Anne Bradstreet, a prominent author of the puritan era uses many of her simplistic style works to demonstrate her loyalty to God. “Before the Birth of One of Her Children,” “To My Dear and Loving Husband,” and “Here Follows Some verses upon the Burning of Our House” all portray Bradstreet, as well as many other puritan authors’ beliefs of placing their faith of God above all other worries. Specifically, “Here Follows Some verses upon the Burning of Our House” illustrates a prime example of typical puritan style writing. Although a poem, the work is written in plain style which is typical throughout the puritan era. Moreover, Bradstreet continues to demonstrate the extreme, yet common, faith towards God by thanking him while standing among the aftermath of her house fire. Lastly, Bradstreet’s, “Here Follows Some verses upon the Burning of Our House” demonstrates her quality of weaned affections, a trait that all puritans strive for. All of the concepts that Bradstreet presents throughout her poem demonstrate a typical work of the puritan era of writing. During the puritan era of writing, authors use little detail in their writings, attempting to create little distraction from the text about God; likewise, Bradstreet includes little detail about the tragedy of losing her home. In “Here Follows Some verses upon the Burning of Our …show more content…
Although written in the form of a poem, Bradstreet’s lack of figurative language presents a plain style of writing, common among all puritans. In addition, Bradstreet also relates to other puritans by directing the primary focus of her poem to God. Bradstreet’s overwhelming exhibition of weaned affections portrays an ability that many puritans wish to achieve. In the end, through all of these traits, Bradstreet manages to successfully demonstrate all of the aspects of a puritan’s
Anne Bradstreet’s inability to perfect her work before it was released frustrated her to the point where she internalizes the book’s imperfections as a reflection of herself. Bradstreet uses an extended metaphor of a mother and a child to compare the relationship between herself as the author and her book. Rather than investing her spirit in God, she repeatedly focuses on trying to improve the quality of her writing with no success, “I washed thy face, but more defects I saw” (Bradstreet 13). Like a mother protecting her child, Bradstreet’s attempts to prevent critics from negatively analyzing her work of art (20). Her continuous obsession about people’s opinions consumed in the Earthly world and essentially distracted her from developing a spiritual relationship with God. Bradstreet was enveloped by her dissatisfaction with her to the point of ridiculing herself, “Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble mind” (1). It was obvious that her mind and spiritual
Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan and wrote her religious faith about God. When Bradstreet was used to the Puritan culture she felt like God didn’t guide her through her struggles and she started to questioned God existence and as a Puritan’s religious belief was to always accept God. The letter, “To My Dear Children” was from Bradstreet to her children about her relationship with God. The summary of the letter is Bradstreet accepted the Puritan culture when she was about sixteen years old coming to America. After she was married she started to observe God and questioned him because she felt sickness and pain and hoped God would lift her up the light on her. Bradstreet also questions her afterlife with a quote, “And could I have been in heaven without the love of God, it would had been hell to me, for in truth it is the absence and presence of God that makes heaven or hell.” This quote can be pertained in today’s world because it’s
“Among all my experiences of God’s gracious dealings with me I have constantly observed this, that He hath never suffered me long to sit loose from him...” (Bradstreet 68). Anne Bradstreet is showing her devotion to God and is focusing on his love and mercy. Bradstreet found inspiration in William Shakespeare but more importantly what drove her poetry was religious beliefs. Being born into a Puritan family, Bradstreet became accustomed to Puritan behavior and had a strong belief in God. Jonathan Edwards, another strong believer in God, had the same Puritan beliefs but thought if a person shall sin they would be destined to end up in hell. Edwards is an extreme pastor and this is shown in the sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” The two being the ideal Puritan religion have strong opinions on viewing God
In the late 1600’s, literature is dissimilar from today’s, such as focusing on being sent into the fiery pits of hell only because one hasn’t converted to Puritanism. There are also different types of writing to display the righteousness and positives of being a converted and loyal to the Puritan culture. Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards are two popular Puritan authors who project different messages and portray a varying energy through a slim number of their pieces. The poems, “To My Dear and Loving Husband” or “Upon the Burning of Our House” by Anne Bradstreet or “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards are fit examples of the Puritan age and what Puritans belive to be religiously
Bradstreet was a Puritan and was therefore raised with a simplistic view of the world. This, combined with the fact that she was a woman, carried over into her way of writing. Her writing style was not eloquent but plain, humble, and pleasant to read. Her poems dealt with topics such as faith, family, and adversity and were easy to understand. Bradstreet had great faith which she gained through the experiences she encountered in life.
