John Adams -- Something to Hold on to

I won't lie: I meant to post this something like two weeks ago when it was fresh in my mind, but completely forgot to come back and edit my draft. Then when I was going to write about someone else and sporadically decided to delete any unfinished drafts out of a strange fit of organization (if you don't know me, these happen rarely if ever), and happened upon John Adams. I also realized that I no longer really had anything to say, but I liked my title so much that I couldn't delete it.

Personal vanity aside, I rather enjoyed the correspondence between John Adams and his wife, Abigail. There's just something about reading the personal communication between two (almost ridiculously) close people that is refreshing in a day and age where communication is so easy and long-distance communication so common place that such committment to writing letters blows my mind a bit. I know for myself I can't imagine having the presence of mind to write consistently to someone a continent away (I rarely remember to call my family when I'm at school for six months at a time, and they're only something like three states apart -- and really, how difficult is it to pick up a phone?) and then deal with the impatience of waiting for a reply.

The context of America's bid for independence from Britain and the subsequent development of a nation is also fascinating, but beyond the political scope John's letters to Abigail betray a relationship very much defined by love, and perhaps more striking because of that context. They reveal a humanity that we tend to forget when we consider the founding of this nation, and while the literary importance of these letters may still stand in contention, the profound depth of love and friendship between these two people does not.

Jonathan Edwards -- By Grace Alone

It's a little bit strange to me that our overall reaction to Jonathan Edwards as a class is one of distrust (as it relates to the dramatic, firey language of his well-known sermon), perhaps because it is not so difficult for me to reconcile the Edwards of "Sinners" to the Edwards of his Personal Narrative as it seems to be for some others.

While Edwards' "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is certainly a controversial piece of doctrinal analyses and may perhaps dwell too much on the fire-and-brimstone aspects of Christianity, Edwards makes and intellectually and spiritually sound case for the peril of mankind. The almost single-mindedness of the language belies Edwards' sincere repect for and reliance on the grace of God -- it is this grace and restraint alone that separate the sinner from the fires of hell, and in light of the anger and sovereignty of God as outlined by Edwards this grace is all the more profound.

God's grace is the foundation of Christianity. Without the understanding and beneficence of that grace our feeble attempts at holiness amount to nothing and result in eternal damnation. This idea is uncomfortable -- we like the idea that some things we do in life give us a leg up on the general goodness scale, and the concept that anything we do and do not do in life, whether for good or for evil, ultimately does not matter is terrifying. Due to this mindset Edwards' sermon seems to be mere condemnation, but at closer inspection it is rather a plea to those outside of god's grace to step within it, rather than relying on self for an empty salvation. he strives to portray the anger, power, and sovereignty of God in order to better understand the nature of and need for His grace.

Despite its overtly Calvinist tones of predestination "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is theologically sound. It's message is based in the very foundations of Christianity. I believe the difficulty that we have in appreciating that message comes from a latent self-interest, for one. As we discussed in class, America is at its heart a nation composed of consumers -- if we don't hear the message we want to hear at all times then we're prone to either giving up on that message entirely or simply finding a different translation of the same message that perhaps panders to our personal perceptions of how life and God should be.

We are quick to condemn Edwards based on the overt tones of cynicism when it comes to the human condition and his lack of sympathy in the deliverance of a message of hope, but we base that condemnation almost solely on a message that was written for a different audience during a different time, and often choose to disregard the truth in favor of a cushier, gentler faith.

Edward Taylor -- Mixed Feelings

As much as Taylor was inarguably (in light of his poetry) a man of profound faith in God, I have very mixed feelings about some of the imagery he employs. I found the overarching simile in Meditation 150 nothing short of disturbing.

While it's common to compare Christ's relationship with his church to the relationship between bridegroom and bride, I personally find the depth of Taylor's physical description to take that relationship more than one step too far. Even in light of his inspiration (Song of Solomon 7.3 "Thy two breasts are like the two young Roes that are twins.") this poem is difficult to reconcile with his other work. The first stanza or so reads like much of his other poetry, but he falls into a great deal of almost deprecating physical description that reads a great deal like many of the secular "love" poems of the period (I think of Marvell's To His Coy Mistress). I think however that including language such as that found in Meditation's third stanza --

Lord put these nibbles then my mouth into
And suckle me therewith I humbly pray,
Then with this milk they Spiritual Babe I'st grow,
And these two milk pails shall themselves display
Like to these pretty twins in pairs round neat
And shall sing forth thy praise over this meat.

is demeaning and inappropriate to his subject matter, for obvious reasons.

