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,
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
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