The Day of Doom
Encyclopedia
The Day of Doom was a religious poem by clergyman Michael Wigglesworth
that became a best-selling classic in Puritan
New England
for a century after it was published in 1662
. The poem describes the Day of Judgment, in which a vengeful God
sentences sinners (including, by Puritan theology, unbaptized infants) to punishment in hell
. So popular was the work that no first or second editions exist because they were thumbed to shreds..
The poem is a "doggerel epitome of Calvinistic theology", according to the anthology, Colonial Prose and Poetry (1903), that "attained immediately a phenomenal popularity. Eighteen hundred copies were sold within a year, and for the next century it held a secure place in New England
Puritan
households". According to the Norton Anthology of American Literature (Volume 1), "about one out of every twenty persons in New England bought it". As late as 1828 it was stated that many aged persons were still alive who could repeat it, as it had been taught them with their catechism; and the more widely one reads in the voluminous sermons of that generation, the more fair will its representation of prevailing theology in New England
appear." The poem is the longest poem of the Colonial Period, it has two hundred and twenty four stanzas.
Michael Wigglesworth
Michael Wigglesworth was a Puritan minister and poet whose poem The Day of Doom was a bestseller in early New England.-Family:Michael Wigglesworth was born October 18, 1631 in Wrawby, Lincolnshire....
that became a best-selling classic in Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
for a century after it was published in 1662
1662 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Great Britain:* Sir Aston Cokayne, Poems, second edition of Small Poems of Divers Sorts 1658...
. The poem describes the Day of Judgment, in which a vengeful God
God in Christianity
In Christianity, God is the eternal being that created and preserves the universe. God is believed by most Christians to be immanent , while others believe the plan of redemption show he will be immanent later...
sentences sinners (including, by Puritan theology, unbaptized infants) to punishment in hell
Hell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
. So popular was the work that no first or second editions exist because they were thumbed to shreds..
The poem is a "doggerel epitome of Calvinistic theology", according to the anthology, Colonial Prose and Poetry (1903), that "attained immediately a phenomenal popularity. Eighteen hundred copies were sold within a year, and for the next century it held a secure place in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
households". According to the Norton Anthology of American Literature (Volume 1), "about one out of every twenty persons in New England bought it". As late as 1828 it was stated that many aged persons were still alive who could repeat it, as it had been taught them with their catechism; and the more widely one reads in the voluminous sermons of that generation, the more fair will its representation of prevailing theology in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
appear." The poem is the longest poem of the Colonial Period, it has two hundred and twenty four stanzas.