
time in The Pioneers but he will also appear in all of The Leather stocking Tales which is formed by five
novels: The Deer slayer, The last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder, The Pioneers and The Prairie.
Many critics have attributed the defects of Cooper’s literary style to the fact that he wrote rapidly and
spontaneously. He started with the English novel of manners (sentimental), but shifted away from it
when he initiated the American romance. Then, he moved from romanticism into early realism. At that
time Romance included the picturesque, the heroic, a tendency towards melodrama and a formal
abstractness. Its prevailing elements are adventure, fantasy, improbability, extravagance and myth. The
Leader stocking Tales is neither a sentimental novel nor a realistic one, but a romance, where any social
criticism is expressed through the allegorical mode.

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The Last of the Mohicans is an example of the romance, even though the author wanted it to be read as
a historical narrative, as its subtitle –A Narrative of 1757- implies. It represents a curious blending of
factual history with romantic fiction. In addition to the variety of written and oral historical sources, the
author of this book reveals an unmistakable indebtedness to the conventions of several literary genres,
such as captivity narrative, the historical romance and the epic tradition.
-Set in the French Indian War and the Indian allies of the English are depicted as noble savages, whereas
the Indian allies of the French are called ‘demons of hell’, ‘risky devils’…
Both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Indians have something in common: they are perceived as unable to become
acculturated or ‘civilized’ because they are seem as radically different from Euro-Americans and
hopelessly (not temporarily) unequal. This is nowadays called ‘the ideology of savagism’, whose
emphasis on the radical otherness of Indians leads to the conclusion that indigenous people cannot
become assimilated or integrated into American society.
Cooper does not leave his audience undisturbed about any moral responsibility concerning the
destruction of the race, for in his novels the alcohol introduced by the colonists is the symbol of the

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
corroding and degrading effects of civilization.
- ‘Theory of racial difference’, which is linked to the ‘ideology of savagism’. Through the novel, ‘racial
purity’ or ‘purity of blood’ is an important value. Natty recurrently boasting that there is ‘no cross’ in his
blood is a ‘genuine white’ raised by the Mohicans after the death of his English parents. The fact that he
is the prototypical White Indian, that is, a man of European descent who has all the skills of the Indian
and partakes the virtues of both groups, does not affect his ‘racial purity’ at all. The miscegenation issue
is raised in the novel by the presence of Cora Munro, who is of black-white mixed ancestry, having been
born to Colonel Munro’s first wife, the crossbred daughter of a West Indian gentleman and a slave. The
duality of a dark heroin (Cora) and a fair one (Alice, born to Munro’s Scottish second wife) has become
an issue of debate
-Used visual accuracy and intensity in his narrative description and he skilfully unified vivid descriptions
with the report of fast-paced actions in order to achieve colour and suspense. Since report, which is the
essential mode of fiction, is chiefly marked by the use of action verbs.
Echoes of Milton’s Paradise Lost have been perceived in the satanic Magua, who is compared to ‘the
Prince of Darkness, brooding on his own fancied wrongs and plotting evil’. Cooper’s extensive use of
Miltonic allusion proves that the English poet provided him with a model to depict Magua with the
grandeur of the Fallen Angel.
Irving has often been contrasted with Cooper, whose narrative voice conveys a more powerful self-
assurance and whose writings have always been considered more combative. Although both writers
were for a time expatriate American celebrities in Europe, and Sir Walter Scott influenced both, in many
ways Cooper appears as the antithesis of Irving.
NARRATIVE MODES
 Description
o People: Magua, Hawk-eye,
o Places: rocks, precipices, mountains
o Objects: knife, cry,
 Report
o Actions reported: slaughter, chase, fight, stabbing, Magua’s escape & death
o How are actions reported: vivid description
o Fast pace
 Speech
o Who speaks & how does he / she speak: Magua (defiant), Cora (determined), Heyward (terrified),
woman with the shawl (desperate, terrified)
o Direct (inquit in medial position and inverted order  remarks the narrator)
 Comment
o Examples:
-Hawk-Eye had crouched like a beast
- The supporters of the maiden raised their ready tomahawks with the impious joy that fiends are thought to take in mischief,
- Maddened by the murder he had just witnessed
- Reached the scene of the ruthless massacre,

