Lit Trivia Miscellany
That's So Puritan!
Authors and Titles
Historical Context
Name That Genre
Final Jeopardy
100
This early American writer wrote The Day of Doom, one of the first bestsellers in American history.
Michael Wigglesworth
100
Puritan faith emphasized divine providence, original sin, and strict moral conduct; the name "Puritan" itself stuck for this reason:
The desire of early Puritans to reform and "purify" the Church of England.
100
This early American literary and historical figure is most associated with Jamestown and Virginia; in real life, he was not blond.
John Smith
100
This series of trials in 1692 involved accusations of witchcraft and the execution of 19 people.
The Salem Witch Trials.
100
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” is an example of this genre, which was often delivered from the pulpit.
A sermon.
200
This author's captivity narrative detailed her experiences during King Philip's (Metacom's) War.
Mary Rowlandson
200
This poet, often considered America’s first published poet, wrote “The Author to Her Book.”
Anne Bradstreet
200
This author’s sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” described God’s wrath as holding sinners over the pit of hell like a spider over a flame.
Jonathan Edwards
200
These two Enlightenment political philosophers were hugely influential to the American founders (name either of them).
John Locke and/or Thomas Hobbes
200
Anne Bradstreet’s “The Author to Her Book” is an example of this literary genre.
Poetry / a poem
300
A commitment to pacifism, the spiritual equality of men and women, and the idea that each person is imbued with the "inner light of God" are all defining characteristics of this belief system.
Quakerism
300
This judge of the Salem Witch Trials later repented his role and wrote about his guilt in his diary.
Samuel Sewall
300
This author of "Somnambulism, a Fragment" was also a leading intellectual with an interest in abolition and women's suffrage, and was hugely influenced by thinkers like Mary Wollstonecraft in England.
Charles Brockden Brown
300
This religious tenet, true especially of Puritan doctrine, emphasizes God's will and divine care and foresight; all things are orchestrated according to the will of God.
God's Providence
300
"Somnambulism: A Fragment" is an example of this shorter form of prose narrative, a genre made popular by early American writers.
The short story.
400
This Enlightenment thinker contributed ideas like social contract theory and the notion that all people are born as "blank slates," thus meaning that knowledge is not innate but learned and experienced.
John Locke
400
This colonial venture is most often associated with those Puritans whose original position regarding the Church of England was that of separatism, not purification.
Plymouth Plantation (The Pilgrims)
400
After writing "Common Sense," Thomas Paine also wrote a series of pamphlets called this:
The Crisis, or The American Crisis
400
This was a period of religious fervor in the American colonies between the 1730s and 1740s, characterized by a surge of emotional preaching and a focus on personal conversion, leading to increased religious diversity and challenging established religious institutions.
The First Great Awakening
400
Mary Rowlandson's story belongs to this genre (and was in fact hugely influential and inspirational to those that came).
The personal narrative / the captivity narrative.
500
This group of indigenous women wrote an address to Benjamin Franklin, who in 1787 was acting governor of Pennsylvania and a delegate to the Constitutional Convention.
The Cherokee Women
500
In this sermon, John Winthrop describes the Puritan mission in Boston as the establishment of a "city upon a hill."
A Model of Christian Charity
500
This is one of the pseudonyms under which Ben Franklin most frequently wrote in his Almanac and "The Way to Wealth."
Poor Richard, Richard Saunders
500
This 1620 agreement signed by 41 adult men aboard the Mayflower to establish a temporary self-governing body (a "civil body politic") for the new colony, Plymouth, in present-day Massachusetts, marking a significant step in the development of American democratic self-rule by establishing a government based on the consent of the governed.
The Mayflower Compact
500
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense belongs to this genre, which generally aims to persuade readers about a political cause.
Pamphlet
500
Match the following authors/figures to their city, region, place, or event:
1. I
2. G
3. B
4. D
5. A
6. C
7. H
8. F
9. E