...The verbalization, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards, is set in the time of the Great Awakening. Although this time period was after the Puritans, it sets the stage for the abundance of Edwards’ notions. Edwards’ speech, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, speaks to the audience because of the harshness and the ability to create trepidation in people. He strategically lowers the audience’s self-love and makes it feel guilty until eventually when hearing the horrors of hell, you endure fear. The speech begins by making you terror hell and then gives you the loophole out of it. Although the message is not distinctly stated, Edwards’ vigor in speech blows the audience into believing every single word. Given the setting and circumstances of his time, Edwards' speech, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", is an example of an effective argument due to his allusions to the past and polished use of visual imagery to engender fear in his audience. Edwards’ speech uses visual imagery, therefore leaving a mark and creating guilt in the audiences’ conscious. After creating multiple emotions like: guilt, fear, self-realization, he gives them a mode to be saved from it all. Although each of these images were diminutive and concise, when allied with the allusions they create the trepidation Edwards worked...
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...Awakening was an important time for colonists. Puritanism had a big impact on American colonist’s lives. Before the Great Awakening, religion was common in colonies. However, the Great Awakening changed religion for them. The colonist’s feelings towards God changed and many new religions were made. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” is a sermon by Jonathan Edwards. This sermon contains many details that show how religion changed for the colonists. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards shows how colonists were impacted by the Great Awakening. Religion prior to the Great Awakening was much stricter. Different colonies had different rules but...
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...Figurative speech is is used in every author's literature works. Advanced authors show exceptional use of figurative speech and are capable of using them very effectively. Jonathan Edwards uses many different figures of speech in his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. In order to keep his sermon interesting and meaningful, Edwards uses similes. He uses personification to give his sermon life and to connect with his audience. Finally, to create rhythm and mood, Jonathan Edwards uses alliteration. Edwards does a phenomenal job using these three figures of speech and provides excellent examples of each. A simile is a figure of speech where two unlike things are compared using the word “like” or “as”. Jonathan Edwards uses many similes...
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...By looking at the Virginia Convention and Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God one can see rhetorical devices which is important because you need to compare and contrast the two stories by using rhetorical analysis. Both stories are very emotional and persuasive, and have two completely different but very strong arguments. The Virginia Convention, written by Patrick Henry who at the time lived in a british ruled america. Henry wanted to break free from the british, and felt strongly about his point, but there were other people who felt strongly that the thirteen colonies should stay with the british. Henry needed a very emotional and persuasive speech if he was going to get anybody to see his way of thinking. Henry states “ give me liberty or give me death” this part of the speech is very emotional, because it is basically saying that they better give him freedom or just let him die. “ should i keep back my...
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...The Best Way to Persuade: Fear “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, by Jonathan Edwards, is a speech that attempts to persuade individuals to join the Puritan movement. Edwards aims the speech towards everyone who is a part of the Puritan village and also those who are not. To sway the audience, Edwards uses a wrathful and intimidating tone. Jonathan Edwards believed that if you did not give your life to God then you would face God’s wrath. Edwards uses imagery and metaphors to persuade his audience to join the Puritan movement. Edwards, undoubtedly, uses imagery to persuade and affect his audience. Multiple times throughout his speech Edwards attempts to intimidate the audience using negative imagery. An example of this is, “There are black clouds of God’s wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder;” (Edwards). Edwards uses negative imagery to intimidate his audience to give their lives to God. He is telling his audience that God can strike his wrath at any point in time, which almost forces people to give themselves to God. Edwards paints a vivid image using thunder and clouds to scare the people and portray God as a...
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...uses rhetorical questions to make the people reflect on their future based on the actions they decide on today. Jonathan Edwards pushes at a different angle in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” he is not passionately fighting for what he wants; he speaks calmly with warning of the terrible fate sinners have...
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...Jonathan Edwards’ Rhetorical Strategies In the sermon of Jonathan Edwards “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God” he talks about God having no mercy for sinners. With that he uses many rhetorical strategies to get his point across to his audience and readers. As preacher of the Great Awakening it is his job to offer salvation, but he is very compelling and makes it sound as if sinners cannot be saved from the fires of hell. He uses fierce words towards those who sin and do not follow the teachings of God. Edwards uses rhetorical strategies such as imagery, anaphora, similes, and metaphors to grab the audience’s attention making his sermon persuasive. For instance, Jonathan Edwards starts his speech with imagery. He uses imagery various...
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...“SINNERS IN THE HANDS OF AN ANGRY GOD” ASSIGNMENT Takeshia Lashay Knox Bevill State Community College American Literature I July 22, 2013 In the sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Jonathan Edwards, with a contemptuous attitude, attempts to provoke a religious battle in the Puritan communities of colonial America using the very powerful motivator of fear. He installs the fear of God within the hearts of unconverted people within the church. Edwards reach out to his audience emotionally unstable with the terrifying body of his sermon it allows his conclusion of salvation to be the solution of the entire unconverted congregation. Early on in the sermon, Edwards reveals his target audience all unconverted men but never directly refer to them using words like, “they” and “them”. Those types of people would know that Edwards was referring to them but they maybe wouldn’t feel like the guilty party in the situation. After building up to the point of a threat against those who have not been transformed suddenly Edwards changes the “they” and “them” for the words “you” and “your” He is now directly targeting his audience, exposing them to a direct blame throwing them up in the air, making sure that they feel guilty for living another day. After breaking his audience, throwing them into emotionally by destroying all hope of escaping eternal damnation then opens an escape hatch allowing the emotional distorted people to walk directly into what he wanted. Throughout...
