Upon The Burning Of Our House By Anne Bradstreet And Michael Wigglesworth

Anne Bradstreet’s poem “To My Dear and Loving Husband” was written between the years of 1641 and 1643. “Not until the year 1678, six years after Bradstreet’s death, the poem was published” (Ruby 228). A poet with Puritan beliefs, this poem uses the religious language, hyperbolic metaphors, paradox, and antiquated diction and style in order to explain the devotion and love for her husband as she struggles with the Puritan way of life along with the uncertainty of her reassurance of love.

In “Verses upon the Burning of our House”, about the religious and human view of material things, Anne Bradstreet tries to hide the fact that during the burning of her house she secretly grieves the lost of her material things. The poet struggles in the debate of spiritualism and non spiritualism as she goes on in the poem describing her feelings and thoughts about her house burning down. As I read the poem I felt a bit of controversy from Bradstreet point of view because of her seesaw in how she illustrates the importance of possession, contrary of her religious beliefs. Bradstreet´s final point is that unlike the importance of possession, people, including the poet herself, craves and desires all material things.

The Puritans were selfless back then. I do not think they were selfish. They worshiped God and helped each other and cared for each other. They offered goodness to people and obeyed and followed directions. They were being selfless by helping and sharing the good things that were needed. They were doing good and helping people out and setting a good example for others. They brought hope and joy and they shared and helped each other and they were kind. It it is good when the Puritans help people and it is cool how they share everything.

The value of earthly treasures versus eternal treasures is a key theme in Anne Bradstreet’s “Upon the Burning of Our House.” Throughout the poem, Bradstreet uses the following three examples to discover her feelings about losing her earthly treasures in the house fire and moving toward eternal treasures: her earthly possessions, her position in society, and her ultimate choice to focus on eternity. Anne Bradstreet is a woman who was the first English colonial poet. while she resided in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. She wrote this poem around July of 1666 to describe the event of her home burning to the ground. Bradstreet creates a deeper meaning in her poem through her discussion of earthly value versus eternal value and how she discovers the importance of eternal value through the loss of her earthly possessions.

In the book The Crucible by Arthur Miller takes place in 1692 during the Salem Witch Trials and it shows an abundant amount of examples of how puritans are not pure. Arthur Miller has made many detailed characters that showed how being a pure Puritan is not capable of a human. One of these characters is John Proctor, John is an average person in this time period just living his Puritan life; but is broken by a horrible sight in the woods. John Proctor also has a wife named Elizabeth, and she had her life changed greatly shortly after breaking news was passed throughout the village. The main cause to this news was caused by a housekeeper of John Proctor named Abigail Williams; Abby was caught dancing in the woods with other girls performing spells and witchcraft. When the news of these girls was spread around the village and all the people were aware of it people lives started to change. The minister Reverend Parris was very concerned with this news and started to take initiative and search into it with John proctor. Having

Puritans take their beliefs and values very seriously. These ideals are reflected in how they react in certain situations. They are also reflected in their sermons. Jonathan Edwards and Anne Bradstreet are two authors that reflect their Puritan beliefs. Puritans reflect their beliefs and values in their literature, but not all authors reflect them in the same way.

During the Colonial period, religion was a part of everyday life. Religion itself is what drove many to abandon all that they knew and go to the New World. The Colonies were undergoing great change from the 1730’s to the 1760’s, in what was known as the Great Awakening. This was a period of renewed religious fervor. During this time, writers and speakers had a huge impact on the developing and impressionable Colonies. Jonathan Edwards was one such man. In writing the sermon ‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God’, he gave fuel to the revivalist movement. He played a significant role in shaping the beliefs of the time.

