Puritan poetry expressed themes such as humankind's unworthiness before God, the meaninglessness of possessions, the danger of vanity and the difficulties of life in a frontier setting. Among the most important Puritan poets were Ann Bradstreet and Michael Wigglesworth. In a poem dealing with a fire that consumed her home, Bradstreet expressed the insignificance of material things. Her later poetry reflects her personal struggles, such as the loss of her grandson Simon and two other grandchildren.
Wigglesworth wrote "Day of Doom," which was the Puritan equivalent of a best-seller. In this work, a "crude ballad meter," Wigglesworth describes Judgment Day.
Sermons and histories were the most popular forms of Puritan prose, and these focused on theological themes as well. The best-known authors were Jonathan Edwards and Cotton Mather. Edwards' "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is one of the best-known sermons of all time. He employed the natural and agricultural imagery with which his audience was familiar to describe and communicate God's wrath.
The Reverend Cotton Mather was one of the three judges at the Salem Witch Trials. Among his 450 publications is "Magnalia Christi Americana," an epic-style history listing and describing "Christ's great works in America." Mather included quotations from classical Greek and Roman authors in their native languages, as well as scripture quotations in both Hebrew and English in this lofty declaration of Christ's victories in the New World.
Cotton Mather also wrote "The Wonders of the Invisible World," an account and defense of the Salem Witch Trials. Published in 1693, this work was considered nonfiction because it was an account of things Mather saw as a judge presiding over the trials. Its major theme is the struggle of God against Satan. The concept of spectral evidence---the effect that so-called witches had on others in the courtroom---figures heavily into this work. The best-known sections are "The Trial of Bridget Bishop," an excerpt detailing the trial of the first person to be accused, tried and executed, and a section explaining the witch problem as Satan's wrath toward the Puritans for bringing God into a formerly pagan land.