The following are the questions we discussed in class following our reading of Bradstreet, Wigglesworth, and Taylor:

1. What examples can you find in Bradstreet's poems that would suggest a competition between the love of this world and the doctrine of divine sovereignty? Do you find any passages which touch on her self-perceived spiritual shortcomings?

2. Can you find elements in Bradstreet's poems that give readers today insights into the status, roles, and/or lives of women in Puritan culture?

3. Compare/contrast Bradstreet's "To My Dear and Loving Husband" with Taylor's "Hiswifery."

4. Why do you think "The Day of Doom" lasted so long and did so well? What does it tell us about what New England Puritans thought a poem was for?

5. Locate evidence in "The Day of Doom" of the tenets of Puritan philosophy. Why does the poem refuse to soften at any point, to imagine any last-minute mercy for well-intentioned "good" people caught suddenly by death and Judgment?

6. Taylor was not published until this century, so his work did not influence other writers or generations. Why, then, do we study him and his work?

7. Discuss the merits of the three writers in general--strengths and weaknesses.

Last Updated 01/18/02