“ WIGGLESWORTH, MICHAEL (1631–1705) , American clergyman and poet, was born in England, probably in Yorkshire, on the 18th of October 1631. His father, Edward (d. 1653) , persecuted for his Puritan faith, emigrated with his family to New England in 1638 and settled in New Haven. ”

“ He was again a Fellow of Harvard in 1697–1705. He died at Maiden on the 10th of June 1705. Wigglesworth is best known as the author of The Day of Doom, or a Poetical Description of the Great and Last Judgment (1662) . At least two English and eight American editions have appeared, notable among them being that of 1867 (New York) , edited by W. H. Burr and including other poems of Wigglesworth, a memoir and an autobiography. For a century this realistic and terrible expression of the prevailing Calvinistic theology was by far the most popular work written in America. ”