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FROM EXPLORATORY QUESTIONS

1.Analize the author´s uses of the narrative modes of description and report. Both these modes are more or less balanced.
Cooper's great concern for visual accuracy and intensity is seen in his narrative description, where he skilfully unifies vivid
descriptions with the report of fast-paced actions in order to achieve colour and suspense in the passages. Report, which is the
essential mode of fiction, is chiefly marked by the use of action verbs in the two excerpts. Description includes not only the
presentation of things that can be seen, but also those that can be heard, touched, smelled, tasted, weighed, or measured.

2.Analize how the author uses the narrative modes of speech and comment: In the selected passages speech is not widely used,
but it is reserved to the climax of the actions; the clash between Magua and the party who is chasing him; the confrontation
between Cora and Magua; Heyward’s plea of mercy. All these dialogues are written in direct speech, in which the inquit is mainly
in medial position and in inverted order (e.g. “Woman,” repeated Magua […] “choose”). This makes the narrator’s presence more
relevant.

3.Talk about the blood and savagery: The Last of the Mohicans is by far Cooper's bloodiest novel, in which there is no glorification
in battle but only the revelation of a horrid and perverse reality intended to shock the audience by provoking intense emotional
responses. At the beginning of chapter XVIII, the author refers to his portrayal of "the massacre of William Henry" as "the bloody

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
and inhuman scene rather incidentally mentioned than described, in the preceding chapter."

4.Compare the massacre of Fort William Henry and the slaughter carried out by the Natta…: Chapters 1-17 deal with the journey
of the two heroines and men escorting them to the fort where the massacre takes place and the girls are taken prisoners by the
Hurons and Magua. Chapters 18-33 follow the course of the second journey where the hero and his friends track Magua and the
captive heroines. They can’t save Cora and there is a mythic struggle between the Noble Savage –Uncas- who dies on the
mountain top and the Ignoble Savage –Magua- who dies in the abyss.

5.Analyze the treatment of Cora´s death: If we analyse the literary treatment of Cora's death, we perceive that her own sense of
fatality may have precipitated her sacrifice. There are various elements that contribute to the melodramatic effect of the scene on
the rocky ledge, the description of Cora dropping on her knees, her supporters raising their weapons, the language of the defiant
maiden may have a share in bringing about her death. Some critics have suggested the author wanted to imply that it was partl y
her own fault that she died. Remember that captivity narratives stressed the protagonists' survival skills and their ability to
facilitate their rescue. Bear in mind also the issues of miscegenation and race relations in general, which Cooper's contemporary
readers noticed in the novel, and some of them even censored. An early reviewer commented in 1826: "Cora is quite a brave
young woman, and makes rather free, with the savages. This, probably, she felt the better title to do, in respect of the dark blood
which flowed in her own veins."

6.Analyze the relationship between Cora and Uncas in the last scene: Uncas is desperate to recover Cora and risks his life to do so.
He appears not to care about dying, now that Cora is dead.

7.Compare and contrast the death of Uncas and Magua: Both die as the consequence of wanting Cora. Magua only wanted her to
hurt her father, though in the end he did have feelings for her. Uncas really did love her. Uncas dies trying to protect Cora and
then revenge himself on the Indian who had killed her. He dies high up (closer to heaven). Magua dies trying to escape (coward?),
when Heyward shoots him as he tries to jump over a crevice. He plummets down in death (towards hell), the same as Milton´s
fallen angel.

8.How does Cooper characterize Magua? Magua is unintelligible, beastly, traitorous, etc. His is characterized by his violent actions
and by his harsh language. He is described as cunning, relentless, defiant, he even laughs and speaks hoarsely. He did dastardly
deeds….he cried in savage triumph….he sprang like a tiger….he uttered unearthly shouts….

