Anne Bradstreet In Reference To Her Children Essay

Anne Bradstreet’s feelings about her home represent the most material conflict. When her home burned down she wrote the poem to voice these feelings of hers. She describes the awakening to the “shrieks of dreadful voice” and going out to watch “the flame consume” her “dwelling place”. But she comforts herself with good Puritan dogma. The burning of the house is God’s doing and his doings should not be questioned. In looking over the stanzas where she

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.

There is a single symbol that encapsulates the majority of these notions throughout the entirety of the book: the bird, the bird in the house, the bird "caught between the two layers of glass" that so changes Vanessa's life. Birds make too frequent and deliberate an appearance throughout the collection of short stories to be mere haphazard additions to the background; instead, they, along with the images and concepts associated with them, serve to alert the aware reader to what Margaret Laurence, through older-Vanessa, through child-Vanessa, is trying to tell us. The birds, and their associated images, are central and representative of the novel as a whole.

Anne Bradstreet was a poet, who explored many different puritanical Christian ideologies in her work. In her poem, “Contemplations,” Bradstreet makes many allusions, which range from biblical stories to Greek mythology figures. Ultimately, however, Bradstreet suggests that man can be vain and sinful, never learning from the past, getting too attached to the world in which they live, taking it for granted, though it is short, or taking the time to get closer to God, and looking to the afterlife.

Birds are a common sight in most places people tend to be. These winged creatures are seen in bustling places like the pigeons that are in urban and suburban areas, the woodpeckers in rural regions, the crows on farms, and even in cages within buildings. In fact, these elegant creatures are so common a sight in society that they are often overlooked and underappreciated. This is similar to how women were and sometimes still are treated within society; they are given little appreciation when they are present and doing as they are told, but when they do not do as they are told they become a problem. This parallel that can be drawn between women and birds is used throughout Kate Chopin’s novel, The Awakening, in which its main character Edna Pontellier is often likened to and symbolized by a bird. Throughout the novel, the bird acts as a theme and symbol of both Edna and women in general.

She was Americans first female poet. She wrote about her life and struggles between religion and society. She was looked down on because men were the only people in the colonial period who were considered good writers. She wrote the poem “Upon the Burning of Our House”. In this poem she is watching her house burn down and explaining how she feels about it. Anne Bradstreet contrasts the transitory nature of earthly treasure with eternal treasures. Everything that Anne Bradstreet writes is about her religion and how it shapes her life. Bradstreet’s writings reflect the Puritans’ knowledge of the stories and language of the Bible, as well as their awareness of the relationship between earthly and heavenly life. Anne Bradstreet, like the Puritans, believed that God would take away what He needed to, to ensure that her heart was in the right place, and that He came first; above all. Along with her faith, her marriage and her role as a mother also fulfilled the puritan ideal; loving, respectful, and feminine. Her writings reveal themes of religion in nature and reflected Puritan

Birds are shown throughout our culture as symbols. Simply by their appearance, they can spark feelings of love, freedom, or wonder in the hearts of people. Birds are creatures that have attributes similar to the beings on earth that are so fascinated with them. Humans are full of constant bewilderment and curiosity, so it is no epiphany that they are entranced by such graceful creatures of the sky. People tend to use birds as symbolism, given the stark similarities between the creatures in the sky and humans. Each can fly with the desire to soar above in the sky and see all that is hidden down below. Both humans and birds can sing songs of revelation to their neighboring friends. Additionally, birds and humans can find themselves being restrained by something. Although such a comparison seems bizarre, Anthony Doerr captured the essence of birds and its connections entirely in his novel, All the Light We Cannot See. Almost every character that is spoken of has an aspect of freedom and flight deep in their story. Doerr’s novel follows the life of two teenagers as they travel through life during the disaster of World War Two. Many characters in the novel exhibit actions and situations in which a bird might find itself in. Werner finds himself fighting restraints, as a bird would to its cage. Marie-Laure is a young birds stretching her wings for the first time. The surrounding friends and characters also face the issues of the war, similar to which a bird struggles with the

Anne Bradstreet's poem, To My Dear and Loving Husband, shows her profound love and undying affection for her husband. For a Puritan woman who is supposed to be reserved, Bradstreet makes it her obligation to enlighten her husband of her devotion. She conveys this message through her figurative language and declarative tone by using imagery, repetition, and paradoxes.

Bradstreet's poems reveal that she values her relationship with God, her husband, and children. Despite teetering between questioning the existence of God to fully believing in His existence, she ultimately arranges her life around her belief in God. While her family is important to her, the power she has in words to depict her emotions, questions, family, and God seem to hold a higher importance to her. Bradstreet's back and forth examination between God's existence or lack of would not excessively burden her without her Puritan upbringing. While Godly living dominated this time, but strict Puritan standards probably led to the occasional question of God's existence. However it is unlikely that many Puritans were plagued by God's existence to the extent Bradstreet was. What was most unusual in Bradstreet's writings was her awareness of Puritanism instituting women as second class citizens. Puritan women probably accepted the role of dutiful wife and mother as God's will, but Bradstreet seems to be more aware of the disadvantages that come with being a woman. What surprised me was in Bradstreet's “Prologue”, she writes “Men can do best, and women know it well,”

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.

Anne Bradstreet employs an ornithic metaphor at the very beginning of her rhyming poem "In Reference to her Children, 23 June 1659," to set the stage for an extended metaphor regarding herself and her children being represented by birds.

Alasia McDonald Dana Phillips ENGL 238 October 13, 2014 Anne Bradstreet’s “Contemplations” In Anne Bradstreet’s poem, “Contemplations,” Bradstreet shares her thoughts regarding nature and Heaven from her Puritan point of view. Nature, she believes, is a miracle in itself that God created, with many of Earth’s elements appearing to be grander than humans. This creates a complication with her Puritan upbringing which has taught her that man is more fortunate than nature.

Interpretations of Anne Bradstreet’s “Contemplations” Critics often disagree about how to read Anne Bradstreet’s poetry, nonetheless they generally agree that Bradstreet’s best work is to be found in the late poem “Contemplations” (Rosenfeld 2). As a young academic, three important interpretations I have found though extensive research are from Robert Boshman, Anne Hildebrand, and Oser Lee. All three have different views on Anne Bradstreet’s poem “Contemplations.” Boshman describes Bradstreet’s poem as a reflection of God’s omnipotence.

I choose for my reseach essay assignment the poem " In Reference to Her Children, 23 June, 1659" by Anne Bradstreet as the earliest Native American writing, and the first in a long line of American poets who took their consolation not from thealogy , but from the " wondrous works", as she wrote, " that I see, the vast frame of the heaven and the earth, the order of all things." In Anne works, we see the writing prolifically in poetry form, and she deliver a great massage and moral for her religious values, for her family and her children as well. The family and the life in the Puritan believe of Anne are the stronger point of relationship she created in her writting and made her intresting in the social society of America in 1650-1660.

Quite atypically for a renowned American poet, Anne Bradstreet was an English-born writer who moved to America in 1630 after enduring an arduous journey (“Anne Bradstreet”). Bradstreet was a devoutly religious Puritan, following the precedent of her father and husband, the most prominent men in her life. Her dedicated Puritan beliefs greatly molded her writings. Many of her poems contain references to sin, redemption, and immortality among other recurrent Puritan topics (“Anne Bradstreet”). Anne Bradstreet’s published poetry collections were the first published works of poetry by an English-American (Eberwein 161-163). Anne Bradstreet was a groundbreaking writer as the first English-American poet of her time; her life experiences, Puritan