| Summary: | The first chapter of this dissertation reviews the major Classical and Christian rhetoricians from Plato to Ramus with particular emphasis on their discussion of the pressures placed upon author, audience, and language by a theocentric world vision. The succeeding four chapters demonstrate the presence of those same concerns in the writings of John Cotton, William Bradford, Edward Johnson, Anne Bradstreet, Edward Taylor, and Cotton Mather. In each case placing these authors in their proper rhetorical tradition alters and refines our understanding of how, and therefore what, the texts mean. In addition such a rhetorical analysis reveals underlying functional similarities in Puritan writings despite superficial differences in style.
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