Poems: Anna Bradstreet Analizing her poem "The Flesh and the Spirit"
Anne Bradstreets is an amazing poet of her time. The poem The Flesh and the Spirit is a struggle between two sisters that can never be separated, Flesh and Spirit-body and soul, ultimately ending in final peace. Their inflamed arguments are about the ideal values of life and what matters to the human race. Flesh is for riches, pleasure, and the publics eye. She values earthly items and her fulfillment of her wants. Spirit finds satisfaction is God and the thought of Heaven. Their fight ends up in separation, finally-at last.
Be still, thou unregenerate part,Disturb no more my settled heart,For I have vowed (and so will do)Thee as a foe still to pursue,And combat with thee will and mustUntil I see thee laid in th dust.
Sister we are, yea twins we be,Yet deadly feud twixt thee and me,For from one father are we not.
Thou by old Adam wast begot,But my arise is from above,Whence my dear father I do love.
Thou speakst me fair but hatst me sore.
Thy flattring shows Ill trust no more.
How oft thy slave hast thou me madeWhen I believed what thou hast saidAnd never had more cause of woeThan when I did what thou badst do.
Ill stop mine ears at these thy charmsAnd count them for my deadly harms.
Thy sinful pleasures I do hate,Thy riches are to me no bait.
Thine honors do, nor will I love,For my ambition lies above.
Spirit starts off by looking down upon Flesh and calling her unregenerate. Flesh is corrupt in human nature. Spirit does not want to hear any more lip from the Flesh. She is set on loving God and Flesh cant do anything about it. The poem goes on to state Spirit vows that Flesh, her sister, is her enemy. They are nothing alike, total opposite from one another. The sister are pitched in a combat between each other and with which Spirit will not stop until victory is in hand. "Laid in th' dust" is a strong line. The only way for Flesh and Spirit to be free is if one dies.
The Spirit admits being a twin sister to Flesh, but the main reason they cant agree is
Be still, thou unregenerate part,Disturb no more my settled heart,For I have vowed (and so will do)Thee as a foe still to pursue,And combat with thee will and mustUntil I see thee laid in th dust.
Sister we are, yea twins we be,Yet deadly feud twixt thee and me,For from one father are we not.
Thou by old Adam wast begot,But my arise is from above,Whence my dear father I do love.
Thou speakst me fair but hatst me sore.
Thy flattring shows Ill trust no more.
How oft thy slave hast thou me madeWhen I believed what thou hast saidAnd never had more cause of woeThan when I did what thou badst do.
Ill stop mine ears at these thy charmsAnd count them for my deadly harms.
Thy sinful pleasures I do hate,Thy riches are to me no bait.
Thine honors do, nor will I love,For my ambition lies above.
Spirit starts off by looking down upon Flesh and calling her unregenerate. Flesh is corrupt in human nature. Spirit does not want to hear any more lip from the Flesh. She is set on loving God and Flesh cant do anything about it. The poem goes on to state Spirit vows that Flesh, her sister, is her enemy. They are nothing alike, total opposite from one another. The sister are pitched in a combat between each other and with which Spirit will not stop until victory is in hand. "Laid in th' dust" is a strong line. The only way for Flesh and Spirit to be free is if one dies.
The Spirit admits being a twin sister to Flesh, but the main reason they cant agree is