9.Male audience response to novel: Cooper didn´t want his novel to be seen as a “feminine” novel (as novels of the time were
mostly written by women). So his action is fast paced, violent, bloody and full of masculine activities (hunting, fighting, abducting
virgins, etc)

10.Compare contrast Cooper/Irving Washington Irving has often been contrasted with James Cooper, whose narrative voice
conveys (transmite) a more powerful self-assurance and whose writings have always been considered more combative. Both
writers were for a time expatriate American celebrities in Europe and both were influenced by Walter Scott, but Coopers appears,
in many ways, as the antithesis of Irving. They use the four narratives modes and they deal with the war theme in different ways.

Comments: The Last of the Mohicans represents a curious blending of factual history with romantic fiction, using conventions of
several literary genres such as the captivity narrative, historical romance, and the epic tradition. Not having direct knowle dge of
the Indians, either demonized or idealized by him, they are shown unable to become assimilated or integrated into American
society. Although accused of presenting the vanishing of Indians as inevitable, Cooper nevertheless denounced some evils of
civilization such as alcohol, which some colonists used to corrupt the Indians.

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Following the trend of captivity narratives, Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans divides the Indians into two groups: good and bad.
Those who are demonized are depicted with the same vocabulary used by Smith, Bradford or Rowlandson: savage, beastly and
hellish. Nevertheless, Cooper’s descriptions appeal to the readers’ sentiments by insisting in the ‘revolting horrors’ their
maddening blood-thirst produce, and which readers can intensely feel.

Although both Irving and Cooper used the typically American literary genre of romance and applied it to captivity narratives,
contrary to Irving, Cooper was more interested in depicting American contemporary history and real settings, as his continuous
concern with frontier and Indian life attests. Both presented heroes, but Cooper was more interested in action whereas Irving was
in comment (abstract judgements). Cooper’s heroine, Cora, a mixed-blood, were unthinkable in previous American narratives. In
fact, miscegenation was utterly avoided, and ‘purity of blood’ so highly considered that mestizos occupied the lowest status.
Interestingly enough, the romantic period readers were very much attracted to evil characters, to villains, in fact. Depicting the
bad Indian, Magua, as a Fallen Angel, in Miltonic terms, Cooper did somehow place him over his enemies, therefore emphasizing
their triumph even more. It goes without saying that Cooper’s characters are described through action rather than description . On
the other hand, the importance given to action somehow explains the novel’s lure to a male reading audience, especially when
considering that most of it is concerned with saving two maidens from being killed, and also liable to be raped.

This novel formulates a theory of racial difference, which is linked to the ideology of savagism, which means that indigenous

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
people cannot become, assimilate or integrate into American society. Purity of blood is an important value in the novel. Cooper
himself had a personal horror to biological miscegenation and cultural hybridisation. He tells the readers not only the story of a
Vanishing Indian but also that of other Vanishing Americans.

Discuss the use of the four narrative modes in Washington Irving’s “Legend of Don Munio Sancho de Hinojosa” and in the
excerpt you have read from chapter XXXII of James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans.

In the case of Irving’s work, the description of time, place and objects is not extensive. Details are provided to suit the purpose of
the story (lines 1-10). Although characterization is no deep, seems to be more detailed than the rest of the descriptive
components. There is no physical or emotional description of the characters, they are depicted by their possessions, their nature,
their actions and the social rank they hold (lines 11-16; 18-27; 31-39). On the other hand, we find in Cooper’s work a more vivid
and intense description of the landscape, the actions and the objects. However, the characterization is also stereotyped, since it
falls on the idealized dichotomy of the “Good Indians” represented by Uncas and Chingachgook; and the “Bad Indians”
represented by Magua. Captain Heyward represents the romantic hero and Alice, is the week maiden to be saved. There is no
physical description, too.

The focus seems to be on the report of actions, since these happen one after the other without much delay. They are also used to
describe characters’ attitude (lines 69-71, Irving; 54-55, Cooper). In addition, Cooper unifies the descriptions with the report of
fast-paced actions in order to achieve suspense and colour in the story; while Irving includes some adjectives -that may belong to
the descriptive mode- in the report of actions, such as “powerful” in line 105, “beautiful” in line 45 or “good” in line 58.

