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The theme of death in poems
Death theme of poetry
Women's role in religion throughout history
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Which poem did you like the most? why
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.
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She values Gods views and the way of life over materialist things and believes that is above all, with hopes of getting into heaven. Her religious views can be seen throughout her poems that I have read and ultimately tell a lesson that we can all learn from. In the poem, “Before the Birth of One of Her children” she describes death as inevitable and a act of God. Death because of birth was a common issue during that time period and she reassures that it is Gods plan and will protect of her children. She also makes references to God and heaven in her poem, “ To My Dear and Loving Husband”, as she writes to her husband that they must love so strong here on earth so that their love will last in heaven and for eternity. She says how God commands her to love her husband as she claims her love for her husband its stronger than anyone else 's. Through her poems she describes various tragedy that have happened in her life such as the death of her two grandchildren. Although their lives were “taken away from them” she believes that it was in Gods hands and that it must have been faith. So through terrible times she seems to look past them and move on because it is all apart of Gods …show more content…
She wonders in on earth it looks so pretty than in heaven in must look even better. She goes on to talk about the sun and how it gives life to everything and it is if heaven was here there would be, “no winter no night”. Describing as she looks up how long this earth has been here, “thy strength, and statre more thy years admire”. By saying this she admire how long this earth has been here and how great it is. She describe nature as being works of God and to me she describe the perfect world or even heaven as being with out night or winters. Implying that night and winters are not as beautiful as spring
She depicts her life as magnificent, she lays her legs and arms out and feels the bliss of being this age with no prerequisites set upon her. It is this feeling and memory that the speaker will be pulling from for whatever remains of her life. It would,"…always be there, behind those nights (33)."Even when she is more established, the age she is currently, and considerably assist, later on, she can draw satisfaction and peace from recollecting what her life used to resemble. She will recollect when she had boundless drains (at regular intervals). Her life was kept exclusively by "[a] clock of cream and flame (36-37)" or the warmth of their closeness. This is the thing that the speaker alludes to as "heaven."A heaven she will always remember and can simply rationally come back to. She has "known heaven" and will always have
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.
Anne Bradstreet and Phillis Wheatley both published great works of poetry during a very difficult time when gender and race were not easily overlooked. Bradstreet was a Puritan housewife and Wheatley was an African slave. Both writers were extremely intelligent which was not very common back then. Their poems are not precisely the same subject matter, but their similarity is the expression of their own opinions. The topic that they do seem to share is that of religion.
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.
Anne Bradstreet?s poem, ?To my Dear and Loving Husband? presents a beautiful love theme. "Of ever two were one, then surely we" (1). This quotation is important because Bradstreet is pointing out that she does not feel as though she is one individual person. And one of the first questions that come to my mind is if Bradstreet was trying to make a point for all wives to be that way or she felt insecure about her own self. The poem itself portrays a loving wife, but the fact is she sounds like she is afraid to be alone, that her husband is the one who makes her complete, in another words, it makes her be a full person.
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
Ironically, Bradstreet describes life after her death in her poem “Before the Birth of One of Her Children” and states that husband to look for her love by looking at her children stating, “And when thy loss shall be repaid with gains, / Look to my little babies, my dear remains” (Before the Birth of One of Her Children lines 21-22). She also speaks of her husband’s next wife by stating, “These O protect from stepdame’s injury”, hoping that their step mother does not hurt her children (Before the Birth of One of Her Children line 24). Taylor shows more about planting his seeds in his wife approach when speaking about his children. He writes “One knot gave one tother the tother’s place. / Whence Chuckling smiles fought in each other’s face”, he’s describing the joy of watching his children playing with each other
She was a writer who suffered from Lupus. Her father died of the same illness when she was thirteen. Her Catholic beliefs reflected in her work, as well as the implementation of violence and darkness ironically used in her short stories. The titles in the stories give the readers an idea that the stories are the opposite of what the titles really state. She uses metaphors and similes to describe the characters and the settings of the stories. Each story relates to the darkness of the characters: people with racial prejudice, ignorance, and evil. Each story ends in a tragedy. The use of irony allows her to transport a meaning to each story that is not easy for readers to understand.
