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The Day of Doom
The Day of Doom, Michael Wigglesworth's epic poem about the Last Judgement, might well be called the most popular book of early America. At least twelve editions sold out in the century after its original publication in 1662.
Early settlers revered it, holding it second only to the Bible, and school children memorized it from start to finish.
However, it also bears the dubious distinction of being the most willfully ignored work of American poetry.
Early settlers revered it, holding it second only to the Bible, and school children memorized it from start to finish.
However, it also bears the dubious distinction of being the most willfully ignored work of American poetry.
120 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1662
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About the author
Michael Wigglesworth
43 books2 followersMichael Wigglesworth (1631–1705) was a Puritan minister and poet whose The Day of Doom was a bestseller in early New England.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 24, 2016
Where would American history be without its religious bigots?
Relax, I'm not simply having a jab at Uncle Sam there. I am well aware that a good number of those bigots came from my country, Puritans with a persecution complex such as Michael Wigglesworth, who sailed to the Promised Land in the mid-17th century.
He begins the short autobiography which prefaces this poem by explaining how he was born in 'an ungodly Place ... where, to my knowledge, their children had Learnt wickedness betimes ...'
That's one way to describe Yorkshire I suppose.
The full name of Wiggleworth's poem is 'The Day of Doom: or, A Poetical Description of the Great and Last Judgement.' For the Puritan's Judgement Day was a jolly good thing altogether, like Christmas Day and the Fourth of July all wrapped up into one.
That's because they were destined to be amongst the saved awarded a place at God's right hand. There's plenty of space other there because over the other side by God's left hand reside the damned, which will be just about everyone else who ever lived:
'Earth's dwellers all both great and small,
have wrought iniquity,
And suffer must (for it is just)
eternal misery.
Amongst the many there come not any
before the Judge's face,
That able are themselves to clear,
of all this cursed race.'
Stanza LXVII
Wiggleworth ticks off the different condemned groups pleading their case, the proud, the ignorant etc, none of whom are granted Mercy. As in the above example, he does so with little more than the rudiments of poetic craft.
But poor versification is the least of his sins. That's because being a Puritan he believed in Original Sin, so even unborn babies who died in that impossible state are made to plead their case. If you ask me, they make a good job of it:
'Behold, we see Adam set free,
and sav'd from his trespass,
Whose sinful fall hath split us all,
and brought us to this pass.
Canst thou deny us once to try,
or grace to us to tender,
When he finds grace before thy face,
that was the chief offender?'
Stanza CLXX
But no, God condemns them on the logic that they wouldn't have complained if Adam had not contrived the Fall, so they can't complain now! Sorry babies, it's the big frying pan for you.
At least they get given the 'easiest room in hell.'
After Jesus had condemned about 99.9% of the world's population the good saints drag everyone off to the fiery pit and look on with 'thankful wonderment' as the bodies start to sizzle. (Is there a patron saint of the hamburger?)
In fairness The Day of Doom is actually pretty tame stuff for a Puritan poem about Judgement Day. Wigglesworth was no John Milton, he simply didn't have the tools to lay it on thick.
The publication I read online at the openlibrary site also included five shorter poems of varying length, the same simple rhymes and much the same content about the many types of people who will deservedly cop it at the Last Trump.
However on a happy note I'm sure you will be glad to learn that a poem about his own immanent death, 'A Fairwell to the World,' leaves us in little doubt that Wigglesworth fully expected himself to find a place by the right hand.
See you there.
Relax, I'm not simply having a jab at Uncle Sam there. I am well aware that a good number of those bigots came from my country, Puritans with a persecution complex such as Michael Wigglesworth, who sailed to the Promised Land in the mid-17th century.
He begins the short autobiography which prefaces this poem by explaining how he was born in 'an ungodly Place ... where, to my knowledge, their children had Learnt wickedness betimes ...'
That's one way to describe Yorkshire I suppose.
The full name of Wiggleworth's poem is 'The Day of Doom: or, A Poetical Description of the Great and Last Judgement.' For the Puritan's Judgement Day was a jolly good thing altogether, like Christmas Day and the Fourth of July all wrapped up into one.
That's because they were destined to be amongst the saved awarded a place at God's right hand. There's plenty of space other there because over the other side by God's left hand reside the damned, which will be just about everyone else who ever lived:
'Earth's dwellers all both great and small,
have wrought iniquity,
And suffer must (for it is just)
eternal misery.
Amongst the many there come not any
before the Judge's face,
That able are themselves to clear,
of all this cursed race.'