I have no idea how to read this poem and for me it detracts from the greater body of Taylor's work, which I would like to appreciate for its spirituality and appreciation for the relationship between God and man but can't full based on this single poem.

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Links to the full poems mentioned in this entry::
To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell
I couldn't find Meditation 150, but I assume most of the readers of this blog will have read it for class. if not, maybe your googleing will bring you better luck.

Anne Bradstreet -- Public and Private

Bradstreet is a poet that I struggle with. While I enjoy her poetry a great deal I tend to find myself overwhelmed if I read more than three or four poems at a time. I can't decide whether it's the content or presentation of her work that I don't connect with on a personal level, but either way I can honestly say that while I do appreciate the cleverness and intellect apparent in her poetry I have never been moved to rush out and buy a volume of Anne Bradstreet poems as I have been after reading other poets.

My struggle with connecting to Bradstreet perhaps lies in the almost paradoxical nature of her poetry. I love how ironically she handles between poet and audience, and in particular the relationship between female poet and audience. She is well aware of the supposed limitations on woman's poetic license, and exploits them masterfully in poems such as The Prologue and The Author to Her Book. In The Prologue she asserts her inability to express her thought in words fitting "to sing of wars, of captains, and of kings," but continuously drops classical allusions that betray her capability in exactly these directions in poems such as In Honor of That High and Mighty Princess Queen Elizabeth of Happy Memory and A Dialogue between Old England and New.

She also blurs the lines between the private and public spheres in ways that in poetry and other literature of the period are often surprising. While the majority of her poetry is essentially domestic she often dabbles in the political realm, as well. The poetry she writes to her husband is quite personal, as well as the lines she pens in Before the Birth of Her Children, In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet, Who Deceased August 1665, Being A Year and a Half Old, and Here Follows Some Verses Upon the Burning of Our House, July 10th, 1666, to name only a few. These poems deal with very domestic concerns -- birth and death both take place in the home, which is essentially the realm of the woman, as opposed to politics and business etc. which take place in the public realm of man. Bradstreet's entrance into this realm at all is commendable, though at times I feel like she'd have liked to stretch her wings a bit more, and wish she might have let loose and fly.

John Smith and John Winthrop -- The Diversity of Opinion Concerning the Settlement of the New World

I suppose I should probably introduce this in some way before diving straight into literary commentary. I've never been much for writing online (something about typing as opposed to physically writing the words takes the inspiration out of the experience, or something to that effect), so these entries will be taken for the most part verbatim from my reading journal. Most of them will have something or other to do with American Literature, as the purpose of this blog dictates, but I'll probably add other considerations as I go, depending on how I'm feeling. Anyway. The following entry is dated 2/9/10 and continues through 2/10/10, written after reading excerpts from The General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles by John Smith, and A Model of Christian Charity by John Winthrop.

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John Smith is as fascinating a character in his own estimation as his reputation (via historical accounts and works of fiction regarding the illustrious captain) makes him out to be. This is perhaps due in part to the embellished nature of his personal accomplishments in contrast with his descriptions of other noteworthy men working alongside him (or almost alarming lack thereof). Aside from Smith's preoccupation with his own prowess, his writing does give us a great deal of insight into the mindset of the early settlers. America, Jamestown in particular, was first and foremost a British colony, and its settlers English at heart. John Smith certainly was not bent on settling the New World out of any separatist agenda, but rather in order to in some sense glorify and prosper England through the prosperity of her colonies. Smith glorifies the lifestyle of the colonists in order to gain the manpower to make expansion possible.

Winthrop, on the other hand, is not concerned so much for the monetary and class opportunities available in the New World as Smith is -- quite the contrary, really. He is concerned primarily with the building of a society and or commonwealth in which each man and woman functions in his or her own station to the best of his or her ability for the common good. The individual is not responsible for his or her station in society so much as for fulfilling his or her duties within that station. Society is not as flexible for Winthrop as it is for Smith. The rich will be rich and the poor will be poor.

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