Comparing Anne Bradstreet, Thomas Paine, And Phillis Wheatley

Over the centuries, writing has changed, and it is still changing today. There are also many different types of writing that are taught and studied. Three major types are considered the classics. Those three categories are poetry, drama, and prose. Throughout history, writers have stood out from other in their time. The three that will be the focus of the analyzation and comparison are Anne Bradstreet, Thomas Paine, and Phillis Wheatley. All of them have different backgrounds, different styles but have one thing in common. They are all are writers who are considers major contributors to the classics.
The first one will be Anne Bradstreet who was the first woman that was recognized as an accomplished New World poet.

Anne Bradstreet did not attend school for education instead she was taught by her father who was well read and had a wide selection of readings. Anne Bradstreet married to Simon Bradstreet in 1628 during the years of their marriage. They had several children together and was married until death.
Anne Bradstreet’s writing reflected her feelings, beliefs, and what was going on in her life at the time.

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

way.
Thomas Paine is the next author that will be analyzed Thomas Paine was born January 29, 1737, in England.

By the age of twelve, Thomas Paine had flunked out of school. Then in the year 1768, Thomas Paine became a tax officer, and in the same year, he met Benjamin Franklin by coincidence and Benjamin Franklin Helped Thomas Pain move to Philadelphia. After moving to America Thomas Paine’s career started off. In 1776 he published his first work Common Sense and after that was released. “He traveled with the Conti nental Army and wasn’t a success as a soldier, but he produced The American Crisis (1776-83) which helped inspire the Army.” (Independence Hall Association 1995). Though Thomas Paine's career started in America and was successful he did not stay, "but instead of continuing to help the Revolutionary cause, he returned to Europe and pursued other ventures, including work on a smokeless candle and iron bridge” (Independence Hall Association

1995).
In the year 1793 while Thomas Paine was traveling in France he was arrested for. “Not endorsing the execution of Louis XUI” (Independence Hall Association 1995). While in prison Thomas Pain wrote and published the first part of the Age of Reason which was written between 1794 – 1796. The Age of Reason part one is a Thomas Paine's thoughts and feelings on his beliefs on life and religion, what he stood for, and what was happening to him in France at the time in his life. He was the type of person who believed that your faith and relationship with God was strictly between the two of you. “All whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish appear to me no other than human innovations, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit” (Paine "Age of Reason, Part First, Section 1 “) This quote to me is stating that the church of any religion was made up by people who wanted to convince other people that. They had to go to the church and pay the church to have any relationship with God.
Thomas Paine’s relationship with God is different in his book the Age of Reason he wrote “I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life” (Paine "Age of Reason, Part First, Section 1 "). Thomas Paine did not have a particular religion, but he did believe in a higher power a type of God. He also believed in life after death much like Anne Bradstreet believed in God and the afterlife. Anne Bradstreet and Thomas Paine religious backgrounds were very different, and their views on religion were different also. One relied on God and faith to make it through rough times, and the other did not believe in "The God" but in a God. The time periods that each author grew up in and published in were very different. During the time, of Anne Bradstreet the Reformation was happening, and that was people wanting to be of another faith. They were not saying that they don't believe in "The God" that everyone else looks to like Thomas Paine did.
“I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know. My own mind is my own church.” (Paine "Age of Reason, Part First, Section 1 "). Anne Bradstreet thought and believed very different things than Thomas Paine. She believed in the church, in salvation, in God and the afterlife. In her writing To My Dear Child, she wrote “He is a God as I worship in Trinity and such a Sa vior as I rely upon? Though this hath thousand of times been suggested to me yet God hath helped me over” (Baym, Levine, & Bradstreet “To My Dear Child" 2013) Anne Bradstreet and Thomas Paine had their own ideas of what faith and religion was, and it showed in their work. Two different time periods show how drastically people thought differently in just over a hundred years.
The last poet that will be looked at is Phillis Wheatley. Phillis Wheatley is a poet from the “pre-nineteenth century” she is also considered an American poet from that era. She was born in West Africa and take from there at the age of seven and became an American slave. “August 1761, “in a domestic” Susan Wheatley wife of prominent Boston tailor John Wheatley, purchased “a slender, frail, child for a trifle” ” (O'Neale 2013). That small child was Phillis Wheatley even though she was a slave and still have to do her job as a slave. Phillis Wheatley was treated differently than the average slave at the time or the average free African American at the time. “Mary, did not entirely excuse Wheatley from her domestic duties but taught her to read and write” (O'Neale 2013). Though Phillis Wheatley was a slave, she was still educated with the help of Susan Wheatl ey and. Through her teaching, Phillis Wheatley became very educated in many topics some examples of the themes she was well educated in are. The Bible, astronomy, geography, history and British Literature.
Phillis Wheatley was an African American published poet during the times where slaves or free African Americans were still treated poorly. She was someone other African Americans free, or a slave could look up too. “Wheatley was the abolitionist illustrative testimony that black could both be artistic and intellectual” (O'Neale 2013). Like many other poets and authors, Phillis Wheatley wrote about what happen in her life. A poem that is an example of what happened to her is On Being Brought From Africa to America. Which is about her journey to America and how she felt about it. “Twas mercy brought me from my pagan land” (Baym, Levine, & Wheatley "On Being Brought From Africa To America " 2013). This is the first line from the poem personally to me it sounds like she is thankful she was taken from West Africa. You can tell in the word choices she used the major two that stood out were “mercy” and “ pagan land." Pagan can be defined or be used as another word of heathens or ungodly. So Phillis Wheatley described her home as a godless land and that it was a mercy that saved her from it. Like many other, she uses religious references. “Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain, May be refined and join the angelic train” (Baym, Levine, & Wheatley "On Being Brought From Africa To America " 2013). This is how the poem ended, and here she is reminding the Christian's who used the Bible for references to explain why slavery was okay and that God wanted it this way. But Phillis Wheatley uses a reference of Cain from the brothers of the Bible Caine and Abel. That though their skin was darker than theirs that they are not savages and. That if “Negros” were taught to be civilized to the American culture standard like them then they could join the train to heaven with the Angles.
Between all three authors, Anne Bradstreet and Phillis Wheatley were the most religious and it showed in their poems. They both needed their religion and faith though Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan and Phillis Wheatley was a Christian. Ultimately they both had their faith and religion to make it through rough times. They each had different experiences of troubling times but relied on writing and God to help them through. Thomas Paine is distinct from the two of them. What he had is on troubles in life, but he did not turn to God he turned to writing. Though Thomas Paine was not religious like Phillis Wheatley or Anne Bradstreet. He did believe in a God but just not “The God” that they believed in. Comparing the three you can tell how writing style changed over the years. Even though Thomas Paine and Phillis Wheatley were alive in the same period and published around the same time. They each show the world through their own eyes and their background. Thomas Paine in modern day terms would be considered a “white man” and as that during that time had more privileges than Phillis Wheatley. He did have his struggles but not like Phillis Wheatley did being an African American and a slave who was well educated. You can see how different the struggles were for them and then compare it to Anne Bradstreet she was writing when the New World was just beginning. So you see writings from the beginning of the New World and the struggles they faced through her point of view. Too and over hundred years later where you have two people same country at times but different struggles and beliefs.