Stanza LXVII
Wiggleworth ticks off the different condemned groups pleading their case, the proud, the ignorant etc, none of whom are granted Mercy. As in the above example, he does so with little more than the rudiments of poetic craft.
But poor versification is the least of his sins. That's because being a Puritan he believed in Original Sin, so even unborn babies who died in that impossible state are made to plead their case. If you ask me, they make a good job of it:
'Behold, we see Adam set free,
and sav'd from his trespass,
Whose sinful fall hath split us all,
and brought us to this pass.
Canst thou deny us once to try,
or grace to us to tender,
When he finds grace before thy face,
that was the chief offender?'
Stanza CLXX
But no, God condemns them on the logic that they wouldn't have complained if Adam had not contrived the Fall, so they can't complain now! Sorry babies, it's the big frying pan for you.
At least they get given the 'easiest room in hell.'
After Jesus had condemned about 99.9% of the world's population the good saints drag everyone off to the fiery pit and look on with 'thankful wonderment' as the bodies start to sizzle. (Is there a patron saint of the hamburger?)
In fairness The Day of Doom is actually pretty tame stuff for a Puritan poem about Judgement Day. Wigglesworth was no John Milton, he simply didn't have the tools to lay it on thick.
The publication I read online at the openlibrary site also included five shorter poems of varying length, the same simple rhymes and much the same content about the many types of people who will deservedly cop it at the Last Trump.
However on a happy note I'm sure you will be glad to learn that a poem about his own immanent death, 'A Fairwell to the World,' leaves us in little doubt that Wigglesworth fully expected himself to find a place by the right hand.
See you there.
July 7, 2024
It feels disgusting to know that this grim and uninviting Puritan poem describing The Last Judgement and the plight of sinners on that day, was a National best seller. Its intense imageries of Hell and the punishments awaiting a great percentage of the human race must have caused extensive frenzy, back in the day.
But the people of a later generation find a component of the ‘disturbingly comic’ in the depiction of the theological beliefs of the Puritans.
In the following lines in which God judges infants who are condemned of original sin, the sin of Adam's disobedience, the Almighty decreases:
I do confess yours is much less,
Though every sin's a crime
A crime it is, therefore in bliss
You may not hope to dwell
But unto you I shall allow
The casiest room in hell….
The New England Puritans would have felt shudders of terror at such descriptions but we, the readers of the Gen-Z age, good humouredly smile at such beliefs.
Monotheistic religion is the oldest and most encircling framework for intolerance in the West. Its Manichean binaries of good and evil, clean and contaminated, higher and substandard, us and them have been leveraged over centuries to rationalize bigotry.
That philosophy of unambiguous separation and inflexible dissimilarity has survived notwithstanding the influential prophetic traditions of those same Abrahamic religions urging social justice, sympathy, and concord.
Bigotry has been fitted in religious institutions in the West for millennia, but simultaneously, those same institutions have accredited power to encounter bigotry.
But the people of a later generation find a component of the ‘disturbingly comic’ in the depiction of the theological beliefs of the Puritans.
In the following lines in which God judges infants who are condemned of original sin, the sin of Adam's disobedience, the Almighty decreases:
I do confess yours is much less,
Though every sin's a crime
A crime it is, therefore in bliss
You may not hope to dwell
But unto you I shall allow
The casiest room in hell….
The New England Puritans would have felt shudders of terror at such descriptions but we, the readers of the Gen-Z age, good humouredly smile at such beliefs.
Monotheistic religion is the oldest and most encircling framework for intolerance in the West. Its Manichean binaries of good and evil, clean and contaminated, higher and substandard, us and them have been leveraged over centuries to rationalize bigotry.
That philosophy of unambiguous separation and inflexible dissimilarity has survived notwithstanding the influential prophetic traditions of those same Abrahamic religions urging social justice, sympathy, and concord.
Bigotry has been fitted in religious institutions in the West for millennia, but simultaneously, those same institutions have accredited power to encounter bigotry.
August 28, 2024
This was rather interesting! I found it quite harsh and abrasive at points, but I guess that's the idea! Reminded me of an epic poem (though it's not), but the form and structure certainly smacked of Homer and company. The poems have a cool historical context.
Regardless, this was one of America's first best sellers and it paints a gloomy, Puritanical rage-filled God. A god who is quite nearly unforgiving of any and all sins. Even as sinners plead before him and accept his grace, God banishes them to eternal torture. Even babies who were robbed of life young are sent to Hell but granted "the easiest room" in that Lake of Fire. It certainly makes one wonder how so many early Americans were absolutely horrendous people, accepting of racism and the many lies told unto natives when they had a copy of this book on their shelves! I guess this God turns a blind eye to sins such as those?
