About Michael Wigglesworth
Michael Wigglesworth (1631–1705) was a Puritan minister, physician, and poet whose poem The Day of Doom became a bestseller in early New England. In 1662, he released The Day of Doom or a Poetical Description of the Great and Last Judgment, described as a 'doggerel epitome of Calvinistic theology' in the anthology Colonial Prose and Poetry (1903), which notes its immediate and phenomenal popularity. Within a year, eighteen hundred copies were sold, and for the subsequent century, it maintained a prominent position in New England Puritan households. As late as 1828, it was reported that 'many aged persons were still alive who could recite it, as it had been taught to them alongside their catechism; and the more one reads in the extensive sermons of that era, the more accurately its representation of the prevailing theology in New England will be perceived.' A less polemical examination of the work might also highlight its rich use of dramatic imagery, interweaving numerous references from both Hebrew and Christian scriptures, and acknowledge the intricate complexity of its double-rhymed octasina lines.Despite the vehement denunciations of sinners and the horrifying depictions of damnation in The Day of Doom, its creator was recognized as a 'genial philanthropist, so cheerful that some of his acquaintances believed he could not be as ill as he claimed. Dr. Peabody referred to him as 'a man of the beatitudes', tending not only to the spiritual but also to the physical needs of his congregation, having studied medicine for that purpose,' as noted in Colonial Prose and Poetry.
Wigglesworth's other works include God's Controversy with New England, Meat out of the Eater, and 'God's Controversy with New England' (1662). The latter poem, although unpublished, offers an extensive commentary on the anxieties of Puritans regarding divine retribution for their sins and the persecution by the House of Stuart.
Browse all poems and texts published on Michael Wigglesworth
By the power of eloquence old truth receives a new habit; though its essence be the same, yet its visage is so altered that it may currently pass and be accepted as a novelty.