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.
Anne Bradstreet, whom most critics consider America’s first “authentic poet”, was born and raised as a Puritan. Bradstreet married her husband Simon at the tender age of eighteen. She wrote her poems while rearing eight children and performing other domestic duties. In her poem “Upon The Burning Of Our House, July 10th, 1666”, Bradstreet tells of three valuable lessons she learned from the fire that destroyed her home.
Anne Bradstreet’s, Verses upon the Burning of our House, July 10th, 1666, describes her feelings over the loss of her home and the difficult position her believes have put her in. Although Bradstreet knew her real home was with the “might Architect” she found it difficult to let go of what she had lost material wise, through the use of personification, imagery and ethos she is able address the path she began to stray from because of these sorrows.
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
Bradstreet tested the boundaries of the Puritan beliefs and chose to write about life as a wife and mother. The love for her husband was more important than what others thought of her. She was proud of their relationship and stated, “I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold, or all the riches that the East doth hold. My love is such that rivers cannot quench, Nor ought but love from thee give recompense” a verse from her poem titled To My Dear and Loving Husband (226). Her poems stood as a movement for all radical feminists that admired Bradstreet and her confidence to express her opinions publicly. Religion was a common topic throughout Bradstreet’s poem, but there was a time as
Anne Bradstreet wrote poetry in a time when only Puritan men were publishing writing, mostly about their faith and religion. Thus, she was the first woman in the colonies to be published and received a lot of criticism for it. At this time, there were roles that women were expected to fill, specifically wife and mother roles, and going against these roles could have grand consequences. While her poems may seem simple and domestic, they contain a more complex meaning when looked at closely. Through many of her poems, Bradstreet expressed her frustration towards her society’s gender norms and went against the Patriarchal ideas of the Puritan society.
Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan. Much like all the other Puritans of her time she examined her conscience daily and that they always felt that they were humbled by God's creations and powers. One poem in which she expresses her religion's ideas and philosophies was "Contemplations".
The poem “ Upon the Burning Of Our House, July 10th, 1666” by Anne Bradstreet is a poem about her house burning down. I can sympathize with many of her feelings in this poem because I shared many of them when my house was robbed. During the beginning of the poem she talks about her belongings that she lost and the things she would never do again, then towards the end she talks about how the incident brought her closer to God. Anne Bradstreet shows how living through a struggle, such as having your house burn down can bring you closer to God.
Up until the early 17th century, American literature was chiefly about politics, religion, and recorded events. These writings were very dry and lacked insight into the everyday lives of the authors. To put into writing any individual spiritual reflections that strayed away from the religion of the colony could be dangerous at that time; possibly resulting in banishment from the colony or worse. Likewise, any writing that did not serve at least one of the purposes listed above was considered to be a waste of time that would be better spent praising God. Anne Bradstreet defied the rules of her time by writing about whatever she wanted including personal thoughts, reflections, emotions, and events. Bradstreet was the first to write about personal matters, which is her greatest literary contribution in early American literature.
Imagine living in a society where one’s rights were restricted. The legal rights for Puritan women were very limited. Women were not able to accomplish many things that the women of America can today. They were not able to be the income producers of their homes. Women were mainly responsible for taking care of their homes, husbands, children, and farms. Women were considered to be weak and they were second to their husbands. During this time, the men were leaders and they made all the decisions. Anne Bradstreet overcame the strict requirements of the Puritan beliefs and was able to speak out about her life, which was displayed in many of her works; “The Author To Her Book,” “The Prologue,” and “An Epitaph On My Dear And Ever Honoured Mother”.