There are a lot of ways that writers and authors explain and get there message to the reader, ways where they connect and make the reader picture what they wrote in their minds. The way these authors write their work for the reader can really change the aspect of how the reader thinks and looks at the image in their heads. One of the ways that these authors and writers are able to give the reader what it looks like and the feelings that are there is through figurative language. The figurative language gives effect and meaning to what the writer's work has said. In this aspect and essay I will be focusing on documents from Early American Literature, specifically Dekanawida's Iroquois Constitution and Jonathan Edwards' Sermon Sinners "In the …show more content…
This is a metaphor by Marcel Proust, this is the way that figurative language can have an effect on a reader. These quotes/phrases make the reader think about the true meaning of whats been said. In both of these Early American Literature's they use these kinds of similes, metaphors, personifications, etc., to convey a lot of symbolism. For the language used in Jonathan Edwards' document there is a metaphor that says "the bow of God's wrath is bent," compared to Dekanawida's metaphor that states "Roots have spread out from the Tree of the Great a Peace, one of the north, one to the east, one to the south, and one to the west." There are tons of similarities and differences that these phrases have. The similarities that both of these metaphors is that they are trying to convey a message of symbolism that something good can come out of both situations. The difference is that these both are both used in different terms, Dekanawida's message that he is trying to unify the people while Jonathan was trying to convey more of a message that good things can come out of a situation. Jonathan was also being more direct with his metaphor while Dekanawida was trying to make you think about the metaphor that he was
The issues American writers were facing is evident in their writing. Starting with James F. Cooper in his story “The Pioneers”, chapter III, The Slaughter of the Pigeons. This is the story of white men going hunting for pigeons. However, they are hunting, not for food, but for mere sport. They kill hundreds of pigeons for no reason other than to have fun. The Indian with them reprimands them for wasting food and killing unnecessarily. This is a metaphor to the white men slaughter of the American Indian.
In the 1700’s the Puritans left England for the fear of being persecuted. They moved to America for religious freedom. The Puritans lived from God’s laws. They did not depend as much on material things, and they had a simpler and conservative life. More than a hundred years later, the Puritan’s belief toward their church started to fade away. Some Puritans were not able to recognize their religion any longer, they felt that their congregations had grown too self-satisfied. They left their congregations, and their devotion to God gradually faded away. To rekindle the fervor that the early Puritans had, Jonathan Edwards and other Puritan ministers led a religious revival through New England. Edwards preached intense sermons that awakened his congregation to an awareness of their sins. With Edwards’ sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” he persuades the Puritans to convert back to Puritanism, by utilizing rhetorical strategies such as, imagery, loaded diction, and a threatening and fearful tone.
On July 8th 1741, Jonathan Edwards preached the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” in Enfield, Connecticut. Edwards states to his listeners that God does not lack in power, and that people have yet not fallen to destruction because his mercy. God is so forgiving that he gives his people an opportunity to repent and change their ways before it was too late. Edwards urges that the possibility of damnation is immanent. Also that it urgently requires the considerations of the sinner before time runs out. He does not only preach about the ways that make God so omnipotent, but the ways that he is more superior to us. In his sermon, Edwards uses strong, powerful, and influential words to clearly point out his message that we must amend our ways or else destruction invincible. Edwards appeals to the spectators though the various usages of rhetorical devices. This includes diction, imagery, language/tone and syntax. Through the use of these rhetoric devices, Edwards‘s purpose is to remind the speculators that life is given by God and so they must live according to him. This include...
The stress of this caused their once coveted friendship to wither and morph into an ill hatred. The English began a campaign of the demonization of Native Americans. The image of Native Americans was described in Red, White, & Black as friendly traders who shared a mutually beneficial relationship with one another. Evidently, a very different image started to appear when land disputes arose. The new illustration the English painted was that Native American people were “comparable to beasts” and “wild and savage people, that live like heards of deare in a forrest”. It was sudden change of heart between the two societies that supports Waterhouse’s claims of the changing relationship of the English and Native
Over the course of his decades-long career as a respected and influential man of letters, he also wrote an extensive collection of critical essays. In such piece, “A Southern Mode of Imagination,” he argues that the renascence of Southern letters occurred because of a shift in the way Southerners thought; a change from what he termed the extroverted “rhetorical mode” of tall-tales and politicking, to the introspective and hitherto primarily Northern “dialectical mode.” From his unique position as both a critic of the Renaissance and one of its vanguards, Tate posits that the antebellum Southern mind lacked the self-consciousness necessary to produce great writing because it was wholly occupied with defending slavery against the attacks of the North upon the ‘peculiar institution.’ The mind of the South focused outwards in response to those attacks, seeking to justify itself with one foot “upon the neck of a Negro Slave” ; that is to say, Southerners were rhetorical in defense of the indefensible. Their all-consuming and unwinnable defensive stance absorbed any potential for great literature even well after the cause was lost: Southern literature was practically non-existent prior to the publication of the first issue of The Fugitive in 1922. According to Tate’s theory, it was not until the South underwent a shift in its “mode of the imagination” that it was capable of producing writers like those of the Renaissance. Tate theorizes that this change occurred in part because the South ended its self-imposed isolation with the advent of World War I and “saw for the first time since 1830 that the Yankees were not to blame for everything.” The South’s mental energies were no longer entirely engrossed in resistance to Northerners ...
