Resistance to Dissent of the Puritan Faith Through Anne Bradstreet’s “To My Dear Children” 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. …show more content…
This was a common concern at the time, seeing as the Puritans had sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and were free from the influence of the Catholic Church for the first time. Life in the colonies was difficult and it led to questioning, such as Bradstreet’s, to surface as people asked themselves if they were making the right choice by seceding from the Catholic Church. After all, “They have the same God, the same Christ, the same word. They only enterpret it one way, we another.” (Bradstreet 164). This, however, does not convince Bradstreet that the move to the New World was a mistake. She unveils a harsh criticism, writing “but the vain fooleries that are in their religion together with their lying miracles and cruel persecutions” are enough for her to discredit the argument, stating that the Catholic Church is unquestionably wrong in her mind (Bradstreet 164). Though she admits that their teachings “hath sometimes stuck with me, and more it would,” she still reassures herself that she trusts the theology of the Puritans and remains strong in the consensus of those in the Massachusetts Bay area that firmly resist the dogma of the Catholic Church (Bradstreet …show more content…
She admits that she suffers through internal conflicts regarding her religious beliefs multiple times in “To My Dear Children”, even explicitly stating “I have argued thus with myself” (Bradstreet 164). Her struggle with what to believe was so great that she nearly abandons her original goal of writing to her children. This letter starts off addressing her children directly, but after the first paragraph she does not write in second person, with one exception, until the conclusion. Bradstreet instead writes the entire middle section about the issues she faced in her lifetime regarding her religion and how she overcame these problems. This gives great perspective into the mindset of all of her neighbors in Massachusetts as well. The “city upon a hill” (Winthrop 149) that John Winthrop told the Puritans they could create was not a perfect utopia even though they were finally free from the oppression of the Catholic Church. Doubts about whether God was truly on their side ensued as the Puritans discovered how laborious it was to live on the land and away from the luxury they were accustomed to in Europe. They began to question their own beliefs, just as Anne Bradstreet did. She presents these doubts in her letter and provides an understanding as to how this was not the perfect society it was meant to be. She also defends all of her doubts with
Anne Hutchinson's efforts, according to some viewpoints, may have been a failure, but they revealed in unmistakable manner the emotional starvation of Puritan womanhood. Women, saddened by their hardships, depressed by their religion, denied an open love for beauty...flocked with eagerness to hear this feminine radical...a very little listening seems to have convinced them that this woman understood the female heart far better than did John Cotton of any other male pastor of the settlements. (C. Holliday, pps. 45-46.)
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.
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
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.
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.
Many British colonists, such as the Puritans, fled from religious persecution by the Church of England and for this reason, early American religious culture quickly gravitated towards holding an anti-Catholic bias. John Tracy Ellis wrote that a universal anti-Catholic bias was ‘vigilantly cultivated in all the thirteen colonies from Massachusetts to Georgia’ and that Colonial charters and laws contained specific proscriptions against Roman Catholics. In 1642, the Virginia Colony enacted a law prohibit Catholic settlers, and a similar statue was enacted in 1647 by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1719, the Rhode Island Colony imposed civil restrictions on Catholics. In 1776, after the American Revolution and the enacting of the Declaration of Independence, Virginia, Penns...
Growing up in the early 1600's was a tough time for many people, especially women. Women were very much discriminated against and made to fulfill the duties that were in the household and nothing else beyond that. Anne Bradstreet was a woman that grew up during this time as a Puritan. Puritans believed that humans could only achieve goodness if they worked hard, were self-disciplined, and constantly examining themselves to make sure that they were living their lives for God. Due to this way of looking at life, Anne Bradstreet had little time for writing her poetry. Being a mother of eight children and a devoted wife one would think that Bradstreet wasn't carrying out her duties to her family and God if she was busy writing poetry. Therefore if people knew that she was writing this poetry she would not want them to think less of her so she would write it in a happy and family oriented sense showing how devoted she was to her family through her poetry. That is why Bradstreet writes how she does in the poem To My Dear and Loving Husband. She writes as if to portray that she has a great relationship with her husband and God. Although from her other poem, Prologue, one can see that underneath she truly feels betrayed by the men in her life and by men in general.
Anne Bradstreet is often praised as being one of the first feminist voices in colonial America which, perhaps, is misleading. Her poetry adhered to the standard themes and styles of her male contemporaries, glorifying male-dominated society and never questioning the authority of the men that controlled her life both personally and spiritually. She was content to be the property of her father, husband, and Puritan society as a whole. However, because she worked within the confines of the Puritan era's gender roles and literary techniques, Anne Bradstreet was able to shed light on the oft overlooked existence of women within the society.
Quite atypically for a renowned American poet, Anne Bradstreet was an English-born writer who moved to America in 1630 after enduring an arduous journey (“Anne Bradstreet”). Bradstreet was a devoutly religious Puritan, following the precedent of her father and husband, the most prominent men in her life. Her dedicated Puritan beliefs greatly molded her writings. Many of her poems contain references to sin, redemption, and immortality among other recurrent Puritan topics (“Anne Bradstreet”). Anne Bradstreet’s published poetry collections were the first published works of poetry by an English-American (Eberwein 161-163). Anne Bradstreet was a groundbreaking writer as the first English-American poet of her time; her life experiences, Puritan beliefs, and family greatly influenced her writing topics and led her to accomplish international fame through her collection The Tenth Muse.
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 (1612-1672) and Edward Taylor (1642-1729) are both early American litterateurs, and are firm believers in the Puritan experiment in America. Anne Bradstreet was the daughter of Thomas Dudley, and got married to Simon Bradstreet when she was sixteen years old. She received a better education than other young women did of her times. Due to her childhood diseases and deadly, childbirth experiences, she became very weak. She had to lead a life full of hardships in the new land. Although her distress is not hidden, faith in God is also the prominent object in her works. Edward Taylor was a son of a yeoman farmer, went to Harvard for higher education, and became a teacher for a while. He was not involved with the church and instead became a puritan minister. He wrote poems for his own pleasure and not as a part of religious service. He too believed in the puritan experiment in America. The poems chosen of these two writers are about death immediate family members.
This poem is a firsthand account of how Anne Bradstreet was feeling when she experienced the loss of her granddaughter, Elizabeth. Although Bradstreet's attitude on Elizabeth's death seems to reflect her belief in God's plan, the diction suggests otherwise.
Anne Bradstreet was America's first published poet, who lived in the 1600’s. She was a well-educated poet of her age and time, a loving wife, and caring mother. She used her poetry to show recognition of women's rights, the puritan lifestyle and beliefs, also to show her husband and eight children how much she loved them. Most of Anne Bradstreet’s poetry was based off true experiences in her life and what she believed in spiritually. In that day and time, she was heavily criticized for being a woman and writing. Bradstreet wrote a lot on puritanism, being a mother and wife, as well as the ways of life. Anne Bradstreet was and still is one of the most important American poets of all time. (poetryfoundation) f
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.