“ [14] --since there were some who did not take snuff.” 1 The New England divine, who had a horror of fine art, could not keep his hand from the making of bad verses. It was, to be sure, a sort of poetry in Sunday clothes which he allowed himself to cultivate. He loved to record his religious fears and ecstasies in thumping doggerel, and to set his grim sermons to a taking jingle.
Michael Wigglesworth.
The writer who better than Anne Bradstreet or any one else represents this class, is Michael Wigglesworth (1631-1705). His most famous work was “The Day of Doom; or, A Poetical Description of the great and last Judgment.” A sufficient taste of its quality may be given by quoting the last words of the verdict upon those who have died in infancy:--A crime it is; therefore in blissA generation which found it possible to accept such a passage without feeling it to be either revolting or ridiculous, could not be expected to produce real poetry. This
You may not hope to dwell;
But unto you I shall allow
The easiest room in Hell.