Regarding the speech, most of it is direct and it functions to help to fit the character in the stereotype that represents. Abodil and
Don Munio are knights and they speak as knights (lines 50-57). And Doña María expresses herself as the fearful wife (lines 59-62).
The register is formal, the diction is lofty and the syntax is complex. In lines 40-41 and 47-49 we can find examples of inner indirect
speech, and indirect speech respectively. Direct speech is also present at Cooper’s text, but reduced to the minimum and it helps
to develop the character that represents, since the language spoken by Cora is articulated (lines 16, 18, 28) and the one spoken by
the Indians is almost intelligible (lines 14,15, 25, 29, 30, 74-75).

Regarding the comment, we can see clearly that predominates at the end of the Irving’s story (lines 160-161). However, since the
comment is made with the narrator’s evaluations, observations and judgements; we can also appreciate its use through the text
by the author’s choice of adjectives and adverbs. In this way the author is provoking on the reader a positive or negative attitude
towards the characters. For instance, the selection of adjectives by Irving in line 12: “noble” and in line 58: “good” to des cribe Don
Munio and the one chosen by Cooper at line 67: “honest” to describe Gamut. Of course, there is much less use of the comment
mode on Cooper’s work than in Irving’s.

Finally, I would dare to say that the description and the speech modes are exceeded by the report and speech modes in Irving’s
work, while in the case of Cooper, the report and description modes dominate his text.

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11.Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Works: Nature 1836/Hamatreya 1847

Genre: Essay: philosophy (Transcendentalism)/Poetry: fusion of everyday and universal truths.


Beliefs:. Culture based on direct contact with nature. Reluctant to join philosophical systems and
organizations. Transcendentalism.
-Finds defects on historical Christianity Questioned the authority of established institutions and the Bible.
Individual experience more important than dogma and rituals.
-Had great religious strength. Unitarian: believed in essential goodness and salvation extended to
everyone. Rejected fearful Calvinist doctrines.
Moral: liberal ideas: Supported antislavery (as a moral wrong), Native American movement, women’s rights

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
Influences: Romanticism/ Transcendentalism /Locke and his tabula rasa/ Swedish philosopher
Swedenborg/Different cultures (Hindu)
Themes: individualism and self-reliance/ Nature /The truth is inside each individual person. It cannot be
received 2nd hand./Hamatreya: material vs. spiritual; reality vs. illusion; transience vs. permanence

Autobiographical elements: preacher, essayist, lecturer, poet…. He owned land/He walked woods

Purpose and audience: Encourage people to question ideas, institutions from the past and experiment
new ones; searching originality. General public/Young American

Point of view: eloquent lecturer/ Use of 1st sing. Person.

Style (Diction/ tone/imagery/syntax): Hopeful/ Critical/ Encouraging


- Flexible, irregularities
-His expression tends to abstraction
-Priority to content over form
Self-representation/depiction: wanted to be seen as an experimenter, questioner and seeker (rather than
a guide for other to follow). Transparent eyeball “I”.

Narrative mode (description, speech, report, comment): Depiction/Comment

Period/Historical Context: greatest writer of American Renaissance

Rhetorical devices (metaphors/stereotypical characters..): inventive imagery in his sermons, Nature:


Metaphor: transparent eye-ball

-Hamatreya: paradox; broken lines into stanzas; change in diction (formal); irony; alliteration (west, wind)
Simple images of ordinary life were the most powerful to convey general ideas. Experimented with line
length.

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Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882): From Nature (1836) /Hamatreya (1847)


-Came from a long tradition of ministers, went to Harvard
-Tried teaching but couldn´t impose discipline
-Studied theology and became a (Unitarian) preacher; believed in human goodness. The death of his wife
shook his religious convictions. Resigned from the ministry (said he believed more in personal religion).
-Took a tour of Europe and “discovered” nature. Came back to MA. Remarried and wrote his first book;
Nature (in which he “named” Transcendentalism, 95 pages)
-Encouraged young men to free themselves from old Europe
Transcendentalism: a philosophical and literary movement which did not offer any rigidly organized
body of doctrines or system of beliefs, but a way of thinking that openly questioned the authority of
established institutions, proclaimed that all human beings could find the divine spirit within themselves,

