2.7: Michael Wigglesworth (1631–1705)

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Michael Wigglesworth’s parents, Edward and Esther Wigglesworth, brought him with them when they emigrated to the American colonies in 1683. Wigglesworth was educated in America, first at home under the tutelage of Ezekiel Cheever (1514–1708), then at Harvard. In 1652, he earned his MA from Harvard and remained there as lecturer.

A page from the First Edition of The Day of Dooma. Looks very yellowed, creased and cracked

Image \(\PageIndex{1}\): First Edition of The Day of Doom

After his graduation, Wigglesworth also began preaching; he ultimately became an ordained minister at Malden, Massachusetts in 1656. Chronic illness curtailed his ministry activities, ministry that he nevertheless maintained through his writing. His The Day of Doom: Or, A Description of the Great and Last Judgment, with a Short Discourse about Eternity (1662) is a didactic religious poem, exhorting his parishioners to adhere to true Puritan doctrines and ideals. Its publication coincided with the controversy over church membership, later resolved in what became known as the Half-Way Covenant, allowing church membership without conversion testimony. The Covenant intended to bring colonists to the fervid faith held by first-generation settlers. This historical context may help explain the purpose of Wigglesworth’s work.

Its effectiveness as a didactic piece appears in its extraordinary popularity (selling over 1,800 copies) and its being used to teach children Puritan theology. Its 224 eight-line stanzas—all with striking details and often terrifying images— arrest the attention of wandering minds and souls threatening to fall into sins of omission and commission, souls that may repent too late before the inevitable judgment day. Its stanzaic lines alternate between eight and six syllables; with internal rhymes in the eight-syllable lines, and end rhymes in alternating pairs of the six-syllable lines. Through its artistry and style combined with substance, through its sweetness and light, The Day of Doom fulfills poetry’s highest purpose (according to Sir Phillip Sidney) in encouraging right living.