“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” (Bradstreet). This is a quote from Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) that sums up her life. She had many hardships throughout her life. Through it all she took care of her home, her husband, and her eight children. Anne Bradstreet lived during the Enlightenment period of literary history, which lasted from 1660 to 1790. As a Puritan, she tended to write of her life and religion, therefore making her a Puritanism author. Anne Bradstreet’s decision to write was greatly influenced by her education from her father. Her writings were influenced by her lifestyle, religion, and the culture of the people of that time …show more content…
Schlotterbeck explains how spiritual Anne Bradstreet was for her time. Bradstreet was a very good writer. If she had lived at a different time, when women were equal, she would have been more respected as an author. She would have been recognized. She understood the power of words. But, because she was a spiritual writer, no one took her seriously. I agree with the critic. Anne Bradstreet was a good writer. If she had written non spiritually, she would have been recognized. One example of her spirituality in her poems is “The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.” (Bradstreet). This is from the poem “To My Dear and Loving Husband”. In this quote she talks about heaven. Many people in society, that weren’t Puritans did not believe in heaven and thought it should not be written about. Another poem with a spiritual quote is “Contemplations”. “Soul of this world, this Universes Eye, No wonder, some made thee a Deity:” (Bradstreet). In this poem, she talks about God. Again, people did not like writings on god or heaven. One of her more spiritual poems is “Upon the Burning of Our House”. A line from this poem is “And to my God my heart did cry” (Bradstreet). This is just one line from this poem that is spiritual. This whole poem is about her trying to get rid of her vanity and forget about her worldly
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
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
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.
...e from her love to the world. Perhaps, she believed that in this love of her, she became God-like and God thus punishes her. Nevertheless, the presence of God in her poems is more than clear. Perhaps, it was due to religious beliefs that she though that it was wrong to feel too strong feelings to world and she considered herself to be a sinner who deserves punishment. Today, there are few followers of Bradstreet, but she, her ideas and her thoughts about sufferings still remain in modern books.
...sband, mothered eight children, risking death from each pregnancy, and managed to live sixty years. She was the first woman in American Literature to have her work published and also one of the first American women to begin thinking as a femenist. Even though Bradstreet was not a prominent, public femenist, she realized that she had to start somewhere and due to her living in the strict patriarchal puritan society, she did what she could. Although Bradstreet was very religious and held her spirituality very close to her, she still put together early femenist thought and can be considered one of the first American femnists.
She believes god burned her house down and allowed her husband to die while inside of the house of flames. She loved her husband and her possessions more than God himself. She strongly thinks God allowed this to happen, because she loved her husband more than God. She writes this poem to try to persuade the puritans to not take things for granted, because God can take them away just like he gave it to you. “And to my God my heart did cry, to straighten me in my distress, and to not leave me succourless” (Bradstreet
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.
With Bradstreet living in situations that were more prevalent than today, she still had the courage to write about these in a way that made her point but didn’t mark her as one who should be disregarded for their views. This was demonstrated in the first edition of THE TENTH MUSE. “Another poem in the first edition of The Tenth Muse ... that reveals Bradstreet's personal feelings is "In Honor of that High and Mighty Princess Queen Elizabeth of Happy
In this essay I will be analyzing the tones of the three puritans writers, mention above, and how they still have some puritan writing styles in common. First I will be discussing Anne Bradstreet, next Edward Taylor, third Jonathan Edwards and finally how their writers are similar. Anne Bradstreet’s poem “Here Follow Some Verse upon the Burning of Our House” is a prayer of reflection and has three different tone that she uses to reflect on her relationship with God. Those three different tones are distressed, sorrowful, and
Anne Bradstreet, American prose writer, which writings often reflected on Christian beliefs played an important role in teaching mannerisms and daily dutiful life. Her poetry, first published in London was “widely read in England and the colonies” (Levine, 217). Bradstreet like Smith and Samuel Sewall kept diaries and journals which focused on the writer's spiritual journey. She the loyal, domesticated wife, the true example and blueprint for Puritan living in the New World, who obtained her strength and resolve in her faith. Her spirituality helped her to face and make sense of the calamities she experienced and her writing became the pinnacle of Puritan obedience.
Heaven gave Bradstreet “the prolongation of earthly joys, rather than a renunciation” of the life that she lived in earth (Martin). As of the poem, Bradstreet loved heaven because it gave her the eternity; the more she looked at the heaven, the more she gotten amused by the creation of it. On the contrary, modern people would believe they are in heaven only because of the pleasures they enjoyed in their life. Bradstreet believes that it “is by His hand alone that guides nature and fate” (78). She knows that people born and die; it is an endless cycle of life created by
By reading Bradstreet’s work, a fair sense of what Mrs. Bradstreet was like can be grasped. She clearly stated her opinion of those who objected to her writing: “I am obnoxious to each carping tongue, / Who says my hand a needle better fits.” (Bradstreet,“ The Prologue”155). Bradstreet refused to give up her passion for writing even if it meant going against the opinions of anyone in her colony, including religious leaders. Although Bradstreet referred to herself as being obnoxious, her written works portray an entirely different Bradstreet. She seeks no reward or fame for her writing: “Give thyme or parsley wreath, I ask no bays” (155). Bradstreet seeks no reward for her writing because she doesn’t think her work is very good: “My foolish, broken, blemished Muse so sings” (154). She refers to her writing as her: “ill-formed offspring” (“The Author To Her Book”165). Even after her work is published she is ...
Bradstreet was famous due to the amount of poetry, as well as other personal writings, that she wrote. Bradstreet uses the love of God to focus on death, which can be seen within her poem, “To Her Father with Some Verses”. Bradstreet says within the poem, “Yet for part payment take this simple mite, Where nothing's to be had, kings lose their right. Such is my debt I may not say forgive, But as I can, I'll pay it while I live; Such is my bond, none can discharge but I, Yet paying is not paid until I die” (9-14).