Facing Death: An Analysis of Anne Bradstreet's Poetry

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Uttering the final goodbye is never an easy thing to do. In many cases we never have the chance to say goodbye. Deep in our subconscious, we know our final moments in this world will eventually come. The question that leaves everyone in fear is when our final moments in this world will be, and whether we are able to say goodbye to the ones we love. Literary writers compose great pieces of writing that revolve around death. Sometimes it is not the death of a person, but rather, having something being ripped out of our hands; having no control. Take English poet Anne Bradstreet’s poem, “Upon the Burning of our House, July 10th, 1666,” Bradstreet allows us to feel what she feels; when losing her home, she is rattled with anger towards God, but …show more content…

Reading Bradstreet’s poem, I see her transformation from confusion to understanding, from anger to acceptance; by her being there and seeing her house burn down she knows that there is nothing she can do, but by being there she gives herself reassurance that this was God’s plan. I for one was four hundred miles away from where he was;, even if I had left to be there the same moment his mother told me Lorenzo passed away the deed was already done. There was nothing I could have done
To this day I still feel that I am the one at fault for Lorenzo’s death. If I had not ended our engagement, deep down inside I feel he would still be here alive and in my life. That’s not the case anymore. By reading Bradstreet’s final lines in her poem, “Farwell, my pelf, farewell my store. / The world no longer let me love, / My hope and treasure lies above” (52-54), I am given reassurance that I am not at fault. There is a reason why we are in this world: we are given things that make us happy. For Bradstreet it was her home and the memories it contained, while for me it was having the company of someone I called my

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