Anne Bradstreet's 'Upon The Burning Of Our House'

Puritans are intense religious people, they do things in order from God to their own personal challenges, while still keeping God in their minds at all times. Anne Bradstreet is a Puritan who had just lost her house due to a fire. Her approach to this story is a calm and loveable approach. Jonathan Edwards is another Puritan but he is much more intense with informing people about God. He puts God before anyone and everything just like any other puritan would do. Edwards approach to this story is violent and brutal, he tells everyone in his story’s who are sinners that they will be held over fires by God.“ Here Follow Some Verses Upon The Burning of Our House”and “Sinner In The Hands Of An Angry God” are both very similar in some ways and different

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.

Puritans traditionally held strong views on their religious beliefs and the concept of weaned affections was an especially vital tenet of Puritanism. The doctrine of weaned affections essentially states that Puritans must relinquish their ties to earthly possessions in favor of maintaining spirituality as a priority. Although Puritans learned from infancy about “the importance of renouncing earthly nourishment and affection in favor of ‘spiritual milk’”, (“Weaned Affections”) many Puritans may still have had a difficult time with mastering this spiritual ideal. In “Verses upon the Burning of our House, July 10th, 1666,” Bradstreet depicts how the loss of her home is initially challenging for her to endure through her reminiscing of how she will miss her physical possessions and how her home enabled her to fulfill her duties as a wife and mother. Although this can be viewed as an immensely human response to such a devastating loss, Bradstreet is quick to remind herself, and readers, that the home and its contents truly only belonged to God and that she would do better to consider God’s kingdom over the rubble of her old home on Earth. In Anne Bradstreet’s poem “Verses on the Burning of our House,” the speaker discusses her attempt to reconcile the loss of her earthly possessions with religious tenets and, in doing so, highlights the struggle of Puritans to maintain the religious ideal of valuing only spiritual worth, as depicted through the concept of weaned affections.

Anne Bradstreet was not only the first English-speaking, North American poet, but she was also the first American, woman poet to have her works published. In 1650, without her knowledge, Bradstreet’s brother-in-law had many of her poems published in a collection called The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up In America. Although these poems did not reflect what would be her best work, they did emulate what would be the greatest influence on all of her writing. Anne Bradstreet’s Puritan life was the strongest, and the most obvious influence on her work. Whether it was her reason for writing, how she wrote, or what she wrote about, Bradstreet’s poems would reflect the influence of Puritan life and doctrine.

Puritan literature captures not only their beliefs as a religion, but their beliefs as individuals. All Puritan literature is utilitarian, meaning it is useful, purposeful, and reflecting a non-ornate style of writing. One of the most prominent of early English poets was Anne Bradstreet. Her poems reflect the utilitarian style, but do so in a way that is entirely unique to herself and her emotions. Anne Bradstreet opens the bridge between her faith and her personal experiences in her poetry. In her poems “Upon the Burning of Our House” and “In Reference to Her Children” she reflects utilitarianism by recounting the conflicts between her love of her worldly things and her devotion to God’s eternity.

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

The plainness of Puritan life and of Bradford’s style exemplifies the effects that his religion has on his writing. The Puritans removed anything that might distract them from their life’s devotion to God. For instance, they imposed strict dress codes upon their people, allowing only soft, muted colors, and they did not allow their children to play with toys. Instead, the children attended school – their education was focused primarily on theology – and worked from a young age. These practices compare to Bradford’s unornamented writing: “But to omit other things (that I may be brief) after long beating at sea they fell with that land which is called Cape Cod; the which being made

The Puritan religion was the basis for other works such as Anne Bradstreet. "And to my God my heart did cry, to strengthen me in my distress, and not leave me succorless." This is from a poem called, "Here Follow Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House, July 10 1666." This particular piece entails the happenings of the Bradstreet homestead burning. During this difficult time Anne often speaks to God about letting go of her worldly possessions. Religion is one of the many things that helped new settlers through the beginning years of America. Another value that helped during this time was freedom.

Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford is a narrative that discusses the experiences of the Puritans that traveled from New England to the New World. The Puritans experienced many hardships while trying to restart their lives in America. Similarly, Anne Bradstreet from the poem “Upon the Burning of Our House, July 10th, 1666” experiences many hardships in her life in the Americas. The Puritans experienced hardships that revealed the fact that some Puritans acted selfishly in life, but others were very loyal and kind to each other, on the other hand, Bradstreet experienced hardships that tested her beliefs and commitment to Puritan ideology.

Anne Bradstreet's poem "Here Follow Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House" shows a connection to the colonial period writing by talking about Puritan beliefs and writing style. The colonial periods writing styles were based heavily off of God and personal accounts. Anne Bradstreet was one of the most influential poets of the colonial period and paved a way for many more writers to come. Anne Bradstreet was a puritan and a poet in the 1600s and her house burnt down in 1666. In the colonial period, God was someone you were devoted to if you were puritan and anything that happened is because of your sin.

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

I cannot help but cheer for women who break societal standards and take control of their own lives. Anne Bradstreet did just so in the 17th century by having her poems published, in a time where her authorship was questioned solely because of her sex (Lauter 395). Her voice roars throughout her poetry as the penned words evoke her godly conviction and love for her family. Primarily, her religious faith is strongly present in her pieces. I appreciate Bradstreet’s reliance on God in her poem, “Upon the Burning of Our House”; she takes comfort in the fact that God will provide, calling all her destroyed belongings mere “vanity” (409). In her final letter to her children, she explained her reason for writing was so “that [they] may gain some spiritual

How does one react to a tragic event? Is there a correct way to react? In Puritan life, sadness was not the way to respond. Acceptance, patience, and trust were all familiar terms to Puritans when things did not go as planned. For the first Puritan woman to write poems about feelings, Anne Bradstreet, letting go of the normality of sadness took little to no effort. In Bradstreet’s poem Upon the Burning of Our House, a fire scorches her home and burns it down. She, as anyone would be, was concerned about her things, her memories, and her well-being without a home. Although, once she came to her senses, her Puritan beliefs began to shine through. Her concerns shifted. Anne Bradstreet’s major concern was confirming her faith and keeping her fidelity to God through the catastrophe.

Anna Bradstreet grows up in a healthy family. She was the daughter of Thomas Dudley who is the manager of the country estate of the Puritan Earl of Lincoln. Anna Bradstreet got married at the age of 16 to the young Simon Bradstreet who was working with Anna father. Anna Bradstreet never went to school but her father always taught her and gave her an education. It that time many women didn’t have an education. Anna considers one of the best and most important American poets. When Bradstreet was a little girl, she writes poems to honor and please her father. After she got married, she kept writing and it marriage didn’t stop her. Her brother in law, John Woodbridge, pastor of the Andover Church, brought with him to London a manuscripts collection of her poetry in 1650. It was her first book, The Tenth Muse was the first published volume of poems written by an American resident and it was widely read. Anne Bradstreet was a very religious and Godly woman. Anne Bradstreet always tried to live life in a perfect way. Anne Bradstreet was a woman of God and she always wrote about her faith in her poetry. She always talked about the Puritan and their believes and views on salvation and reclamation in her poetry. Anna seems to believe that God has punished her through her sicknesses. The Puritans believed suffering was God’s plan of preparing the soul and heart for accepting his mercy