The Puritan Settlers In Colonial America

The puritan settlers were not the first colonists arriving in the Americas; Columbus’ discovery had paved the way for them the new land. The first pilgrims also known as puritans set out in the early 1600 from England to claim a new land where they can freely exercise their religious beliefs and according to social scientists, as the study material states some puritans left England because social changes occurred. Besides the social changes there was tension between the poor and the wealthy population of the country and the reformation of the Church caused tremendous tension. England was going through religious changes which started in the 16th century for the king of England at that time was not allowed an annulment of his marriage, therefore he would no longer accept the pope’s authority and declared himself head of the church as …show more content…
Besides the existence of the original sin there were the elect, who were individuals chosen and predestined by God to be saved. This religious undertone, the concern for one’s soul is highly present in the puritan writing and I solely base this statement on my diminutive experience of reading the texts and poems of few puritan writers, so far. The study material assures us that religion and devotion to God was always present in the puritan texts and poems and I find it to be true. Besides the devoutness and the effects of this devotion on everyday existence puritan writings were simplistic, style of prose was plain. Puritans used diaries, journals and sermons to teach Puritan beliefs, but there were also poems composed on the subject of religious piety. An interesting fact is that we can compare the works of Shakespeare with his contemporary Puritan writers and the differences in writing style, theme and subject would be is quite obvious to