Anne Bradstreet And Edwards Compare And Contrast

678 Words2 Pages

Rough Draft
Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards were poets who lived in the late 17th century. Their poetry is very different because Edwards writes about fiery pits of hell, while Bradstreet writes about love and being grateful. In both of their lives, God is important; everything revolves around God and a Puritan question: Is this something God would do? The poems Upon the Burning of Our House and To My Dear and Loving Husband written by Anne Bradstreet show how you can sin, but God will forgive you for what you have done. While Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards show if you don’t convert to Christ, God will punish you forever. After analyzing these two authors I believe that they have the same religious views, however …show more content…

Religion, without a doubt, during the Puritan age was everything; God was essential in the Puritan faith. Edwards, when he writes about God, is very upfront, intense, aggressive, and seems to be an unsatisfied person who believes that if you do not convert to Christ you are going to hell. In Edwards’ sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, he states “Therefore, let everyone that is out of Christ,/ now awake and fly from the wrath to come.” (129). In the paragraph of his sermon, Edwards’ states that you better be with Christ or an angry/mean god is coming for you, and will make your life terrible; if he decides not to kill you. In contrast to Edwards, who tries to scare those not with Christ into converting to Christ, Bradstreet is the exact opposite. She is encouraging, believes in a forgiving God, and that God is good to you when you die. In her poem, Upon the Burning of Our House, she states “My hope and treasure lies above.” (Line 54) In the line of this poem, Bradstreet states that even after her house burned down and she lost everything; she knows that all of her belongings will be in heaven for her because God is going to forgive her for her mistake. Even though Edwards and Bradstreet had their own images of God, both of them share the same religious views; God is everything in the Puritan lifestyle. Beyond having the same religious views, Edwards and Bradstreet have very contrasting styles of

Show More
Related

  • Rhetorical Strategies in Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

    1373 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the 1700’s the Puritans left England for the fear of being persecuted. They moved to America for religious freedom. The Puritans lived from God’s laws. They did not depend as much on material things, and they had a simpler and conservative life. More than a hundred years later, the Puritan’s belief toward their church started to fade away. Some Puritans were not able to recognize their religion any longer, they felt that their congregations had grown too self-satisfied. They left their congregations, and their devotion to God gradually faded away. To rekindle the fervor that the early Puritans had, Jonathan Edwards and other Puritan ministers led a religious revival through New England. Edwards preached intense sermons that awakened his congregation to an awareness of their sins. With Edwards’ sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” he persuades the Puritans to convert back to Puritanism, by utilizing rhetorical strategies such as, imagery, loaded diction, and a threatening and fearful tone.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Anne Bradstreet And Mary Rowlandson

    1649 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Anne Bradstreet and Mary Rowlandson's generation, women were limited in what they could/could not do. In the 1600s, women were taught to be good wives and mothers along with performing duties in the house. During this time period, most women did not work instead that was the man's duty. They also were raised to portray Puritan values. Bradstreet and Rowlandson both stood out as Puritan women because their works became published in a time in which women were not supposed to write. Both Anne Bradstreet and Mary Rowlandson's status as women played a part in their writing because they both struggled with Puritan/human dichotomy in their works.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Anne Bradstreet And Edwards

    681 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the major differences in Bradstreet and Edwards’ writing styles is how angry and demanding Edwards’ works are compared to the logical and rather positive works of Bradstreet. Bradstreet said, “I prize thy love more than the whole mines of gold…” (116, Line 5), this renders the image of Bradstreet relying on love more than money because love isn’t superficial, and this demenstrates the logical side of her writing. When it came to “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, the writing style is angry, for example when Edwards said, “So that, thus it is that natural men… they have deserved the fiery pit.” (126). Not only does this exhibit his vextation and absurdity, but it also shows a side of religion that differs from Anne Bradstreet’s. Edwards hates the unconverted man, and he believes that if you aren’t converted, that you anger God and he will send you to hell. Bradstreet on the other side believes that if those who worship God, he will always be there to assist them, even if they aren’t completely converted, which is odd for two converted Puritans to differ on these

    Read More

  • Comparing and Contrasting the Beliefs of Jonathon Edward and Anne Bradstreet

    660 Words  | 2 Pages

    Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards were both Christians who had great faith in God and put Him first in their lives. They were both aware of God’s almighty power and that God had greater plans for mankind than what was visible on Earth. Their core way of thinking was similar but their personal understanding of God’s nature was strikingly different. Bradstreet saw a kind and compassionate God and Edwards saw a harsh and jealous God. However, both knew that eternal life awaited those who accepted God into their hearts.

    Read More

  • An Angry God Figurative Language

    597 Words  | 2 Pages

    John Edwards purpose in writing, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was to wipe out any doubts the Puritans had about the existence of hell. To give affirmation of the truth of hell he uses anaphora, drilling the presence of this fiery world into his audience’s mind. Edwards also uses metaphors and polysyndeton to turn the imaginary world into the earthly world which then instills fear into the colonist’s minds, therefore making his argument stronger and more

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Anne Bradstreet And Margaret Fuller

    1025 Words  | 3 Pages

    Women have faced oppression in the literary community throughout history. Whether they are seen as hysterical or unreliable, women writers seem to be faulted no matter the topics of their literature. However, Anne Bradstreet and Margaret Fuller faced their critics head-on. Whether it was Bradstreet questioning her religion or Fuller discussing gender fluidity, these two women did not water down their opinions to please others. Through their writings, Bradstreet and Fuller made great strides for not just women writers, but all women.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Anne Bradstreet And Upon Wedlock And The Death Of Her Children

    747 Words  | 2 Pages

    The components of marriage, family and loss has played a big role in Anne Bradstreet’s writing of “Before the birth of One of Her Children”, “In Memory of Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet”, and Edward Taylor’s “Upon Wedlock and the Death of Children.” In, these writings both authors Puritan culture and their faith plays a big role. In these poems one author starts questioning their God and the other to take honor in their God throughout their grieving process, while both showing different aspects of their everlasting union with their spouse, and the love for their children.

