Colonial Poetry Research Paper

The Colonial period is one of the most important, defining times in American history, and not only for the sake of paving the way for the United States’ admittance as a standalone country. The period starts with a grand expedition, the first colonists venturing out from Britain, the mother country, to settle in a world unknown. With a “New World” came the need for order; however, achieving some form of unity between the colonies proved to be unfeasible at the start. The colonists also encountered plenty of strange, new ideas that typically didn’t sit well with them — ordinarily, numerous colonies didn’t seem to mesh with the native cultures they were introduced to. Despite the turmoil the colonies went through in this era, each conflict provided
to be a great creative outlet that people could utilize. Many renowned works come from this time, ranging from the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, or A Dialogue Between Old England and New by Anne Bradstreet. Later in American history, the prevalent reasoning and manner of writing became further diverse; but in the Colonial era, most works seemed to relate through purpose and style. In my opinion, the most vital aspect of Colonial literature is its general purpose.
The two main ideas Colonial literature seemed to pertain to where religion and politics. This was a time where writing wasn’t really in the interest of entertainment, and aimed to be more persuasive, reflective, informative. One wouldn’t find fantasy novels or fairy tales in this era, but laments about one’s devotion to God or a presentation of one’s ideologies. People wrote to move others spiritually and emotionally, not to amuse them. Poetry was also prominent at this time, though it wasn’t very similar to how most perceive poetry today. Rather than clever rhyming and short stanzas, Colonial poetry was more-or-less the same type of writing as the rest, although it contained “fluffier” sentences loaded with imagery. Poetry seemed to be a Freeform way for authors to simply reflect on themselves, instead of making the effort to publish a novel that must’ve had a particular idea. For example, in “Verses Upon The Burning of our House” by Anne Bradstreet, one can assume that she wrote this poem on a whim caused by sudden emotion rather than contemplating the content and carefully mapping out her thoughts. The raw emotion is really the entire point of the piece. I believe that literature centered on religion was very eminent in this time because the Puritans had a strong presence in this span, but political and scientific-based works came to be more popular while the colonies were scrambling to rationalize laws, and at the beginning of the age of
Enlightenment. Moreover, most works from the Colonial epoch carry a special tone that each work seems to share. As stated before, this era didn’t really have written fiction. The narrative was used extensively in this period’s writing. The era’s works consisted mostly of published letters, memoirs, journals, declarations, and self reflection. People frequently wrote about experiences involving themselves, or about their own opinions and ideas. Most writings from this time, unless an official paper such as the Declaration of Independence, didn’t really have defined literary structure to them. This is a result of most works being personal, whether the author was preaching in their beliefs or merely recalling a time in the past. In the move to the New World, the colonists came upon many developments, whether these changes were imposed by exterior forces or sorted out between the people of early America. Though we weren’t able to experience what the colonists did, we can easily relive these events through their writing, which was jam packed with their values and told through their eyes.