The Loss Of Faith In The Poem Bradstreet

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

"The Author to Her Book" shows Bradstreet's feelings about the unauthorized printing of her work. She expresses her modesty about her ability to write by comparing her work to "homespun cloth" meaning that is was coarse and unrefined. Bradstreet also uses humor to express her feelings about the publication of her work without corrections, but there is still some genuine discomfort. "At thy return my blushing was not small" shows that she was a bit embarrassed about the world reading her rough drafts, but she amends her view towards the book as the poem continues. "Yet being mine own, at length affection would Thy blemishes amend…" illustrates that she truly loves her poetry, and after it is "cleaned" she takes pride in it. She show her delight in her work with the admonition "If for thy Father asked, say thou had'st none." Bradstreet wanted everyone to recognize her for the talented woman writer that she was, but requested this acknowledgment in a humble way.

In lines six through nine Bradstreet associates the embarrassment she feels due to her unperfected work to the embarrassment a parent feels due to an irritable child. She feels ashamed that the "errors were not lessened" (line 6) before the work was printed and refers to it as a "rambling brat" who is "one unfit for light" (line 8-9) because her "child" was taken from her before she had time to prepare it to go out into the world. She is

    Anne Bradstreet uses diction to explain how her focus on God has created a life far more beneficial than the one on Earth. For example, Bradstreet expresses this when she bids her house farewell as it is burned to the ground. “In silence ever shalt thou lie; Adieu, Adieu, all’s vanity” (Bradstreet 35-36). Bradstreet finally recognizes the fact that everything she owns belongs to God, and there is nothing she can do about it. By using the phrase “All’s Vanity”, she emphasizes the unimportance of her material goods and instead praises the things that God has provided for

At first she calls on G-d to “strengthen me in my distress” (line 9). Then the narrator begins to think that “It was His own, it was not mine” (like 17) which shows that she’s beginning to accept what happened. This was all in G-d’s plan; it was predetermined. The narrator goes on to say “Adieu, adieu, all’s vanity” (line 36). This is a very materialistic phrase. However, in the next stanza, the narrator says that she is the one in the wrong for straying from G-d. The realization of the connection she has developed to material objects brings on a reflecting of how she ever strayed from G-d since there is nothing to count on except G-d. In the last stanza, the narrator says, “My hope and treasure lies above” (line 54). Everything that the narrator needs is in heaven. While she may seem a little resentful, she is able to accept the destruction of her house and turn it into love for G-d. The idea of predestination makes an appearance again as the narrator knows that this is what G-d wanted. G-d is all that she has left now since she lost all of her material wealth along with everything

Anne’s Bradstreet’s greatest influence on her writings was religion. As a child she was brought up as puritan therefore she has puritan beliefs that was showed in her poems. However, In some of her writings it seems she was struggled with her belief in God. Just like Phillis Wheatley, Anne Bradstreet used a literal device called inversions and also used many religious references. In Anne’s Bradstreet’s poem “Here Follow Some Verses upon the Burning of out House, July 10TH, 1666” Anne Says “It was His Own, it was not mine, Far be it that I should Repine.” (122). Here she was making references to her God and realizes that her stuff that was lost in the fire was not

Anne Bradstreet was not the typical Puritan author. She wrote sweet and loving poems that greatly contrasted from other writers of her time. She did not write the ever so popular sermons that told people that they were going to hell and there was nothing they could do about it. Bradstreet was a rarity in Puritan times, she was a very educated woman that worked on something other than being a woman in the household. She was one of a kind and the beginning of an era. Using literary criticism when reading Anne Bradstreet’s poems adds a deeper understanding of her character and difficulties in life.

In conclusion, it is left to the opinion whether Anne Bradstreet reflects the Puritan lifestyle or not because this poem focuses on a longing for her

She questioned the miracles written in the Bible. Bradstreet thought these miracles were made up, because she had never seen firsthand experience of a miracle. Bradstreet actually dreaded coming to the new world, until she was convinced it was the way of God. Bradstreet believed she was there, in the new world, because God wanted her to be there. Bradstreet believed God was merciful and caused suffering to lead His followers back to Him and the righteous path. Anne Bradstreet also though God was forgiving and omnipresent. In many of her writings one sees her asking God for forgiveness and mercy. Bradstreet seeking mercy from God is seen in her writing “Before the Birth of One of Her Children,” where Bradstreet writes “[t]he many faults that well you know I have Let be interred in my oblivious grave; If any worth of virtue were in me, Let that live freshly in thy memory” (120). Here Bradstreet is writing God and herself know she has flaws and has made mistakes, but Bradstreet would like to be buried with these mistakes. Anne Bradstreet does not want to be remembered by the wrong she has done in his life, and is asking God for mercy when she passes away. In these two lines Bradstreet implies if there is still a quality of righteousness left in her, God should let that quality live on if she dies. Anne Bradstreet’s

Thus, Bradstreet conveys the embarrassment she feels due to her imperfect work. The main idea shows throughout the poem as Bradstreet struggles with the idea of her work being published when not fully perfected.

In all of Bradstreet’s works she is constantly expressing herself through her figurative language that whoever reads the poetry

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.

Even though, she will not be able to repay him with money as materialistic things are not of value, Bradstreet will write about him in her poetry, to show him her gratitude and express her love for him. I feel that Bradstreet wrote her poems about her father to impress him and make sure he knew that she was doing everything she could to repay him and show him her gratefulness for life. Bradstreet never discredits her father or places any blame on him for anything happening in her life, which was true of Puritan beliefs at that time.

Bradstreet wanted her poetry to remain private. She accepted her poetry unconditionally, like a mother accepts her child, because if she tried to correct the poem's flaws more flaws appeared. A distinct expression of Bradstreet true love to her

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