The Puritan outlook was central to American literature during the Colonial Era. The poems of Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor are characterized by a deep religious devotion. The work of the former also celebrated the primacy of family, another crucial tenet of Puritanism. The first book printed in Colonial America was the "Bay Psalm Book" (1640). This work was compiled by Puritans as an attempt to recast the Biblical Psalms in a more musical manner.
Because of the vast expanse of nature that early American settlers encountered, nature itself plays an important role in Colonial literature. John Smith's narrative of his exploration of the early Americas described the teeming natural world of the Atlantic coast. Other writers of the 16th century, such as John Lawson and Daniel Denton, were Englishmen of noble birth who also extolled the value of Colonial America's natural world for largely English audiences.
Starting with John Smith, many works of Colonial Era literature described interactions with Native Americans. Some of these works, such as John Mason's "Major Mason's Brief History of the Pequot War" (1736), describe warfare against the Native Americans. Others, such as "The Sovereignty and Goodness of God: Being a Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson" (1682), described being held captive by the Native Americans.
The writings of Benjamin Franklin attempted to define native elements of the burgeoning American identity. His "Poor Richard's Almanac," written in the emerging American vernacular, is devoted to offering practical information to a wide readership. Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" and "The American Crisis" both argued for the Colonies' independence from British rule and defended American cultural identity from colonizing influences. Both works were also written in a more everyday idiom.