| This dissertation investigates themes of utopian-mythopoesis within seventeenth-century American Puritan jeremiads. For the purposes of this study, utopian-mythopoesis is defined as specific literary-rhetorical and symbolic acts which represent essential aspects of a perfect society (of establishment Puritanism). Myths are creation stories explaining either how a culture came into existence, presently perceives itself, or projects its identity into the future. Jeremiads are political sermons lamenting New England's spiritual and cultural declension, while also issuing a recipe for reform.; The identity, definition and literary-historical significance, as well as symbolism of jeremiads as a literary genre, respectively, are primarily grounded upon the seminal work of two persons: Perry Miller, and revisionist literary critic, Sacvan Bercovitch. Most recently, Margery Anne Kingsley's research into the European etymology of the American jeremiad and, in particular, the jeremiad's textual integrity as a true literary genre, equally deserves special recognition and hearty accolades.; The purpose of this study is to revisit and reexamine seventeenth-century jeremiads to see whether these cultural texts are open to further interpretation: non nova sed nove (not new things but in a new way). Specifically, are jeremiads open to a utopian-mythopoesis reading? Such a reading naturally assumes the utility of a constructive inter-disciplinary method engaging the insights and contributions of utopian studies, myth studies, and literary-history. Hence, this investigation will necessarily seek to reconstruct the historical period within which jeremiads were produced and, at the same time, conduct a literary critique of the jeremiads, themselves.; The outcome of this investigation supports a utopian-mythopoesis reading of jeremiads, on the basis of five utopian-mythopoesis categories of analysis: (1) Dreaming and Realities; (2) the Golden Age; (3) the Millennium; (4) the Ideal City; and (5) Policies of Perfection. The findings of this study reveal that, within jeremiads, there is strong evidence of utopian metaphors, the existence of which also gives substantial warrant to a reclassification of seventeenth-century American Puritan jeremiads as expressly utopian, selected pulpit literature. |