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
and fostered the values of democracy, creative intuition, faith in individual's potential, self-reliance, self-
knowledge, a collective sense of optimism and a harmonious relationship between humankind and
nature. New England transcendentalism flourished between 1836 -1847. Ralph Waldo Emerson and
Henry David Thoreau were among the most influential.
Emerson was the leader and most passionate proponent of Transcendentalism, he encouraged
Americans to transcend the limits imposed by tradition and to construct a completely new cultural
identity based upon their direct contact with nature, thus simultaneously appealing to their patriotic
sentiment and their romantic attachment to the unspoiled natural world. He was afraid of institutions.
He supported abolitionism, Indian rights to their lands, and the women’s rights.
Nature (published in 1836) Introduction and first chapter also called Nature.
He has a characteristic literary voice with which he expressed his convictions.
In his stylistic innovations as a prose writer and poet, he was characterized by his inventive imagery.
He always rebelled against the conventions of traditional poetry. He struggled to break out the rigid
forms that had characterized poetry and liked to experiment with irregularities in rhythm, rhyme and
line length. His favourite themes in poetry were the fusion of the every day and what he considered to
be universal truths because he thought that simple images of ordinary life were the most powerful to
convey general ideas. He gave priority to content over formal aspects sacrificing music to meaning.
In order to make metaphors really striking, he resorted to grotesque extravagance such as:
The central metaphor of Nature, is an original and compelling ocular image: “I become a transparent
eye-ball.” Emerson repeats 6 times the word “eye” which is sometimes a pun for “I” because this essay is
about how to see nature through our “eyes”. It is not by chance that he chose the ‘transparent’ eye as
the metaphor for nature, for in Western culture ‘I see’ means ‘I understand.’ Besides both ‘I’ and ‘eye’
have the same pronunciation, therefore, they can easily substitute each other, especially in an oral
context.
He also uses weather imagery throughout the passages of Nature as he was particularly attracted to the
concept of mutability and generally reacted against anything “fixed”.
(Imagery is not only visual since it includes any figurative or literal language that appeals to the senses,
not only to that of seeing. Images can be metaphors, similes, symbols, personification, as well as
examples of non-figurative description).
Nature, often regarded as Emerson's most original work, has an introduction and eight chapters. In the
introduction and the first chapter, the major ideas of the work are outlined. In particular, he articulates
his philosophy of nature as the embodiment of divine law. Nature is but an image or imagination of
wisdom. He encouraged his audience to “enjoy an original relation to the universe”. Emerson tried to
challenge the public expressing his opinions on controversial issues in a very direct, emphatic, and
sometimes even violent manner, using rhetorical “arrows”. He worked deliberately to build a strong
tension that would provoke and sometimes even shock his audience. In Nature we can find some
passages particularly provocative at the very beginning.

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Metaphor: every man´s condition is a solution in hieroglyphic, which means that it can be revealed.
Comparison: a man cast off his years as the snake his skin.
In the Nature, in the wood we are always youths, and we return to the reason and faith – Nature as an
expression of God, as a combination of the Soul and Art.
Binary opposition: Nature- Art.
I become a transparent eye –ball an image, a metaphor. It is the perfect sphere, which gives him a sense
of completeness. Emerson describes a mystical experience, in which he attained a feeling of oneness
with the divine.
Eye- ball is a pun for I.
Connate has two meanings: similar and innate. The first meaning suggests a sense of identity or
familiarity with nature. The second suggests a quality actually present at birth which is part of one’s
inner essential nature.
I am nothing; I see all: paradox.