For the most part of the poem she states how she believes that it is Gods calling, [Then ta’en away unto eternity] but in other parts of the poem she eludes to the fact that she feels more like her granddaughter was stolen from her [or sigh thy days so soon were terminate]. One of the main beliefs in these times was that when someone died it was their time; God needed them and had a better plan. Both poets found peace in the idea that God had the children now and it was part of the plan, but are also deeply saddened and used poetry as a coping mechanism.
Her style of writing is common for this time period however it was uncommon for a woman to be doing the writing. In one of her poems, "In Reference to Her Children, 23 June, 1659" she portrays her children as birds relating it back to nature. The nature aspect adds a tranquil feeling to her poems. She describes her children's lives as if they were birds and goes on to close the poem by saying "farewell my birds, farewell adieu"(Bradstreet 92). She uses nature in this poem to make her children seem simple and calm. She writes about religion is in almost every one of her works, but it is most clear in "A Dialogue Between Old England and New" where she lists out the difference between the two lands. She writes "Before I tell the effect I'll show my cause, which are my sins-- the breach of sacred laws"(Bradstreet 90). In this line she is referring to the old England and their secular ways, she feels that by taking place in the ways of the old England that she has committed many sins. She came to America to correct her ways and to spread her religion. This poem tells the good and the bad of both lands. She pays homage to the problems with England and tells of her hopes for the future of America. She was also a realist, she told life to way it was. In "Upon a Fit of Sickness , Anno 1632 Aetatis Suae" she is very placid about the fact that she
...She writes of the type of person that one can only hope exists in this world still. The message of her writing and philosophy is contained in a single phrase from the novel: “I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine,” (731). This is an inspiration, awakening an inner voice and drive that impels each person to do their absolute best. It implores the soul of the reader to awaken, to become the ideal of the human spirit, and to rise until it can rise no higher. It is a call to anyone with reason, anyone with the strength to be an Atlas, and it is reminding him or her of their duty to live up to the individual potential. For as long as there are those who would hear the message, there will still be hope for mankind.
Some of her most popular works are, “The Prologue”, “To My Dear and Loving Husband,” “A Letter to Her Husband, Absent Upon Public Employment,” and “The Author to Her Book”. Anne Bradstreet’s “The Prologue” is basically Bradstreet’s apology for her book of poems She wants to apologize that her poems are not so great as the those of the other poets, men. She also includes that she does not want to be this famous poet, she just wants some acknowledgement of her work; with hopes her work will not be judged so harshly. Finally Bradstreet takes a turn and begins to defend her art. She grants the fact that men expect women to practice feminine arts such as needlework, and refuses to recognize any value in a woman’s poem. Bradstreet then concludes her poem by admitting to the superiority of male poets and she asks the men to give some recognition to women’s efforts. In the poem Bradstreet states, “Men have precedency and still excel; It is but vain unjustly to wage war Men can do best, and women know it well.” Bradstreet feels there is no need for the men to feel
When Bradstreet’s next grandchild, Anne, passed away, she was unable to resist it. She lost her control and become disappointed. She wrote a poem under “In Memory of My dear Grandchild Anne Bradstreet, Who Deceased June 20, 1669.”5 The poem starts with the speaker
Anne Bradstreet starts off her letter with a short poem that presents insight as to what to expect in “To My Dear Children” when she says “here you may find/ what was in your living mother’s mind” (Bradstreet 161). This is the first sign she gives that her letter contains not just a mere retelling of adolescent events, but an introspection of her own life. She writes this at a very turbulent point in history for a devout Puritan. She lived during the migration of Puritans to America to escape the persecution of the Catholic Church and also through the fragmentation of the Puritans into different sects when people began to question the Puritan faith.
...o curb the appetite that humans have to know the secrets of life and death. This, then, is the central theme of all her poems: Though she believes strongly in idea of an afterlife, even she understands that nothing is certain, but that a bit of logic and a large amount of faith will guide her through the chaotic journey towards her final resting place—wherever or whatever it may be.