Bradford Puritanism

William Bradford is a major name in Puritan writings. Bradford was the second governor of Massachusetts. On his journey to the New World, he kept a diary called History of Plymouth Plantation.  Bradford was a hardcore Puritan, as were most during that time (especially in Massachusetts), and this shows in his writing.  Bradford talks very frequently of God.  It could be said that he always talks about God.  He is very simple in his writing, as is Puritan style.  With the evidence provided by looking at these subjects it is easily determined that Bradford is a Puritan at heart and in writing.

William Bradford is a Puritan and you can tell this from his writing. One way this can be determined is by looking at just how much he talks of God and the Bible.  From the get-go we see this approach from Bradford.  The first page alone references the godly, the gospel, the Lord [God], Satan, speaks of Christians, and the churches of God (Bradford 1).  In fact, all of chapter 1 is about the founding of Puritan beliefs, and the founding of Massachusetts (Bradford 1-11). In this chapter, the Bible is quoted several different times.  Quoted verses are: Zach: 2.13, Rev. 19. 1,2, and Mat: 15.13 (Bradford 6-7).  Another good example of the many God references comes from page 12 when Bradford states, "But these things did not dismay them... for their eyes were set on the ways of God."  So, as we can see from these numerous holy references, Bible quotes, and ever Godly views, Bradford thought very highly of his god and talked very, very much about him.  

Another way we can tell that Bradford is a Puritan is by looking at his descriptions of things.  Now, I must say that chapter one gets wordy with how he describes events in the Bible, but this can get overlooked.  Bradford's writing is what is usually considered dull, but this is how the Puritans wrote and expected writing to be.  This is because the Puritans did not want anything to seem better than God, so they kept descriptions bland unless they were talking about God, like in the first few pages of chapter 1 (Bradford 1-3).  Bradford keeps his stories fairly bland, not wanting his writing to seem better than that of God.  An example of a story being told in this manner is when he tells the story of the men attempting to get a vessel to travel to the new world (Bradford 12).  He basically just says that they were stopped and robbed by the guards, and then many of them were thrown in debtors prison before they could even leave (Bradford 12).  It takes him about a page to tell this story because he, like many other Puritans, seemed to be extremely fond of run on sentences.  Bradford also takes about a page to tell the story because he tells of everyone who robbed them and how they got reported (Bradford 12).  Essentially the way they got reported as debtors is that the guards who robbed them to the rulers that they had no money (Bradford 12).  While they may tell of everyone who was there and how they acted, there are no eloquent details about behavior; no "and wind tousled his hair as the cold hard air rushed by in the snowy winters night."  like you might get from more modern authors.  

I actually like Bradford more than other authors like Rowlandson and Bradstreet.  Maybe this is because I'm finally starting to see what their writing is about, or just because I would rather hear about a journey across the ocean than a story about this woman's house burning down.  I can't tell yet. However, it is very obvious by his writing style that Bradford is a Puritan. He talks frequently of God and his stories are more bland than some.


Bradford, William. History of Plymouth Plantation. Ed. Charles Deane. Boston: n.p., 1861. Online.