Hamatreya, published in 1847

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
In his poem “Hamatreya” Emerson denounces man’s claim to possess the earth by trying to prove that it
is actually Nature that has the ownership of man through paradox, irony and alliteration.
Human greed for property is temporary, whereas nature is eternal. Men die, nature does not. The value
attributed to possessions changes when placed in a larger context. Material possessions can be lost, but
the spirit survives.
It is a poem which expressed the Transcendentalist’s view of nature and was inspired by Hindu thought.
Hamatreya is the speaker of his poem, which deals with the issue of ownership (whether the humans
own the land or the land owns the humans). The landlords develop a sense of ownership of the land, not
taking into account that the earth will return them to the soil which they claim to own.
The “Earth-Song” (lines 28-63) is a poem within “Hamatreya”, is Nature's answer to the landlords’
assertions of ownership: it is actually Nature that has the ownership of man. There is a change in stanza
and diction. The lines shorten and are broken into stanzas, the language becomes less like casual
storytelling and more formal, structured, and intended for poetic effect. This change brings attention to
the contrast between the landlords and nature’s viewpoint. In the last stanza of the poem, Hamatreya
speaks about himself. He is so completely converted to Nature's way of thinking that he adopts Nature's
language structure. Nature’s thought corresponds to Emerson’s and the Trascendentalists’ thoughts.
Irony is also present in the poem. At the beginning, there is some pretence of ignorance on part of the
poet, but later he questions the conventional ideas stated at the beginning, thus revealing the ironic
discourse.
Allusion is also found related to the early settlers of Concord area (line 1).
Exploratory Questions:

1. Emerson loved to dwell on conflicting ideas so as to look for truth in the reconciliation of opposites. Explain in your own
words the paradox on which "Hamatreya" is based. Remember that a paradox is a statement that is seemingly contradictory but
may actually be true. The paradox on which Hamatreya is based can be summarised at line 29 in the Earth’s song: “Mine, not
yours”. During the poem we find three different voices: Hamatreya, the poet; the landlords and the Earth. Through their voices the
paradox is developed especially if we compare the landlords’ voice which states that the land is theirs with the Earth’s v oice which
states that nothing will last except for the Earth. Those who work the land finally return to it and only Nature and Earth ar e the
ones that remain.
2. Analyse the voices of the landlords (lines 5-1 0, 19-24), the Earth (28-59), and Hamatreya (1 -4, 11 -1 8, 25-27, 60-63).

The landlords use longer lines when they claim they ownership to the land. The Earth uses shorter lines and more formal speech.
Hamatreya begins with longer lines, but as he is convinced by what the Earth says, he uses shorter lines (similar to the lines that
the Earth uses) to show how he is becoming more like minded with the Earth,

3. Analyse the use of irony in the first part of the poem paying attention to the effect of the poet's initial pretence of ignorance.
Note how the poet begins by giving the impression that he is voicing conventional ideas; the fact that he questions them later
reveals his ironic discourse. Remember that irony is a manner of discourse in which the meaning expressed is contrary to the
literal meaning of the actual words.
4. Alliteration is the repetition of the initial sounds of stressed syllables in neighbouring words or at short intervals within a line
or passage. Find examples of alliteration in "Hamatreya" (e.g. west wind, in line 6) and discuss ho w it contributes to the rhythm
of the poem. Alliteration is also present (line 6) and it contributes to the rhythm of the poem. It makes the reader read faster,
thereby adding a sense of speed and intensity to the sentence. It also creates a consistent pattern that catches the mind's eye and
focuses attention.

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12.Henry David Thoreau 1817- 1862

Works: No works of fiction: Walden (1854) Protest essay: Resistance to Civil Government. (wrote many essays and
poems)
Genre: Nature writing (which Thoreau made famous with Walden). Contains features of pastoral poetry. Can be read
as a travel narrative (journey inward to know himself and better his spirit)
Beliefs: all reforms must begin on the individual/lots of social criticism. Advocated abolition (though he belonged to no
institutionalized group). Liberal ideas. Great love for nature. Culture based on direct contact with nature. Reluctant to
join philosophical systems and organizations. Transcendentalism.
Moral: moral integrity (idealistic theories taken from Emerson) Fought to save natural resources (father of the modern
conservationist movements: “What in other men is religion is in me the love of nature” “in Wilderness is the

