Gordis
ENG BC3179x
Fall 2009

READING OF PLYMOUTH PLANTATION

As you read, you may want to consider the following issues and questions:

It’s easy to forget that a work of history is very much a constructed text. As you read, you needn’t be memorizing the details of what happened when. Instead, think about how Bradford puts together his history. How does he structure his narrative? What details does he consider important? What gets left out? How fully does he describe the people who populate his history? What do these choices suggest about how Bradford thinks the world works?

Consider the tone of Bradford’s account. Can you locate passages that seem triumphant? Regretful? Uncertain? How does Bradford's tone change in the course of the book?  Think also about Bradford’s prose style. What distinguishing features do you notice, and what other texts does his narrative resemble?

Identify issues that seem to run through the text. What points or themes get particular emphasis? What incidents or issues get more emphasis than you might expect?

Consider Bradford’s imagined audience. Whom does he seem to envision reading this text? What relationship does he imagine between himself and his audience? What ideas or assumptions does he seem to be writing against or challenging?            

Bear in mind the chronology of Of Plymouth Plantation’s composition. Bradford began to write in 1630, and finished the first book of his history fairly quickly. Think about the events recorded in this section, and why Bradford might have chosen the stopping point that he did. When you reach the part of Bradford’s narrative that describes the events of 1630, think about how those events might have shaped the first book of OPP.

After finishing the first book, Bradford stopped writing for a while. He resumed the project in 1644, writing the annal for “The Remainder of Anno 1620.” As you read the annals for the 1640s, think about how the events of the 1640s might have motivated Bradford to resume his project, and how they might be reflected in his description of 1620. To what extent do Bradford's emphases change?

The remainder of the second book was written after 1646. Consider the implications of this delay. How might the events of 1646 have shaped Bradford’s project and his decision to resume it? In 1650, Bradford chose to compile a list of the original Pilgrims, rather than to write out annals for 1647 and 1648. Again, think about the implications of this decision.

Note that Bradford's account was not published in printed form until nearly two hundred years after his death. In the intervening years, the manuscript was read and quoted by several early historians of colonial New England. During the Revolutionary War, the manuscript disappeared. In the 1850s, it was discovered in the library of the bishop of London, and was transcribed and published in print in 1856. What might have made the manuscript particularly compelling to American readers at that historical moment.

Finally, think about this text in the context of your previous knowledge of the Pilgrims. How does Bradford’s account validate what you’ve learned before? What, if anything, surprises you about this text?