The Language Of Canaan - Metaphor And Symbol In New England From The Puritans To The Transcendentalists

This is a study of New England figurative language from 1600 to 1850, from the English and Continental origins of Puritanism to the symbolic writings of Thoreau. It enriches our understanding of Puritan thought and expression and traces the influence of Puritanism on later American writing. A common link among the writers of this period was a system of prophetic symbolism derived from Scripture. The Bible was the source of figures and types used to illustrate divine guidance in human affairs, and its prophetic language provided the Puritans with a method for explaining and projecting the course of history. Lowance explores these modes of prophetic and metaphorical expression and the millennial impulse in American thinking. In the process he provides a cohesive approach to such diverse writers as Bradford, Cotton, Taylor, Increase and Cotton Mather, Edwards, Freneau, Barlow, Dwight, and Emerson. His book will be welcomed by all students of early American thought and literature. Preface Contents INTRODUCTION I. The Beginnings of Figural Expression 1. MEDIEVAL AND REFORMATION BACKGROUNDS 2. THE PURITAN FIGURAL IMAGINATION AND THE LANGUAGE OF CANAAN 3. THE CANTICLES TRADITION II. Figuralism in Late Seventeenth Century New England 4. SAMUEL MATHER: FIGURES, TYPES, AND ALLEGORIES 5. TAYLOR'S MEDITATIONS AND SERMONS AND THE PERSONALIZING OF THE BIBLICAL FIGURES III. Recapitulative Typology and Eschatology 6. THE SHAPING OF THE FUTURE: ESCHATOLOGICAL SYMBOLISM IN OLD AND NEW ENGLAND DURING THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 7. COTTON MATHER'S MAGNALIA CHRISTI AMERICANA, "BIBLIA AMERICANA," AND THE METAPHORS OF BIBLICAL HISTORY 8. JONATHAN EDWARDS AND THE GREAT AWAKENING 9. JOEL BARLOW AND THE RISING GLORY OF AMERICA IV. Epistemology and the Biblical Symbol from the Great Awakening to the American Renaissance 10. JONATHAN EDWARDS AND THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD 11. FROM EDWARDS TO EMERSON AND THOREAU: A REVALUATION NOTES INDEX