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
preservation of the World”) Criticised teaching methods at Harvard.Social criticism: slavery, Mexican War, women’s
rights.
Influences: American Transcendentalist. Ralph Waldo Emerson (14 years older) friend and surrogate father. Tons of
allusions to Greek, Roman, Middle Ages, Renaissance and Hindu writings. Native Americans (fascinated by their
respect for nature)
Themes: NATURE Radically applied transcendental ideas to his own life. Sought spiritual enlightenment in nature.
Simple life in harmony with nature
Autobiographical elements: Experiment in essential living. Put into practice Emerson’s ideas. Isolated: devoted time
to meditate and write. He presents experience through concrete images.
Purpose and audience: he battled to save nature/modern conservative movement; he is considered the prophet of
the wilderness. Addresses Walden to poor students
Subversion/hidden meaning: It parodies popular success manuals, uses the language but says we should appreciate
nature, not money and objects.
Style (Diction*/ tone/imagery/syntax): Diction: long sentences, complex grammar, specific, concrete and appropriate.
Scientific precision.
Its tone moves from moral gravity to the style of a how-to manual, and then to a lyrical flight of fancy, and then to a
diary entry
Self representation/depiction: man of nature, above materialistic needs
Narrative mode (description, speech, report, comment): Autobiographical “I”. He knows he´s in the spotlight. The
narrative voice of Walden is both intensely personal and directly challenging to a reader, it tends to provoke strong
reactions, both positive and negative. Matter of fact voice. Presents experiences through concrete images.
Period/Historical Context: Transcendental movement was the American version of Romanticism. Business and
technology starting to overtake America (towards industrialism)
Rhetorical devices (metaphors/stereotypical characters..): allusions/quotations (Greek/Roman passages).
Metaphors. Binary opposition: Civilization or progress/ nature, richness/poverty, materialism/ spiritualism, city/
country, past/ present, wisdom/ labour. Puns (impertinent/pertinent), Satire on modern life.

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“Walden or Life in the Woods” ”(1854) - “Economy” (first chapter of “Walden”)


Thoreau was a pioneer in the battle to save natural resources, known as the father of the modern
conservationist movements. He cared about the problems of his society, although he believed that all
reforms had to begin with the individual, not with society, but he realised that reform of individuals
could only occur if personal freedom was guaranteed by society.
In nature, he conducted an experiment in economic independence because he wanted to search for
spiritual enlightenment by leading a free and simple life. On Independence Day (4th of July-also the day
before his late brother´s birthday) he went to live alone, built his cabin and grew his food during two
years, two months and two days. He had to live in harmony with nature and using as few resources as
possible. He recorded this experience in “Walden”. He believed that people should not be driven by
materialism or the complexities imposed by civilized society, but should simplify their life-styles and fully
enjoy them. In this way he put into practice the idealistic theories he learnt form Emerson.
-Says he uses “I” and talk so much about himself because he knows himself the best
-Implies that man is shackled by inheriting land “would better to have been born suckling a wolf”.
-Most luxuries are hindrances

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
-Don´t listen to old people
-Basically against materialism
-Too much work leads to self-slavery (whereas many think hard work is a virtue)

CONTEXT:
American Romanticism: During the late 1700s and early 1800s, romanticism was the dominant literary
mode in Europe. In reaction to the Enlightenment and its emphasis on reason, romanticism stressed
emotion, the imagination, and subjectivity of approach. Until about 1870 romanticism influenced the
major forms of American prose: transcendentalist writings, historical fiction, and sentimental fiction.
Transcendentalism: In New England, an intellectual movement known as transcendentalism developed
as an American version of romanticism. The movement began among an influential set of authors based
in Concord, Massachusetts, and was led by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Like romanticism, transcendentalism
rejected both 18th-century rationalism and established religion, which for the transcendentalists meant
the Puritan tradition in particular. Instead, the transcendentalists celebrated the power of the human
imagination to commune with the universe and transcend the limitations of the material world. The
transcendentalists found their chief source of inspiration in nature. Emerson’s essay Nature (1836) was
the first major document of the transcendental school and stated the ideas that were to remain central
to it. His other key transcendentalist works include The American Scholar (1837), a volume in which he
addressed the intellectual’s duty to culture, and 'Self-Reliance' (1841), an essay in which he asserted the
importance of being true to one’s own nature.

