Is brevity or prolixity a quality of these early narrators? What English
prose written before 1640 is superior to the work of these three men? Why
is it especially important for Americans to know something of their
writings? What advance in prose narrative do you find in Beverly and Byrd?
What characteristic of a famous English prose writer of the nineteenth
century is noticeable in Ward's essay on fashions?
Why could fine poetry not be reasonably expected in early Virginia and New
England? What are some of the Calvinistic tenets expounded in
Wigglesworth's _Day of Doom?_ Choose the best two short selections of
colonial poetry.
What are some of the qualifications of a good diarist? Which of these do
you find in the _Diary_ of Samuel Sewall?
Point out some of the fantastic prose expressions of Cotton Mather. Compare
his narrative of Captain Phips with the work of Smith, Bradford, and
Winthrop, on the one hand, and of Beverly and Byrd, on the other.
Compare the theology in Edwards's "Rose of Sharon" selection (p. 54) with
that in Wigglesworth's _Day of Doom._ Why may this selection from Edwards
be called a "poetic exposition of the divine love"? What is his view of the
freedom of the will?
CHAPTER II
THE EMERGENCE OF A NATION
PROGRESS TOWARD NATIONALITY.
Pages:
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88