Greetings Sophomores!
I hope you all had an enjoyable holiday.
This week will be a continuation of our study of Puritan literature and thematically related materials. Some of you will meet with me only once and will have to be diligent in order to keep pace. We will finish reading and illustrating the infamous sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." It is my hope to put all the illustrations into a slide show that I can publish on my blog.
After the sermon, we will look into the Salem Witch Trials. Wonders of the Invisible World, written by Puritan minister Cotton Mather, records the court proceedings. The text, however, seems biased by today's standards for court records, and the testimony, likewise, seems less than credible. What sorts of Puritan ideals could have led to such trials? What do they say about the community. How do these trials and Edwards' sermon seem incongruous with, say, poetry by Taylor and Bradstreet?
Of course, no literary discussion of the Salem Witch Trials would be complete without a look at the play The Crucible. I hope to get to this play this week. The play, while set during the infamous trials, is not historically accurate nor meant to be. We will discuss the thematic value of the play and Miller's purpose in writing it.
You will have a vocabulary quiz on lesson 15 this week. Bring your workbook for review.
See you in class!
Mrs. SO
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