Henry David Thoreau, a friend and protégé of Emerson’s, put transcendentalist ideas into action.
Walden; or, Life in the Woods (1854) is his journal of a two-year experiment in living as simply and self-
reliantly as possible in a small hut that he built on the shores of Walden Pond, near Concord. His essay
'Civil Disobedience' (1849) is a statement against government coercion that records his short stay in jail
after he refused to pay a tax in support of the Mexican War (1846-1848). In this essay Thoreau asserted
that each individual indirectly supported the wrongs of a nation—for example, slavery or war—simply by
paying taxes and voting for government representatives. To express disapproval of government policies,
he advocated passive resistance, or nonviolent protest through noncompliance. Influenced Mahatma
Gandhi and Martin Luther King.

Walden is a complex and elusive text, touching on a variety of subjects at different levels. Written as a
pastoral poem, it is not only autobiographical, but it is also concerned with political theory and moral
philosophy; as well as providing a scientific approach to nature, it parodies popular success novels by
offering a different concept of true wealth (not material goods, but life joys). Furthermore, Walden is a
travel narrative which unfolds an inward journey of self-knowledge, a pilgrimage aiming at spiritual
progress, framed in the natural cycle of nature through a circular pattern of the four seasons. However,
the text is heavy loaded with intertextuality, derived from Thoreau’s use of classical, English medieval
and Renaissance literature as well as the ancient Hindu scriptures. It took him 7 years and 8 drafts to
finish. Finally published in 1854.
Although he lived at Walden for two years, he condensed it into 1 year in his writing to make it last a

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season.

Use of “I”: he was aware of himself as being the object of scrutiny and not only that, but he embarked in
an introspective voyage into the self, and in this way we exalted the “I”. Romanticism reflected a deep
appreciation of the beauties of nature and had an emphasis on the creative powers of the individual
mind.
--------------------------
The word labor is used many times (it helps to denote the theme) and there is pun with the word
impertinent.
Despite the use of allusions and quotations, the sentences are long, the grammar is complex and the
diction is specific, concrete and appropriate.
Its tone moves from moral gravity to the style of a how-to manual, and then to a lyrical flight of fancy,
and then to a diary entry. The narrative voice of Walden is both intensely personal and directly
challenging to a reader, it tends to provoke strong reactions, both positive and negative.
Use of imagery. Imagery: broadly defined, any sensory detail or evocation in a work; more narrowly, the

Reservados todos los derechos. No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
use of figurative language to evoke a feeling, to call to mind an idea, or to describe an object; It can be of
different types: allegorical, auditorial, visual. Metaphors, similes, symbols, personification are some of
them.
Figurative language: departs from the literal meaning of the words used and appeals to our senses, our
emotions and our imagination; usually applied to language that uses figures of speech. Figurative
language heightens meaning by implicitly or explicitly representing something in terms of some other
thing, the assumption being that the "other thing" will be more familiar to the reader.
There is use of imagery when he describes the tools and processes to cultivate and to take care the land.
Use of metaphor: smoke of opinion stands for the volatile validity of assumptions when speaking about
the old people.
None will stretch the seams in putting on the coat, for it may do good service to him whom it fits. When
addressing to the readers and explaining the purpose of the book.
Use of allusions and quotations: Many of the quotation and allusions in Thoreau´s writings are from the
classics, English literature of Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and the ancient Hindu scriptures. E.g.:
Deucalion and Pyrrha about the origin of the humankind, from Greek Mythology. Quotations from
Raleigh and Ovid’s Metamorphoses are also present in the text. The bible is also alluded as “an old book”
an there are references to old sayings and the steam machine.
Binary oppositions: Civilization or progress/ nature, richness/poverty, materialism/ spiritualism, city/
country, past/ present, wisdom/ labour.

 Compared to…

Thoreau’s autobiographical account and Franklin’s seem to defend opposite ideas. Opposed to the
defence of hard work to increase your economic and material gains of the latter, Thoreau claimed that
labouring man has no time to be anything but a machine. Concerning form, the former’s experimental
and elaborated style clashed with the latter’s plain style. Together with Cooper, he defends a primitive
and frontier life. Thoreau’s specific images and matter-of-fact voice and humour and sarcasm (i.e.
impertinent) clearly contrast with Emerson’s abstracted images. Both showed no conventional religious
faith.

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