Set against the backdrop of the Puritan settlement of New England, this epic poem tells the story of a young woman's journey from innocence to experience. With its vivid descriptions and rich symbolism, The Puritan Maid is a masterpiece of American poetry. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

1704 - Dangerous times, when the colonies of the Americas are threatened by Queen Anne's War. It is not the French but a pirate who captures Mercy Penhall, mute Puritan spinster. In fear for her life and virtue yet drawn to the captain in spite of herself, Mercy has unknowingly begun on a course of adventure, heartbreak that will test her courage to the utmost. And in the end the secret she carries in her soul threatens to prevent even the small chance of happiness inherent in an impossible love. Edmund Gramercy is an unwilling pirate, forced to join a hostile crew to save his life. He defies them to spare the lives of the vanquished and the virtue of the women. But the mute Puritan girl tempts him like no other. It is best to set her free and never see her again. A pirate's life is a short one - for her own sake he cannot claim her. Yet their paths cross again, then again. He is drawn to her but his passion is hopeless. He is a wanted man. To love a decent woman is impossible. And there is a strange shadow behind her brave blue eyes... Can the impossible become possible for the pirate and the Puritan?"

The closing of the theatres by Parliament in 1642 is perhaps the best-known fact in the history of English drama. As the Parliamentary Puritans were then in power, it is easy to assume that all opponents of the theatre were Puritans, and that all Puritans were hostile to the drama. The reality was more interesting and more complicated. Margot Heinemann looks at Thomas Middleton's work in relation to the society and social movements of his time, and traces the connections this work may have had with radical, Parliamentarian or Puritan groups or movements. In the light of the recent work of seventeenth-century historians we can no longer see these complex opposition movements as uniformly anti-theatre or anti-dramatist. The book suggests fresh meanings and implications in Middleton's own writings, and helps towards rethinking the place of drama in the changing life of early Stuart England.