Puritans View Of Death In Literature

Although some people choose not to discuss it, death is one of the biggest mysteries in the world. Since no one can be sure what happens after death, many theories have been presented throughout the years about this phenomenon. Today and throughout all of history, there have been many different groups that have had their own ideas about death. Specifically, in the late 1500s to the early 1800s, the Puritans, Revolutionaries, and Romantics each had their own different and unique views of death that impacted their literature and ways of life.
The Puritans’ view of death was that once someone died they were sent to either heaven or hell, to whichever God predestined them. However, they believed that most people were sent to hell. First of all,
in Jonathan Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Edwards mentions, on many occasions, a person’s likelihood of being sent to hell.
For example, in the beginning of Edwards’ speech he says, “…there is nothing between you and Hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up,” which states that there is not much standing between a person and hell. In his writing, Edwards also uses the metaphor of a rotting bridge to explain how much easier it is for non-believers to fall into hell. He says non-believers walk on a rotting bridge over hell and could fall at any time (Edwards 71). Additionally, in “Upon a Wasp Chilled Cold” by Edward Taylor, Taylor briefly mentions the Puritan belief of predestination, that some people are destined to go to hell while others are destined to go to heaven. Taylor briefly mentions predestination with the line, “Till I enravished climb into the godhead,” implying that he will one day get to heaven. He also says that he will praise and sing to God once he reaches heaven, showing the Puritan belief in heaven (Taylor 63). Finally, in the poem “To
My Dear and Loving Husband” by Anne Bradstreet, she writes about the Puritan belief of eternal life after death. For example, in her poem she wrote, “That when we live no more, we may live forever,” which means when she and her husband die they will hopefully live together forever. In her writing, she implies that she will be able to interact with her loved ones in this eternal life (Bradstreet 57). According to these writings, the Puritans believed that once they died, they spent eternal life in either heaven or hell, as predetermined by God.
While the Puritans believed God predestined their final destinations, people of the Revolutionary period believed God withdrew himself from the world, and it was their job to determine their fate. First of all, the Enlightenment thinkers believed in Deism, a belief that God rationally designed the universe and then separated himself from his creation. Since God withdrew himself, it was up to the people to decide what happened to them after they died. One characteristic of the Enlightenment was bettering oneself and society. By bettering themselves, they may have been trying to get to heaven through good works. Additionally, in Phillis Wheatley’s “To His Excellency George Washington,” she uses a lot of metaphors comparing heavenly objects to America and George Washington. For example, she used phrases like celestial choir, heaven’s fair face, and heaven-defended race (Wheatley 137-138). These phrases imply that people of the Revolutionary period believed in heaven and God, or else the phrases would not have held such a strong connotation. Since the people during the Revolutionary period believed in heaven they must have also believed in an afterlife. Lastly, in Benjamin Franklin’s “Autobiography” and Thomas Paine’s “The Crisis, Number I,” both writers either attempt to better themselves or society, which could be seen as trying to achieve eternal happiness in heaven or a “heaven on earth.” In Franklin’s writing he discusses how he tried to achieve moral perfection by working on one virtue each week. He was trying to get to heaven through his good actions (Franklin 113-116). In Paine’s writing he discusses how by getting independence from Britain, American’s society would be a better place (Paine 130). By trying to create happiness in society, he was possibly trying to create a “heaven on earth” and get to heaven himself. The people of the Revolutionary period had a very logical view of death, and believed that a person’s eternal happiness was guaranteed by their actions during their lifetime.
The Romantic view of death was very different from the predestined view of the Puritans and the realistic view of the Enlightenment thinkers.
The Romantics believed death was closely tied with nature. Primarily, in William Cullen Bryant’s “Thanatopsis,” he describes with great detail what he believed happened after death. Bryant wrote, “And lost each human trace, surrendering up thine individual being, shalt thou go to mix forever with the elements…,” which says that when a person dies, they become part of nature (Bryant 203). There are many lines in this poem that talk about how life goes on after death, how everyone will eventually die, and that once a person dies, they will join those who have already passed. Additionally, in “Thanatopsis,” there is a major theme throughout the poem: that death is not something to be feared. A line in the poem says, “Thou go not, like a quarry-slave at night … but, sustained and soothed by an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,” meaning one should not approach death with fear but peace. The author also says to approach death like one would approach going to sleep and dreaming, with calmness and tranquility (Bryant 204). Finally, since the Romantics believed people become one with nature when they die and they believed God was present in nature, they believed that we rejoin God after death. In the poem “To a Waterfowl” by William Cullen Bryant, he shows that Romantics believed God was present in nature through his descriptions of and
interactions with nature. In this poem the line, “There is a Power whose care teaches thy way along that pathless coast,” is referring to God indirectly with the word “Power” (Bryant 176). The Romantics had a fanciful view on death and believed that death, or becoming one with nature, was not something to be feared, but was something to be embraced.
Throughout the course of history, all groups of people have formed theories to explain the phenomenon of death. The Puritans from the late 1500s to 1600s believed that God predestined them to spend eternal life in either heaven with their loved ones, or hell. The people of the Revolutionary period, on the other hand, believed that God had no say in their eternal life, and that heaven could only be ensured through their good actions. In contrast to both the Puritans and the people of the Revolutionary period, the Romantics believed that every person became a part of nature after death, and that death was not something to be feared. Although each group had its own perspective of death, they all truly expressed their beliefs in their writing and their daily lives.