The Puritans Fear In Jonathan Edwards Poem

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Register to read the introduction… For example, he utilizes horrific diction in the quote “The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber, the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them, the flames do now rage and glow.” (pg. 153) Through his utilization of horrific diction such as “burns”, “damnation”, and “furnace” to express fear, he convinced unconverted Puritans to be born again. He also convinced the Puritans to convert to Puritanism with morbid diction such as “flames”, “rage”, and “glow”. In addition, he gave fear to the Puritans through this quote, “The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked…you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours.” (pg. 154) He applies spiteful diction in this quote such as “loathsome”, “abhors”, and “venomous” which created terror in the Puritans, and persuaded them to be converted back to church. He also provides threatening diction such as “pit”, “hell”, and “spider” to frighten the Puritan’s with God’s anger which persuaded them back to God. Furthermore, Edwards applied horrifying diction through this quote, “It is everlasting wrath. It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one moment, but you …show more content…
For example, he applied a threatening tone in this quote, “They are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God that is expressed in the torments of hell. And the reason why they…as energy as he is with many miserable creatures now tormented in hell, who there fell and bear the fierceness of his wrath.” (pg. 153) The words “anger”, “wrath”, and “torments” show a threatening tone, which expressed fear to the Puritans and persuaded them back to church. He also applies an angry tone through the use of the word “wrath” many times to threaten the untransformed Puritans of God’s extreme anger and persuade them to turn back to God. Edwards also reveals his emotion through his sermon as he conveys an angry tone, “O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell.” (pg. 156) In this quotation, he utilizes an angry tone with the words “furnace”, “wrath” and “damned” and gave fear to the Puritans and made them to convert back to Puritanism. This quote also showed how angry God is, and effectively convinced the Puritans back to their congregations. Furthermore, Edwards applied a fearful and angry tone in this

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