2. 2-Major Types in Literature

     There are several genres in early colonial American literature. According to Vanspanckeren,   

 

 Pirates, adventurers, and explorers opened the way to a second wave of permanent                   colonists, bringing their wives, children, farm implements, and craftsmen's tools. The early            literature of exploration, made up of diaries, letters, travel journals and reports to the explorers' financial backers – European rulers or, in mercantile England and Holland joint stock companies – gradually was supplanted by records of the settled colonies. Because England eventually took possession of the North American colonies, the best-known and most-anthologized colonial literature is English. As […] American life becomes increasingly multicultural, scholars are rediscovering the importance of the continent's mixed ethnic heritage. Although the story of literature now turns to the English accounts, it is important to recognize its richly cosmopolitan beginnings” (5)

In this regard, literary types were relevant to Americans’ lifestyle. They are as follows:

1- Historical works:

They are mainly about recording the life of Puritans and their journey to America. They shed light on the idea of providence which means that the described world is always seen as a reflection of the divine order.

2- Biographies and Diaries:  

e.g. Thomas Shepard autobiography.

3- Sermons and Theological Works

 Sermons of Cotton Mather and Jonathan Edwards

They were written in plain style.

4- Poetry

The poetry of this period shows a great influence of Horace, Spenser and Sidney.

     Consequently, early American colonial literature focuses on topics relevant to people’s lifestyle as puritan settlers. The major works shed light on religious and social topics to cope with the new land.