The American Puritans, Their Prose and Poetry

by Perry Miller (Editor)

The Puritans who came to New England in the seventeenth century erected in the wilderness one of the great foundation blocks of the American character. Descendants of these first settlers have carried traits of the Puritan mind into a variety of pursuits and all the way across the continent. Without some understanding of Puritanism, and that at its source, there is no understanding of America. Perry Miller, Professor of American Literature at Harvard, has here collected the main works of the American Puritans, from which we learn their personal and social history, their theology and their literary and educational aims. Included in this volume are the journals, sermons, and poetry of such authors as William Bradford, John Win-throp, Cotton Mather, John Cotton, Thomas Hooker, Samuel Sewall, Ann Bradstreet, Michael Wiggleworth, and Edward Taylor.

Genres: History, Poetry, Nonfiction, Literature, Theology, United States, Classics

346 pages, Paperback

First published May 22, 1982

About the author

Perry Miller was an American intellectual historian and Harvard University professor. He was an authority on American Puritanism, and one of the founders of what came to be known as 'American Studies'. Alfred Kazin once referred to him as "the master of American intellectual history."

In his most famous book, The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century (1939), Miller adopted a cultural approach to illuminate the worldview of the Puritans, unlike previous historians who employed psychological and economic explanations of their beliefs and behavior.

At Harvard, he directed numerous PhD dissertations; among his most notable students were historians Bernard Bailyn and Edmund Morgan. Margaret Atwood dedicated her famous book The Handmaid's Tale to Perry Miller. He had been a mentor to her at Harvard.

His major works included:

• (1933) Orthodoxy in Massachusetts, 1630-1650
• (1939) The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century
• (1949) Jonathan Edwards
• (1953) The New England Mind: From Colony to Province
• (1953) Roger Williams: His Contribution to the American Tradition
• (1956) Errand into the Wilderness
• (1956) The American Puritans [editor]
• (1957) The American Transcendentalists, their Prose and Poetry
• (1957) The Raven and the Whale: Poe, Melville and the New York Literary Scene
• (1958) Consciousness in Concord: The Text of Thoreau’s Hitherto “Lost Journal”
• (1961) The Legal Mind in America: from Independence to the Civil War
• (1965) The Life of the Mind in America: From the Revolution to the Civil War

Reviews

[Elise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not always a fascinating read, but The American Puritans is a brief anthology accompanied by good, solid scholarship from back in the day (1954) when a scholar's goal was to teach a beloved subject and bring clarity to it for those who wanted to learn rather than to posture, preen, and win the prize for most pretentious prose. Thank you, Perry Miller. Your book proved useful, since Puritans haven't changed in a while.

[Geoffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perry Miller did more than anyone to correct the image of Puritan as dour, fun-hating sticks-in-the-mud. This anthology offers selections of the wide variety of American Puritan writing to help bring strangers into the Puritan world. Those who love a good sermon will find the Puritans thoughtful, practical expositors of Scripture. Read especially Winthrop's "Model of Christian Charity," an address preached on the Arbella en route to New England; it was the first speech to use the image of America as a "city on a hill." The poetry is also not to be missed, especially the senesitive domestic works of Anne Bradstreet and the exquisite metaphysical conceits of Edward Taylor. I don't always like the way Miller picks and chooses, but this books is still the best of its type.

[Hajer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to write a paper on Puritan literature, and I found myself reading this whole book about it. That was quiet amazing, especially for history lovers like me. The Puritan writings have a special historical value that's what gives them a special importance.

[Alicia Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just read what I was assigned, which was surprisingly quite a lot. Overall, though the topic(s) at hand do/does not appeal to my personal interests, I found it quite interesting.

[Kevin Gee · Rating 3 out of 5]

will have to reread ,some important point was missed ,,at that time period ,such as the moors,and other points of view...will reread for 2015,,

[Lynda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this bgook for 2 classes. Excellent anthology. Highly recommend.

[Dwight Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

rather intense yet beautiful