We began class on September 21 by returning to Thomas Hooker's sermon "The Danger of Desertion" (1641) examining its structure and use of typology as well as the genre of the jeremiad. Josias Nichols's "Plea of the Innocent" (1602) was considered in relation to Hooker's piece, and the class investigated Nichols's contention that the word Puritan is a misnomer for those who advocate for further reform of the English church. The remainder of the class was spent with William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation (1630-1650). After a brief discussion of the beginnings of the Reformation in England, we took up the questions of what Of Plymouth Plantation reveals about Puritanism and how Bradford's Puritanism influenced his task as historian. We also considered Bradford's aesthetic goals as he wrote his book, including his deployment of the plain style as an artistic choice as well as an economic countermeasure (via Michelle Burnham's scholarship. Class ended with an interrogation of the Other in Bradford, focusing first on his comments upon European-Native American interaction.
On September 28, we shall briefly return to this question of the Other in Bradford to think about Otherness as not just a racial category. What Others appear in Of Plymouth Plantation? Further, how is Thomas Morton's New English Canaan in dialogue with Puritanism?
Some other questions to raise about Bradford's book which time did not allow us to investigate: What is the relationship between Part I and Part II of the history? How does the text challenge commonly held images of the Pilgrim Founders? What does one make of Bradford's inclusion of the colony's criminal activity?
The painting is by Michel Felice Corne (1752-1815), completed during the years 1803-1806 (and based upon a 1799 engraving). Since Bradford's manuscript was not recovered and printed until the mid-1850s, Corne would not have had access to his descriptions of the first landing and settlement. A simple Google search will uncover a number of similar paintings, many of them collected on the Pilgrim Hall Museum web site. Consider such representations in relation to the question above about commonly held ideas about the Pilgrims. (One might start by noticing that Corne has his Pilgrims wearing late 18th century trousers, not 17th century garb.)
Some other questions to raise about Bradford's book which time did not allow us to investigate: What is the relationship between Part I and Part II of the history? How does the text challenge commonly held images of the Pilgrim Founders? What does one make of Bradford's inclusion of the colony's criminal activity?
The painting is by Michel Felice Corne (1752-1815), completed during the years 1803-1806 (and based upon a 1799 engraving). Since Bradford's manuscript was not recovered and printed until the mid-1850s, Corne would not have had access to his descriptions of the first landing and settlement. A simple Google search will uncover a number of similar paintings, many of them collected on the Pilgrim Hall Museum web site. Consider such representations in relation to the question above about commonly held ideas about the Pilgrims. (One might start by noticing that Corne has his Pilgrims wearing late 18th century trousers, not 17th century garb.)
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