Regardless, this was one of America's first best sellers and it paints a gloomy, Puritanical rage-filled God. A god who is quite nearly unforgiving of any and all sins. Even as sinners plead before him and accept his grace, God banishes them to eternal torture. Even babies who were robbed of life young are sent to Hell but granted "the easiest room" in that Lake of Fire. It certainly makes one wonder how so many early Americans were absolutely horrendous people, accepting of racism and the many lies told unto natives when they had a copy of this book on their shelves! I guess this God turns a blind eye to sins such as those?
July 8, 2018
Anyone turned off by the religious stodginess of Milton or god forbid even Dante would have a heart attack reading this.
Wigglesworth was certainly no Milton, but his comparatively meager poetic abilities actually add to the stark austerity of this work. If nothing else, its economy of language is rather eloquent.
Wigglesworth was certainly no Milton, but his comparatively meager poetic abilities actually add to the stark austerity of this work. If nothing else, its economy of language is rather eloquent.
August 16, 2020
Embora escrito no século XVII, e sobre o Apocalipse, muito de seus versos pareciam falar sobre os dias atuais. Que coisa...
February 1, 2022
I wanna take a shit on this poem, but that would be insulting to the poo.
September 1, 2022
Read for ENG 311: American Lit to 1865.
April 21, 2025
Consider me warned
February 26, 2019
It's not that I dislike the poem -- I think too many of the other people here have fallen into the trap of evaluating this work based on the qualities it would have in the modern world. Instead, this was a classic in the 17th and 18th centuries and should be evaluated as such. There is, indeed, almost an innate hope (in the reader) that the values that Wigglesworth praises are no longer the values we hold to, for otherwise we are indeed a group of savages.
This work ends up praising God aplenty when different groups of people come to plead their case before the Almighty on Judgement Day. As such, what can we look forward to? Interesting cases are made by thieves, rogues, unborn children, and people who died before they could repent in life (the most difficult group to describe, no doubt) amongst others. Not a single soul was saved from the Puritan morals -- everyone could and would be smitten down, so the best that could be hoped for would be a quick stay in the cleansing fires.
How many peoples deserved the simple fire-y solution I will leave up to the intrepid reader to find. It suffices to say that very few of the above would be similarly condemned today -- and we are better for it. Yet, we also need to understand where we come from and for that Wigglesworth's morality story is an enlightening one.
This review was originally posted on my blog.
This work ends up praising God aplenty when different groups of people come to plead their case before the Almighty on Judgement Day. As such, what can we look forward to? Interesting cases are made by thieves, rogues, unborn children, and people who died before they could repent in life (the most difficult group to describe, no doubt) amongst others. Not a single soul was saved from the Puritan morals -- everyone could and would be smitten down, so the best that could be hoped for would be a quick stay in the cleansing fires.
How many peoples deserved the simple fire-y solution I will leave up to the intrepid reader to find. It suffices to say that very few of the above would be similarly condemned today -- and we are better for it. Yet, we also need to understand where we come from and for that Wigglesworth's morality story is an enlightening one.
This review was originally posted on my blog.
May 29, 2023
A literary enthusiast would find enjoyment in the passionate apocalyptic descriptions. But ultimately this piece serves as a valuable primary source document on 17th century United States.
August 19, 2024
In colonial America, this long poem about the last judgment was the biggest best-seller there was. Amazing! It describes all kinds of people appearing at the judgement seat to be sent to eternal heaven or eternal hell. In true Puritan (and, for that matter, biblical) style, it focuses on people's hearts. The concern at the judgment seat is whether they have been truly converted - have they placed true and sincere trust in Jesus Christ's sacrifice for their sins and given their life to Christ?
I liked this poem, unlike many other reviewers on this site! The final judgment is basic Christianity, not some odd Puritan idea. For sure it is beneficial to ponder our souls and eternity and God's justice - not to be so focused on the here and now. The poetry itself is pretty good - of course it's not Paradise Lost, but it is made up of easily remembered rhymes.
I liked this poem, unlike many other reviewers on this site! The final judgment is basic Christianity, not some odd Puritan idea. For sure it is beneficial to ponder our souls and eternity and God's justice - not to be so focused on the here and now. The poetry itself is pretty good - of course it's not Paradise Lost, but it is made up of easily remembered rhymes.
June 22, 2012
They just don't make 'em anymore like the Puritans did...
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews