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The puritan family essay
The puritan family essay
Puritan society roles
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Edward Taylor’s “Huswifery”, Anne Bradstreet’s “A Letter to Her Husband, Absent upon Public Employment,” and “In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet, Who Deceased August, 1665, Being a Year and a Half Old” all demonstrated strong feeling toward either domestic life or Puritan spiritual beliefs. These three poems dealt with one or more of these topics: death, marriage, spousal duties, and the God’s role in the Puritan life. Taylor and Bradstreet both approach the belief God has His elects and those chosen will precede to heaven but their viewpoints on domestic roles are slightly different; where Taylor is glorifying the work of a housewife, Bradstreet is displaying the dependence and submissiveness that Puritan women have to their husband.
The tones and attitudes displayed in Taylor’s “Huswifery” and Bradstreet’s “In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet” was different toward God. In “Huswifery,” Taylor came before God humbly almost praying to be used to make a “holy” robe. The poem depicted the different stages of making a “holy”. Before Taylor could begin this robe making process, he must come to God asking humbly, “Make me, O Lord, Thy Spinning Wheel complete.” (I.1). in the beginning, Taylor is explaining how to make the thread by using his soul, affection, conversations, and God’s word. Taylor continues this process by taking the thread, the Holy Spirit, and God’s ordinances to make the fabric. After the fabric is made, it is dyed in the “heavenly color”. The final stanza the robe is ready for Taylor to wear it. Taylor’s tone of humility towards God contrasts to Bradstreet’s tone in “In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet”, where she was questioning God for the death of her granddaughte...
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...their marriage as two has become one when she states, “Flesh of thy flesh, bone of thy bone, /…both but one.” (25-26). The poem gives Bradstreet the role of housewife and while Bradstreet’s husband is away, she is basically taking care of the household and the children. While Bradstreet’s overall theme of this poem was about the domestic roles of a wife, Taylor’s “Huswifery” is glorifying the work of the housewife by using it as the main metaphor. The title, “Huswifery,” is defined as the business of a housewife or female homemaking. Taylor uses the metaphor of God’s grace for the elect to a woman’s chore of making clothing from raw wool. By using this metaphor, Taylor gave a side of what the Puritan women went through to make clothing. Overall, Taylor express that God’s grace will transform one from evil to an elect, just as wool transforms into beautiful clothing.
One of the most cherished doctrines of the Puritans is the well-known weaned affections. From a Puritan perspective, people must learn to wean their way off of “Earthy possessions” in order to dedicate their attention on God. Puritans were preoccupied with the belief that if people invested themselves in Earthy distraction including relationships, they would struggle to find everlasting-spiritual beauty. In both “The Author to Her Book” by Anne Bradstreet as well as the “Prologue” by Edward Taylor, the authors portray themselves in a struggle to be weaned from their affections.
In the eighteenth century, the process of choosing a husband and marrying was not always beneficial to the woman. A myriad of factors prevented women from marrying a man that she herself loved. Additionally, the men that women in the eighteenth century did end up with certainly had the potential to be abusive. The attitudes of Charlotte Lennox and Anna Williams toward women’s desire for male companionship, as well as the politics of sexuality, are very different. Although both Charlotte Lennox and Anna Williams express a desire for men in their poetry, Charlotte Lennox views the implications of this desire differently than Anna Williams.
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.
She writes a letter to husband, almost instructing him on what to do after her death. Unlike other demure housewives of her time, she acknowledges the risk birthing her child brings by saying, “And when thy loss shall be repaid with gains / Look to my little babes, my dear remains” (107). Bradstreet also approaches a taboo subject by acknowledging that her husband might remarry. Bradstreet does not tread lightly on this subject either by writing, “And if thou love thyself, or loved’st me, / These o protect from step Dames injury” (107). In this poem, Bradstreet faces the possibility of not only the loss of her life but the loss of her husband’s love. Bradstreet challenges Puritan beliefs by showing that she will still be concerned with her earthly life after her
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.
In the poems “Huswifery” by Edward Taylor and “To My Dear Loving Husband” by Anne Bradstreet use very contrasting writing styles. These were both written in the Puritan era; where the government was a theocracy, the church controlled everything and the people’s lifestyles were severely restricted. I believe that these poems are prime examples of how their strict lives affected the way the writer’s poems came out the way they did.
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.
In her book Hope Leslie Catharine Maria Sedgwick forces the reader to understand and judge some of the 17th century Puritans’ ideas, two being the idea of communal interests being of more importance than personal interests and the idea of youth being completely subordinate to adults. Through the characters of Everell, Hope, and Magawisca, Sedgwick brings to light the often overlooked shortcomings of Puritanism.
For Puritans, women provided comfort and caring love for their husbands — and even more intimate comfort within a committed marriage. Especially during times of suffering, the wife's love help heal the soul of the husband, creating happy spirits. However, Taylor did not have a woman for himself in the poem or the love and care to fulfill and uplift his dull spirit. Consequently, Taylor desires David's "lovely beauty” (19), asking the Lord to "enchant [his] heart, love's golden mine, till 't spout” (20). Without this type of love, Taylor addresses that without God, humanity will be driven to do evil things. Accordingly, Taylor exhibits spiritual dullness, jealousy, and desire because he lacks a relationship with the Lord. In contrast, Taylor recognizes his “fault” (24) to which he wants to purify himself, promoting his relationship with the Lord. After being dull and jealous, Taylor proclaims his guilt and sin. Troubled by this, Taylor makes sense of his pity, understanding that forgiveness and purification will save his
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
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).
Bradstreet’s writing style describes God’s love for those to whom believe in him and in the form of personal poems, as Edwards’ sermons are ways to influence people to become converted to avoid God’s wrath. Bradstreet wanted to bring more people to God in a calm and peaceful way. In the poem, “To My Dear and Loving Husband,” Bradstreet says, “That
God; whereas Taylor wrote solely on his love for God. Bradstreet was a pioneer in the idea of writing about loving your husband and self. This was one of her greatest achievements and also greatest gifts to the world, even though it was not appropriate to write about such subjects she did anyway. The combination of Bradstreet and Taylors poetry about love prove to the world that love can exist in any part of life and should be appreciated and
The Puritan life, although simple, demanded diligence both mentally and spiritually which put stress on even the most faithful of followers. Although the common practice entailed brushing religious struggles under the rug, few writers bravely wrote of their religious doubts and endeavors to become better Puritans. Author Anne Bradstreet shows in her work “Here Follows Some Verse upon the Burning of Our House, July 10th, 1666” that religious struggles are often met by Puritans and it takes brave souls to admit their difficult time with their religion. This poem shows a woman dealing with a religious crisis and how even though she struggles her faith still holds strong in the end. Bradstreet’s poem displays a crisis of faith in her content and reflects her struggle with the Puritan beliefs, however, the form and structure of the poem reflect her internal religious solidarity.