Puritans such as Jonathan Edwards and Anne Bradstreet would write personal history or diary type of literature to influence men and women across the nation on their strong biblical beliefs. Puritans are known for their wide spread faith on the bible, how they would preach, and the way they showed others the way of life that is suitable to enter to heaven. Many puritans believed there were people who were already chosen called the “selected”. Each puritan writer had their own way of getting others involved in the lifestyle of following the bible. Writers like Edwards and Bradstreet both wrote about God and the impact although they had different notions; from them having different points of view of how God felt, to the way they wrote and made their readers feel throughout their writings.

The Puritans were an interesting group of people. They had a lot of different characteristics and values. To name a few they were religious, selfless/unselfish, and hardworking.

People want something to look forward to after their lifetime. For the Puritans God is what they look forward to. To My Dear and Loving Husband by Anne Bradstreet, Upon the Burning of Our House by Anne Bradstreet, and Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards perceive God in different ways. After analysing Bradstreet and Edward’s poems I have found many differences in their styles of writing and views of God, yet they lead to a common conclusion. Bradstreet has a less intense and more happy writing style and portrays God as someone to be praised and thankful for, while Edwards is way more intense in his writing style and portrays God as someone who should be feared while also praised and followed.

The question of what exactly is literature comes up every time something is written or read. This question forms many of the English classes that students take all around the world, and this question dominates the literary community. So what exactly is literature and why is it so important? Literature is non-factual, with sensuous language, about particular people or events that have significance. Literature is often figurative and appeals to the emotions. During the early colonial times of America, many authors wrote about the things they experienced during that time. Two well-known authors of that period were John Smith and Anne Bradstreet. Smith gave accounts of what he experienced during that period through prose, whereas Anne Bradstreet wrote about some things that went on her life through poetry. Smith’s writings have the purpose of telling what happened and providing the facts, whereas Anne Bradstreet does tell what happened, but she also looks toward the future in her writings.

The Puritans first set sailed and started their journey to America in 1630. Not like other groups who were around at the time, the Puritans did not break from the church but decided to change it to there liking instead. They seek to comfort in the bible by re-enacting stories in the Bible. They feel as if they were chosen by God to make new history and establish a new Christian way. John Winthrop was the man in charge and the man who started this whole movement. If as a Puritan you honoured your obligation to God, they would be one with God and if they failed, would be punished. As they arrived in New England they set up in Massachusetts in a place they named Boston. There was a lot of tough work and chores to be done in Boston. But there were

Religion is undoubtedly something that is incredibly important for many people. It at times serves as a source of comfort, a sense of purpose, or even a sense of belonging. Because of this, it has been a common origin of inspiration for many poets regardless of origin and time. Anne Bradstreet and Emily Dickinson are no exception. Both reference religious beliefs and God numerous times throughout their works, but they do so in different ways. These differences serve as evidence of an advancement of self-expression and individuality concerning religion over the course of time. This is especially evident in Bradstreet’s poems “Before the Birth of One of Her Children” and “Verses Upon the Burning of Our House” as well as Dickinson’s poems “Heaven is so far of the Mind” and “Remorse – is Memory – awake.”

Love and Marriage has been a huge topic in the Puritan Era. It is argued by critics that puritans treat Love and Marriage as the meanings of life as they represents the “relationship that structures everything: God’s covenant with believers” (Furey 201). How love situates itself in men’s relationship with god is discussed in many Puritan literature. Two puritan poets, Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor have been famous for their expressions of their affection and humility towards God in their poems. Yet, it is argued that they dealt with the topics of Love and Marriage differently. While Bradstreet sees the loving relationship between husband and wife as a way to praise God and to claim the heavenly rewards in afterlife, Taylor believes

Since the beginning of time, people have needed the reassurance of purpose to life. Even though they are all needing reassurance, they have different beliefs. Poets Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards have two different ways to show their faith through poetry. Bradstreet was from the early 1600’s unlike Edwards who was from the early 1700’s. With reading both of their poems you’ll hear two different yet alike ways of trusting in God. They both have very strong relationships with God and it showing in the personalities and figurative language when they write. Even though there are many differences they both are writing about their love and trust in God with all of their life.