John Winthrop’s envision indicated something that would serve as an outstanding example of a perfect society. It would be above and beyond anything that formerly existed anyplace in the world. He stated that the "eyes of the world are upon us" and he wanted to set a worthy example. Winthrop, being an extremely religious man had used a religious image. His hope, was that the world could not help but notice his new city and eventually match it. Winthrop's starts with a harmless question, why in society are some people rich while other people are poor? He states that there is a difference among people, mixture among people that allows for a change of ways in which God may be respected. Acts of compassion by the rich towards the poor and a life …show more content…
Her poetry was a way for her to once more focus on her God and his unique plan and love for her. Many of her poems reflect her struggle to accept the adversity of the Puritan colony, contrasting earthly losses with the eternal rewards of the good. She contrasts the transitory nature of earthly treasure with eternal treasures, and seems to see these trials as lessons from God. She also alludes to the role of women and to women's capabilities in her poems. She seems especially concerned to defend the presence of reason in women. Anne Bradstreet largely accepts, however, the Puritan definition of proper roles of men and women, though asking for more acceptance of women's accomplishments. She recognized, however, that life is filled with testing and that hardships bring a greater reliance on the Lord. She thanked her God for bringing her closer to Himself through her ailments. In an age filled with religious controversies and wars, Anne also faced doubt and uncertainty about Christianity. But she persevered to sure faith. One must remember that she was a Puritan, although she often doubted, questioning the power of the male hierarchy, even questioning God. Her love of nature and the physical world, as well as the spiritual, often caused creative conflict in her poetry. Though she finds great hope in the future promises of religion, she also finds great pleasures in the realities of the
One of her earlier works is a poem Upon a Fit of Sickness “outlines the traditional concerns of the Puritans- the brevity of life, the certainty of death and hope for salvation.” (Martin 2013). It was written in the first person "artfully composed in a ballad meter; this poem presents a formulaic account of the transience of earthly experience which underscores the divine imperative to carry out God’s will” (Martin 2013). “My race is run, my thread is spun, lo here is fated death.” (Bradstreet "Upon a Fit of Sickness"). This line to me is talking about how her life has come to an end and no longer needs to be in the race called life. Also that her “thread” has already been made into something and now her time has come to die. During the time Upon a Fit of Sickness was written two major events were going on. The first was the Protestant Reformation and the second was the Mayflower landing in the New world, and more people were wanting and traveling to the New world for a better life. “For Adam’s sake, this word God spake when he so high provoked” (Bradstreet "Upon a Fit of Sickness"). That line can be interpreted as even Adam one of God’s first human creations could even provoke God then so could she and everyone else. Anne Bradstreet was also very religious, and many of her works had references to God or her religion in a
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
Although Anne Bradstreet appeared to be the ideal Puritanical housewife, she faced many hardships throughout her lifetime. She faced death often, either due to disease or childbirth. These hardships led Bradstreet
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.
Both authors stress a sense of community and diversity in order to survive in America. Smith could not think of anything to “be more pleasant, than planting and building a foundation for his posterity, got from the rude earth, by God’s blessing and his own industry, without prejudice to any” (Smith 114). This proves Smith believes everyone in the community should join together without showing any type of discrimination. Likewise, Winthrop declares we must have “before our eyes commission and community in the work, our community as members of the same body” (Winthrop 225). He basically wants the settlers to live and share their wealth as one joined community. Smith and Winthrop also agree that diversity needs to exist in each community. “Carpenters, masons, fishers, fowlers, gardeners, husbandmen, sawyers, smiths, spinsters, tailors, weavers, and such like” are the variety of men Smith found in America (Smith 117). All of these types of men contribute a part of their lives to their community. In the same way, Winthrop assumes God ordered “all these differences for the preservation and good of the whole” (Winthrop 21...
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.
Though Bradstreet accepted the tenets of Puritanism, anti-Puritan texts are found in her poetry in terms of religious doubts as in “Meditations” to her children where she speculates if the Scriptures are true or contrived. Anne Bradstreet also deviates from traditional Puritan writings of the time by composing poetry for pleasure and self expression as opposed to writings of preaching and teaching as was the standard. Bradstreet is not truly unorthodox in that she did not dissent from accepted beliefs and doctrine, but lived in an intensely religious, male dominated society which put many limitations on women and their roles.
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).
Anne Bradstreet loves her children so much because she raised them all with pain and care. Bradstreet often talks about her children loving people, and people loving them, “And with her mate flew out of sight” (14) and out of her reach so she can not watch over them. Bradstreet’s strong Puritan heritage gives her unquestionable belief that God is watching over her children for her, and her children are watching for God. With this relationship between her and God, Anne Bradstreet accepts the departure of her children. In this poem Anne Bradstreet talks about success, “Coupled with mate loving and true” (23) this is Bradstreet’s idea of success for her children in this poem. Anne Bradstreet’s idea of success is so much more than just this line, in the fact that she wants her children to be educated, and live good productive Christian lives. All of these things are implied in the poem as simple as finding a mate and “flying” off.
Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor wrote elaborate poems influenced by their faith and life experiences. Coming from devout Puritans living in newly settled land, both of their writings have similar elements. One shared theme gives insight to the harshness of colonial life. They both used poetry to express their sadness at the death of their children, yet both with a tone of acceptance and hope, trusting that God knows best. Taylor grieved the loss of two infant daughters. He describes them as flowers writing:
I believe that Anne Bradstreet’s main purpose in writing this poem was not for the entertainment of readers, but for her to escape the oppression of women in the Puritan times. My reasoning behind this hypothesis being that this whole poem is just a prayer to God to rid her of the sickness, which ailed her. Why would Anne Bradstreet write this poem? I believe that Anne was writing this poetry as a rebellious effort to illustrate that women are just as talented as men, if not more talented. Every other line of this poem is a rhyme, if Anne was just writing her prayer down for her pleasure I believe she would have not put so much time and effort into finding the “perfect word” to rhyme with the previous line, if she had not meant this poem to be a demonstration that women can and will become un-oppressed one day. I believe one main purpose of this poem to show women that they should be able to express their ideas and feelings.
Unlike Jonathan Edwards, Anne Bradstreet did not write to preach or teach. She wrote on a personal level about such things as the birth and the death of both her own children and her grad children. She also wrote about her own illnesses and misfortunes. Bradstreet and Edwards both wrote mainly about God, but Edwards wrote about God 's power and strength while Bradstreet focused on God 's mercy and everlasting grace. Bradstreet writings are based primarily on her religion her children, and her husband. When Bradstreet wrote about her husband and how much they are in love she was not only saying how much
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.
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.
She caught severe disease after only two years of arriving in America. Her sickness and expectation of death strengthened her faith and made her consider each day as being her last day. After she recovered from her sickness, she believed that to be blessing. Her sickness became a turning point and self realization for Bradstreet. She built a strong foundation for her faith as a Puritan woman and overcame all her doubts about the existence of God and started to seek salvation from God. When her husband was a way for business, she missed him because of her true and deep love for him. Yet his absent and severe physical and emotional feeling created inner conflict between worldly desire and spirituality. Her love for her husband competed with her love for God. But by using her writing, she sustained her faith and overcame her physical