    Read More

  • Religion in Colonial America

    1514 Words  | 4 Pages

    Religion was the foundation of the early Colonial American Puritan writings. Many of the early settlements were comprised of men and women who fled Europe in the face of persecution to come to a new land and worship according to their own will. Their beliefs were stalwartly rooted in the fact that God should be involved with all facets of their lives and constantly worshiped. These Puritans writings focused on their religious foundations related to their exodus from Europe and religions role in their life on the new continent. Their literature helped to proselytize the message of God and focused on hard work and strict adherence to religious principles, thus avoiding eternal damnation. These main themes are evident in the writings of Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Mathers, and John Winthrop. This paper will explore the writings of these three men and how their religious views shaped their literary works, styles, and their historical and political views.

    Read More

  • Upon The Burning Of Our House Essay

    677 Words  | 2 Pages

    Determining whether the God you praise and worship is choleric because of your presence by the sins you’ve created is at never ending battle in the 17th-18th centuries. Upon the Burning of Our House is a poem, with nine stanzas, written by Anne Bradstreet explaining her understanding and ability to live and learn from sin to God. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is a work, written as a sermon by Jonathan Edwards, who preaches to all the non-Puritan sinners. His belief is that if they don’t convert and take blame for their sins, God’s anger toward them will be unbearable and force them to the pits of hell. Analyzing Bradstreet’s and Edwards’ works, a reader can distinguish the personality of the two writers and the different views of God

    Read More

  • Jonathan Edwards

    810 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jonathan Edwards was a man who could petrify any eighteenth century Puritan. He was born in East Windsor, Connecticut and was raised in a household with strict religious beliefs. In 1727 he began his preaching career as an assistant to his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, the pastor at the church at Northampton, Massachusetts. When his grandfather died two years later, Edwards became the pastor of the Church at Northampton and began preaching all over New England. He then emerged as one of the leaders of the Great Awakening with his determination to return to the orthodoxy of the Puritan faith. That is when he adopted his “fire and brimstone” emotional style of sermon. Although people often ran out of the church in hysterics, most stayed in the church captivated by his speeches. He had always purposely chose to address his congregation with a sermon, using all of the elements of an oratory. In Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards displays all elements of an oratory by appealing to emotions, including expressive and rhythmic language, addressing the needs and concerns of his audience, and inspiring others to take action.

    Read More

  • Anne Bradstreet Analysis Essay

    1305 Words  | 3 Pages

    It dictated most of her way of living. She writes about her many struggles between her “flesh” and “the Spirit”. She is honest about sometimes feeling inadequate and wanting to digress away from God’sS way. She includes a constant tension between her selfish thoughts and what she know is the best path. It is not so much a battle between personal beliefs and what one is expected to do. Rather it is a battle between what one is doing and what one already knows is the best route in thinking and living. Bradstreet’s family moved from England to the New England in order to follow this movement of Puritans creating a new life in accordance to the church (White, p.103). So she was well aware of Christian principles and very familiar with the Bible. In Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House she talks mostly about the many vanities of this world and that one should focus on things that are eternal. She

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Anne Bradstreet Before The Birth Of One Of Her Children

    1028 Words  | 3 Pages

    After reading Anne Bradstreet’s poems I liked “Before the Birth of One of Her Children” the most. In this poem Bradstreet is writing about the possibility of death after she gives birth to her children. During this time period 1 out of every 3 women die during childbirth. This poem was addressed to her husband as she goes on to say that if she does die that he remember everything positive about her. She even says that he must protect their children from a “step mother injury” and constantly remind them of their mother. Anne goes on to describe the possibility of this tragedy could happen to her. If this does happen to her she wants her husband to kiss the poem to symbolize kissing her after she is gone.

    Read More

  • Anne Bradstreet Biography

    579 Words  | 2 Pages

    Bradstreet’s poetry is fully religious. Being a pious woman, as everyone was at that time period, she wrote poems claiming high morals and religious motifs. Her writings were very popular among puritans who started colonizing America. His Puritan belief was the reason of her special attitude to her life, soul and sufferings. “She thought that God was so hard on her because her soul was too in love with the world. She also wrote some poems where she asked God to watch over her children and husband” (Gonzalez, 2000).

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Anne Bradstreet And Edwards

    644 Words  | 2 Pages

    Between the years of 1666 and 1774, there were a group of people known as the Puritans. These people were seeking religious freedom so therefore, they came to America. They thought of themselves to be people who spread love through God. Both Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards express how they feel towards God.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Anne Bradstreet And Edward Taylor

    1298 Words  | 3 Pages

    Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor are two of the most recognizable poets from early American History; they were also both American Puritans, who changed the world with their poetry. We can see many similarities in their poetry when it comes to the importance of religion and also on having children and losing children. There are however differences in the audience of their poetry and their personal views on marriage. Bradstreet and Taylor both came over to America in the 17th century and settled in New England. Though Taylor came years later we can see the similarities through their poetry.

    Read More

More about Anne Bradstreet And Edwards Compare And Contrast

Open Document