Analysis Of Anne Bradstreet And Edward Taylor

Poems from the time of the Puritans usually were based on their religion. Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor both portrayed a Puritanical message in their poems. Edward did so more so than Anne. They both conveyed different types of love. Anne wrote about her husband and how much she loved him. While Edward wrote about his love for God and how he wanted God to use him for His glory.

There are several poems of Bradstreet that demonstrate this conflict. There is “Upon the Burning of Our House July 10th, 1666” and the ones written

Because her father was a studious man, Bradstreet was able to receive a good education and was well read. She enjoyed serious and religious writings and admired many of the great poets of the time, among these Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser and John Donne. In fact she admired them so much

Travelling across the ocean to New England, Anne Bradstreet looked to America as a safe place to practice her puritan religion (Eberwein 4). She wrote many poems about her family and experiences, incorporating her faith and personal struggles into her works. A hundred years later, Phillis Wheatley was kidnapped from her homeland in Africa and brought to America, where she became a devout Christian and a renowned poet (James). Both women received an education above other women of their time leading to their literary accomplishments. The purpose of this paper is to determine the similarities and differences between Anne Bradstreet’s and Phillis Wheatley’s poems’ content, in terms of their themes and language by answering the following questions.

During the 1630’s, there was a group known as, the Puritans. The Puritans immigrated from England to America, for the sole purpose of religious freedom and their belief that the church of England needed reform. Puritan author’s, Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards, conveyed their messages and beliefs in their writing . For these two authors, they were working around the same foundation, Puritanism, for the intended messages. Admittedly, there is a disconnection in belief between the two. Edward’s writings take Puritanism to the extreme whilst Bradstreet’s works show a more traditional view in the religion while staying true to it.

Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor are two poets who are puritans. They are able to use writing and language to portray their ideas on G-d and religion. Upon the Burning of Our House, July 10th, 1666 by Bradstreet and Huswifery by Taylor are similar in the sense that G-d is always a part of their poems, whether it’s direct or through the use of complex writing. Through the use of language and metaphors, Bradstreet conveys that a connection with G-d could be strengthened through destruction while Taylor reveals that a connection can be reinforced through creation.

Anne Bradstreet, Daughter of the one governor and first published poet in America, was classified as a classic religious poet and also was also considered a very modern poet who really focused on her everyday life and all of her daily activates. Phillis Wheatley, enslaved at the age of 6, and became the first black women poet in America wote mostly classical poetry and had many Christian views. Her poetry used pyscholical meaning and also used poetic devices. Although both poets were to very respected poets of there time both are also very different compared to their work. Phillis Wheatley’s poetry was more in depth, thoughtful, and had somewhat more stylish than the work of Anne’s Bradstreet’s.

The Puritan life, although simple, demanded diligence both mentally and spiritually which put stress on even the most faithful of followers. Although the common practice entailed brushing religious struggles under the rug, few writers bravely wrote of their religious doubts and endeavors to become better Puritans. Author Anne Bradstreet shows in her work “Here Follows Some Verse upon the Burning of Our House, July 10th, 1666” that religious struggles are often met by Puritans and it takes brave souls to admit their difficult time with their religion. This poem shows a woman dealing with a religious crisis and how even though she struggles her faith still holds strong in the end. Bradstreet’s poem displays a crisis of faith in her content

Would you consider any similarities in the poems written by a puritan woman i late 1600’s compared to the sermons of a puritan preacher of the early 1700’s? Anne Bradstreet, and Jonathan Edwards are two puritan authors whose writing style may seem very different but when going in depth you may find a few similarities that can be made between the two authors and their works. Going through their passages you will see many more differences than similarities. Both of these two authors would have many religious views in common, they would also in some cases have similar writing styles, and lastly they would have used some of the same literary devices to get across their message. The passages being compared are “To my dear loving husband” by Anne Bradstreet, “Upon the burning of our house, July 10th, 1666” by Anne Bradstreet, and lastly “Sinners in the hands of an angry god” by Jonathan Edwards.

Throughout this class we have read different types of literature from many different authors. Some of the material I truly enjoyed and some of it not so much. I really enjoyed the Native American literature that we started out with in the beginning of the semester. I think the Native Americans are beautiful people who appreciated the land more than most. The Native Americans were smart people who used short stories such as The Chief’s Daughters and Coyote and Bear to warn their readers of dangers or teach them moral lessons. I also enjoyed authors such as Edward Taylor, Anne Bradstreet, and Thomas Paine. I did not like reading William Byrd’s material, chiefly because he was rude and spoke nastily of the Native Americans. It personally offended me that he thought their belief of afterlife to be “gross and sensual”.

women are still fighting for equality every day. In the time of Anne Bradstreet, women had few

First and foremost, Hutchins makes a claim that in all of Bradstreet’s poems, she shows both a rebellion of standards for a Puritan woman at the time, and a submission to those roles. He claims that the main way Bradstreet “rebels” is seeking wisdom. Hutchins identifies two types of wisdom that many Puritan leaders acknowledged: sapientia- a spiritual or biblical wisdom, and scientia- a secular or “natural” wisdom (43). Hutchins claims that Bradstreet demonstrates both in her writing. In Bradstreet’s poem “Contemplations”, many critics argue that she is defying the Puritan culture of the time; however, Hutchins counter argues that she instead creates “a middle course” between the concepts of loving Creation and loving God (44-45). Hutchins also argues that Bradstreet conforms to the Puritan social views of the time given her portrayal of Eve in Genesis as responsible for the fall of humanity (45-46).

In the 1600’s, Puritans living in both England and New England held their views on God rather tightly and lived their lives as good Christians. Puritans were selfless individuals who had escaped and came to America in search of religious freedom and peace. In literature during that time period, it is made very clear that everything the Puritans had accomplished or acquired was a result of God, and that they were forever in his debt. One of the great poets from this time era was Anne Bradstreet who wrote about her children, husband, and parents. Anne Bradstreet blended her domestic life with theological imagery in every poem she did, explaining that her grandchildren were merely lent to her but

Anne Bradstreet, a well-educated woman, strong in her Puritan beliefs, captured her thoughts by writing poetry, which included works such as “Contemplations” which was preceded by “The Prologue”. Written in the mid 1600’s as the colonies were beginning to form, Bradstreet’s poem included themes of religion, nature, and family. Although she claims to have written them without the intent of publication, a collection of her poetry was printed in 1650. She identifies her struggles with faith, yet writes from the view of a faithful woman who recognizes the superior role of men in her society. Although appearing to be modest and undermining her talents, it seems evident that Bradstreet was, in reality, confident that as a well educated women she was capable of writing just as well as a man. Although it is claimed that Anne Bradstreet did not intend for her writing to be published, her poetry utilizes a feminist tone and theme of higher education conveying her hidden desires to prove herself as a female author.

Although Taylor certainly meant to "humble" his reader in the preface to his long poem, he certainly did not have a modern rationalist or aesthete audience in mind when he wrote it. His intended readers were rather his parishioners, 17th-century Puritan men and women for whom poetry was more a rhetorical than an aesthetic exercise, and for whom God's ways were understood to be inscrutable--what we might call "irrational"--to the sons of Adam. Part of a people who left for the New World in order to enjoy a more perfect relation with their God, now in a third generation Taylor's audience was beginning to forget what was for an orthodox Puritan their "proper" place among "all things." "God's Determinations" was Taylor's way to remind his readers of that place.