Puritan Legacies

Download or read book Puritan Legacies written by Keith W. F. Stavely and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using "Paradise Lost" as a touchstone first to the English Revolution and second to the way that revolution was transferred to America, Stavely convincingly argues that the "structure of feeling" embodied in the poem persists through three centuries ofAmerican culture. His discussion of Puritan radicalism in New England and, more importantly, his detailed case studies of Marlborough and Westborough, Massachusetts, which he investigates and understands by constant reference to Milton's great poem, display his strong gifts as both literary critic and intellectual historian. Puritan Legacies is a challenging example of the "New Historicism" we have so long needed.