Puritanism and romance differ in style, religious references, and plot content. Puritanism began to flourish with the strict, God-fearing Calvinists who had fled to America to escape religious persecution in Europe. With writers such as William Bradford and Edward Taylor, Puritan literature focuses on the role of God in people's lives and adopts a simple religious writing style. Romanticism was introduced to Americans in the nineteenth century, offering a new literary and artistic style. This new literature pays more attention to the elements of tone, mood, and atmosphere, even applying religion in the form of transcendentalism. These two types of literature are similar in that they both encourage simple living. Puritan writers were more concerned with the message represented by literature than with form and dramatic elements. “Poetry served to educate the reader, and was written using simple rhythms and common imagery” (Heimert 34). Puritan literature had a simple style. Much attention has focused on God's will in the new world, man's relationship with God, the nature of faith, and the history of New England. We can see these elements in the writings of William Bradford, governor of Plymouth Colony. “Of Plymouth Plantation” is considered New England's first literary work. It is “a historical account of the journey to the new world and the difficulties encountered upon arrival” (Fritscher 81). This poem was written to “preserve both the record and the fact of Plymouth's separate identity” (Heimert 51). Bradford's goal was to preach God's purpose in founding Plymouth Colony. “Of Plymouth Plantation” has two main themes: how Plymouth had failed its original goal of and… of reason and nature separated it from the Puritans. Yet both Romanticism and Puritanism are similar in their respect for simplicity, while differing in many other aspects. Works Cited Boewe, Charles. "The garden of Rappaccini". American literature. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1959. Fritscher, John. "The sensitivity and conscious style of Willaim Bradford." Bucknell review. 1969. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown and Other Short Stories. New York: Dover Publications, INC. 1992.Heimer, Alan. The Puritans in America: A Narrative Anthology. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1985. Leone, Bruno, ed. Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne. San Diego: Greenhave Press, 1996.McPherson, Hugo. Hawthorne as mythmaker: a study in imagination. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989.Morison, Samuel. Of Plymouth Plantation. New York, Knopf, 1952.