Anne Bradstreet Beliefs

“Upon the Burning of Our House, July 10th, 1666” is one of Anne Bradstreet’s most effective poems. Part of that effectiveness comes from the poignant tension between her worldly concerns, as represented by her household furnishings and her spiritual aspirations.

Anne Bradstreet was America's first noteworthy poet in spite of the fact that she was a woman. Both the daughter and wife of Massachusetts governors, Bradstreet suffered all of the hardships of colonial life, was a mother, and still found time to write. Her poem, "The Author to Her Book," is an example of Bradstreet's excellent use of literary techniques while expressing genuine emotion and using domestic subject matter.

Upon the Burning of our House, July 10th, 1666 was written by Anne Bradstreet, America’s first published poet and a famous Puritan writer. The poem is about Bradstreet fleeing her house after she wakes up and discovers that her house has been engulfed in flames. She begins to mourn the loss of her personal items but quickly scolds herself because she believes God has created a home for her in heaven. As Bradstreet takes her mind off losing her earthly possessions, she realizes that she must dissolve her ties to the real world and instead focus on keeping a strong relationship with God. Throughout the poem Upon the Burning of our House, July 10th, 1666, Anne Bradstreet uses rhetorical devices to express that one must overcome their internal struggle with cherishing things on Earth and instead focus on dedicating themselves to serving God who will provide things far more valuable than anything in real life.

Puritans live in a life with a life of rules. They live by religious beliefs and literature purposes. The puritans believed in God being all powerful, Bible is God’s true law, success is a sign of improvement, and how education was written to glorify God and for education only not for entertainment.

Anne Bradstreet’s religious beliefs effect how she reacts to the burning of her house in a big way. Upon hearing that there is a fire nearby, she immediately begins to pray to God, “strengthen me in my distress and not to leave my succorless.” Already before she knows that it is her house that is on fire, she is already praying to god to give her strength. This shows that she has a very strong religious foundation and will most likely use it to guide her through any troubles that she may go through. She then finds out that it is her place that is burning down, and when she can no longer bare the sight of it, she begins to pray again. Saying “I blest His name that gave and took.” This shows that she views it as if God took her house away from

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.

Puritan Literature had many characteristics. A characteristic that is evident was Didacticism. This meant that Puritan literature focused more on the fact it was intended to teach a moral lesson or instruction. Anne Bradstreet combined both moral instruction and individual feeling in her literature. We see this throughout her poetry, as it is regarded as more personal as well as filled with puritan thought. This is greatly represented in Anne’s poem, “Upon the Burning of our House”. This writing of Anne’s was her reaction to her house being burnt to the ground late one night. The first aspect we notice as we examine her writing is her puritanism thought all throughout this poem. It is clearly reflected in this line of the poem where she states, “I blest His name that gave and took.” She realizes that God is in control of it all even in the midst of this struggle she is facing. Not only does she recognize this truth, but she also builds upon the moral lesson to be focused on her eternal home rather than

The Puritans believed in predestination--where whether a person was going to Heaven or Hell was decided before they were born--and they did not know where they were going until Judgement Day. However, they had a system, in which, depending how a person lived their life, they could guess where that person was going. A person who lived a prosperous and spiritual life would probably be going to Heaven, while a person who lived

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

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

She thinks of it that God himself burned her stuff. “That laid my goods now in the dust.” She no longer had a table to eat at or a roof over her head. Everything has been taken away by the flames and smoke. All she can think about is god and how he took away the things she had. She is praying to God to give some things back and to not leave her with nothing at all. Bradstreet's attitude changes from the beginning of the poem to end. She goes from feeling depressed and sad to being optimistic on her house burning down. She believes that god has control over her house and everything in it,

The Puritans’ belief in divine retribution and divine providence was how their faith guided them. They used God to justify everyday occurrences and asked for God’s help when facing hardships. If something unfortunate happened, they interpreted it as divine retribution, for example, when the rude sailor was the first to die and be thrown overboard. If something good happened, such as when they found the Native’s stash of corn, they saw it as divine providence.

For Anne bradstreet “To my dear and loving husband” and “Upon the burning of our house” both portrays strengths to the Puritan value. For example, “Thy love is such I can no way repay;The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray” (Bradstreet's 9-10). The quote shows us inverted syntax by saying the heavens reward and personification by her saying i pray. With that you can see that the Puritan value is devotion to

Anne Bradstreet, as a poet, wrote as both a Puritan woman in her time and as a woman ahead of her time. Zach Hutchins analyzed this tension in “The Wisdom of Anne Bradstreet: Eschewing Eve and Emulating Elizabeth”, and makes a primary argument that three of Bradstreet’s poems provide evidence that Bradstreet rejects the Puritan views of a woman while keeping her own personal faith. Hutchins fither his argument by declaring that readers should not view Bradstreet as a symbol of rebellion or submission, instead as a symbol of wisdom.

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