History Focus
October 18

Michael Wigglesworth was a British-American clergyman, physician, and author of rhymed treatises expounding Puritan doctrines. A Puritan was one of who wished to "purify" the national church of England of its remaining Roman Catholic elements.

Michael Wigglesworth emigrated to America in 1638 with his family and settled in New Haven. In 1651 he graduated from Harvard College. He was pastor at Malden from 1656 until his death. In addition to his duties as a pastor, he practiced medicine and wrote numerous poems. Some poems of note include: "A Short Discourse on Eternity," "Vanity of Vanities," and God's Controversy with New England.

The Day of Doom: or a Poetical Description of the Great and Last Judgment was published in 1662. It is a long poem in ballad measure that uses horrific imagery to describe the Last Judgment. The work was intended to edify Puritan readers. It was enormously popular and sold 1,800 copies within a year (an unusually high number in its time).

Michael Wigglesworth was once the most widely read poet of early New England. His popularity declined with the decline of Puritanism. A modern edition of The Day of Doom prepared by Kenneth B. Murdock was published in 1929. 

Sources: Britanica | Compton’s Encyclopedia