Religion was the foundation of the early Colonial American Puritan writings. Many of the early settlements were comprised of men and women who fled Europe in the face of persecution to come to a new land and worship according to their own will. Their beliefs were stalwartly rooted in the fact that God should be involved with all facets of their lives and constantly worshiped. These Puritans writings focused on their religious foundations related to their exodus from Europe and religions role in their life on the new continent. Their literature helped to proselytize the message of God and focused on hard work and strict adherence to religious principles, thus avoiding eternal damnation. These main themes are evident in the writings of Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Mathers, and John Winthrop. This paper will explore the writings of these three men and how their religious views shaped their literary works, styles, and their historical and political views.
... and well-known African Americans. The imagery he uses is a painting of his experiences, and his thoughts and feelings of those experiences. His use of hyperboles is a connection of dot from his experiences and his emotions. Now that we have seen Cleaver’s literary design, we now understand how his experiences affect his life. We also understand the messages that the other authors mentioned in this essay are trying to send. Like Cleaver, they use certain literary methods for certain reasons, whether their literary methods are to express their feelings or to teach us things we may have not known before. Although the other author’s appear to have different reasons for using certain literary methods than those reasons of Cleaver’s, Like Cleaver, their aim is to get a point through to us; therefore, they too, create a successful literary design.
Obrien, Timmy. “The Things They Carried” Literature and its Writers. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 1-1736. Print.
Documentation of information has always played an important role in understanding events occurring in the past. Historians and scholars obtaining this information used many methods, such as information passed down to each generation about one’s own family history, interviews, stories, autobiographies, and songs. A good example of how information was obtained during the time of slavery is through the use of these methods. Biased information was documented by white southerners who proclaimed that it was in the best interest of the African-American to live in the slave system, and the Northern abolitionist believed the slaves longed for freedom often exaggerated for the purpose of propaganda. Travelers who visited the United States wrote about their views of slavery. Their own cultural biases often affected what they reported. To have a better perspective of slavery, the real question was how the slaves felt about the slave system, and how accurate information can be obtained to support the data, since the majority of the slaves could not read or write. In this paper, the following themes will be discussed: stories related to how a slave felt …(I represent the slave)…about one’s master, songs related to how a I felt about me receiving inhumane treatment the type of plantation in which I worked, my family situation, where I lived, would eat, and how I felt throughout my days as a slave.
In Tompkins's essay, the reader is fed the façade that Tompkins's is writing on the relations between the Puritans first entering this country and the Native Americans already residing there. Her introduction to this paper is a personal reflection of a memory she has retained since her childhood. The reason for writing this essay she explains, is to prepare for a course she was to be teaching. The essay appears to be that of exceptional quality. Not only does she analyze the sources o...
In the book “The Fire Next Time” by James Baldwin, there are many instances in which he uses figurative language to get his point across. This book was Baldwin's reaction to the social and racial shamefulness he saw in America. The use of figurative language allows for a more vivid picture for the audience to visualize in their minds and grasp. Many times Baldwin uses figurative language to create a picture of a concept or opinion of his and instill what he believes it looks or feels like into it. Throughout the writing the author superbly distinguishes that love, not fear, converges a society.
Works Cited “American Literature 1865-1914.” Baym 1271. Baym, Nina et al. Ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature.
Martin, Terence. Nathaniel Hawthorne. Revised Edition. Twayne’s United States Authors Series. G.K. Hall & Company. Massachusetts. 1983.
Guthrie, James. “Emily Dickinson”. ENG 3310-02 American Texts: Colonial -1890.Wright State University, Fairborn, Ohio. 25 October 2013. Lecture.
In order to see how cultural and historical situations affect literature throughout history, it is important to get a brief history on each era discussed in this paper. The first era we will be reviewing will be writings from 1865-1914. The Civil War was just ending in 1865. America lost over a half of million Americans in the war. The nation was in a state of disorder and the south was devastated. Nevertheless, the country prospered. America became industrialized and saw innovations such as; the railroads, telegraph, telephone, and electricity. The population of the United States had also started to increase due to immigration.