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...Akil Hodge 9-17-10 2nd / U.S. Lit. Analysis: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God The Great Awakening was a religious movement that shocked the world and brought unbelieving people into the life of a Christian. Jonathan Edwards was a powerful, influential figure in this movement and was known for his visual sermons. His method of preaching was using fear to frighten people to convert. One of his most powerful sermons, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, used many rhetorical strategies to persuade his unsaved audience to become saved to avoid the torment of hell. One productive approach that was substantial in scaring the unsaved people in the audience is through the use of imagery. Imagery is the usage of words to make an image in the mind of the listener(s); with which Edwards uses adequately to defend his reason. In his case, he utilizes this technique to penetrate the hearts and minds to everyone present. This strategy terrifies his listeners into following his directions and method of redemption. “There are black clouds of God’s wrath now hanging directly over your heads” is an excellent example of imagery because it displays an image of hater from God. Metaphors are applied often in this distinctive speech about God and his anger. This figure of speech spans over the whole account through all paragraphs and is a very unique way of influence. I feel that “The bow of God’s wrath is dent” presents the meaning of the word metaphor, which is the using of words...
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...period, we are given a chance to peer into the past as we get a sense of religion’s central theme in the colonies, the important issues of the time, and how influential that literature was in shaping our country. Religion had a starring role in the development of the American colonies. Puritan ideals were very influential, and their significance is reflected in the journals and diaries written during their immigration, settling, and day-to-day experiences as they laid the foundation for America. God and religion was referenced many times in poetry and prose during the colonial period in works such as Anne Bradstreet’s “The Burning of Our House,” in which she implied that God had the right to...
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...Both Jonathan Edwards and Patrick Henry have points that they wish to prove to do this the two have alternating techniques for persuading the audience and have different goals.their ultimate goal in both is to reach a point where they change the minds of the audience. Jonathan's point that he tries to make is that to prove that sinners will burn in hell and his point is to convince the audience that they are sinners in the hands of god. He installs this fear that god is angry because they are sinners. He uses language comparing that of the sinners to insects hanging over a pit of fire. He also uses key phrases such as those like “ the bow of god's wrath is bent and the arrow made ready on the string.” He uses this as fear of persecution...
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...“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Jonathon Edwards delivered a sermon for the ages in 1741. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was powerful and moving to all who heard it. Edward’s mastery of diction, immaculate imagery, and reinforced repetition made sure his listeners understood the full impact of their sins. This piece was so forceful, it sent them running for the hills. Maybe not the hills but a few did run out screaming! He accomplished exactly what he had hoped for. People were definitely afraid that God would punish them for their sins. Jonathon Edwards knew how to make his words count. Edwards chose words that got the most bang for his buck. He wanted his words to convey his feelings in the most persuasive way possible. Phrases such as, “The floods of God’s vengeance have been withheld” were used in this sermon. The words are chosen carefully to demonstrate God’s wrath. Edwards could have said God’s anger but he chose, instead, to use the words “floods” and “God’s vengeance” to evoke fear and trembling in his listeners. Another phrase Edwards uses is, “fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God”. Those words are full of impact. When they’re spoken to the crowd they automatically trigger trepidation. Edwards once again is demonstrating God’s disdain for sinners. One of the most aggressive statements in Edward’s whole piece are the words, “you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours.” Edwards...
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...thinking in Europe, which slowly and assuredly reaches the American Colonies the Puritan religion and political structure transforms as well. This innovative manner of thinking opens the door for the individual to get closer to God through their own intellect, while relying on reason and rationality. By the end of the eighteenth century this novel approach develops into the movement recognized as the “Enlightenment”. An interpretation from brittanica.com describes Jonathan Edwards as he “is stimulator of the religious revival known as the “Great Awakening,” and one of the forerunners of the age of Protestant missionary expansion in the 19th century”. His sermon titled “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” set forth to persuade the followers of God and sinners too, differing in age, gender and social status to renounce their wicked ways and surrender to the will of God. For that reason the underlying, but...
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...In "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" Jonathan Edwards uses simile,repetition, and allusion to create a persuasive speech. Edward uses simile's in the prompt to compare two things. He says, "The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present". He is comparing the wrath of God to dammed waters to explain what he is trying to say about God which is that the wrath is changing quickly just how dammed waters do. Edwards also says,"His wrath towards you burns like fire". This explains how painful the wrath is because Edward compares it to fire. He shows how the wrath is and what the pain would be like since he decided to compare it to pain of fire. And to explain how much wickedness they are, he compares it to the heaviness of lead. He states, " Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell". This shows that he tries to compare the wickedness to heavy lead to explain how it would pressure down to hell....
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...ANNE BRADSTREET 1. What does Bradstreet’s poetry reveal about Puritan ideas of the proper role of women? Note how, in writing her poetry, she both rejects and accepts (Prologue stanza 7) John Winthrop’s standards for women as he revealed them – first, in describing Mrs. Hopkins’s failure to attend “to such things as belong to women” and, second, in his “Speech to the General Court” (“The Woman’s own choice”). The puritans believed that women should not have the right to voice their opinion. The husbands were the ones who made the decisions in the household and not the women. The women played the role of being home doing house work and taking care of the kids. In John Winthrop’s writing, he says, “he is her lord, and she is to be subject to him” (Winthrop 76). Therefore, men are the dominant where the...
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