The American Puritan Elegy: A Literary and Cultural Study

by Jeffrey A. Hammond

Overview

Jeffrey Hammond's study of the funeral elegies of early New England reassesses a body of poems whose importance in their own time has been obscured by almost total neglect in ours. Hammond reconstructs the historical, theological and cultural contexts of these poems to demonstrate how they responded to Puritan views on a specific process of mourning. The elegies emerge, he argues, as performative scripts that consoled readers by shaping their experience. They shed new light on the emotional dimension of Puritanism and the important role of ritual in Puritan culture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521103817
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/18/2008
Series:	Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture , #123
Pages:	284
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.63(d)
Lexile:	1410L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. Monuments enduring and otherwise; 2. Toward an anthropology of Puritan reading; 3. Weep for yourselves: the Puritan theology of mourning; 4. This potent fence: the holy sin of grief; 5. Lord, is it I?: Christic saints and apostolic mourners; 6. Diffusing all by pattern: the reading of saintly lives; Epilogue: aestheticising loss; Notes; Works Cited; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"Although one scarcely expects contemporary readers to show much interest in the multitude of formulaic death poems left behind by dead white (and mostly male) Puritans, Jeffery A. Hammond's study offers an impressively innovate approach to this subject matter." John Gatta Christianity and Literature

"Never has thid body of peoms read so intensely and so well." Early American Literature: Volume 36

"Hammond's rich, erudite text is clearly addressed to academic peers...Hammond's achievement is considerable." American Literature

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