Bradstreet’s poem was soft and personal. It would seem that she was contemplating the likelihood of her dying while giving birth. The poem was addressed to her husband, which makes since as if she were to die, she would want him to know her final words and not to mention he would be raising the child alone. Being that Bradstreet gave birth to eight children, it is very likely that she feared her own death during each and every one of her deliveries.…
The poem follows the narrator’s internal monologue as he revisits a place of nostalgia that ignited his love of nature. His fears that the picturesque scene of his childhood has been idealized are quieted as he sees the place for the first time in five years, falling in love with the environment all over again. He even credits nature as “The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse,/The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul/Of all my moral being” (Wordsworth LL. 109-111). His ecological thinking recharges his soul and makes him feel joyful about life once again. Nature also connects the narrator to his sister, who he sees himself in because of their love of the countryside. He acknowledges his sister the first time in the poem as his “dear, dear Friend; and in thy voice I catch/The language of my former heart, and read/My former pleasures in the shooting lights/Of thy wild eyes” (Wordsworth LL.…
Bradstreet uses motherly language and words with a protective connotation in describing her “child” in order to reveal the speaker’s admiration and hopes for him or her. Though the speaker describes her child in the poem as “ill-formed,” suggesting that the child is defective, she comments that the child “did’st by my side remain,” indicating that she appreciates the child and does not disown it, regardless of its flaws. When describing the revealing of the child to the world, Bradstreet uses the word “snatched,” suggesting that the child was “exposed to public view” without the speaker’s wanting this. In describing how the mother holds her child by her side and suggesting that she resents its being “exposed,” Bradstreet depicts the love with which a writer holds his or…
However, her identity has largely been associated with her family, of whom she wrote about in a majority of her works. It is argued in sections of the article that Bradstreet wrote about the deaths of family members, fear of childbirth, and love poems to her husband and domestic crises such as the burning of her house (Kopacz). Although many of Bradstreet’s earlier writing were overlooked in…
Her choice of words in this poem reveals that while admitting a close and intimate relationship with it, the she is intensely dissatisfied with her book. The words "errors," "irksome," "blemishes," "defects," and "homespun" all emphasize the speaker's disgust. The author can't seem to find one redeeming feature in the book, although she does everything within her power to remedy the errors that, to her, are so blatant. She "washes," "rubs "stretches” and "dresses the book, always trying to improve its quality by editing, revising, rethinking, and rewording it. Bradstreet finally gives up at…
In Bradstreet’s her attitude toward losing her material things and focus on her belief in God had mixed emotions.On one hand the women who lost her house and everything in it was very sad but at the same time wanted to let go of thoughts feelings because she wasn't suppose to be attached to those things and was suppose to be learning more about god.She quote”When the ruin oft I past my sorrowing eyes”meaning she was sad,but she couldn't be sad because of her religion.…
Bradstreet shows this love for God above all else when she says, “My hope and treasures lies above”(54). After her house-symbolizing her material life on earth-burnt down, Bradstreet realizes that nothing in this world is greater than that of heaven and that everything she desires in life is in heaven with God.“And to my God my heart did cry” (Bradstreet 8) reveals two very important aspects of Bradstreet’s belief. First, she wakes up, confused, inside of a burning house, but her first thought is to pray to God. This prayer shows how greatly Bradstreet trusts God to help her in her times of need and how often she thinks about God to pray to him in this confusing moment. Second, Bradstreet’s very personal relationship with God is revealed through the words “my God.” By using the word “my,” Bradstreet is showing that she loves God and is as close to him as she is to her husband, who she would refer to as “my husband.” In her poems, Bradstreet reveals that she loves and trusts God, as well as that she has a very close, personal relationship with…
Puritan works are all didactic; they are all meant to teach a lesson. In Anne Bradstreet’s poem, “Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of our House,” she expresses the idea of weaned affections. Bradstreet wrote, “I blest his name that gave and took” (122). Bradstreet was upset about her house burning and losing everything, but she also believed that everything she had was because of God, and it all belonged to him anyways. Bradstreet ends her poem with, “My hope and treasure lies above” (123) meaning that her faith is in God, and she believes that she has a home in heaven. The lesson in Bradstreet’s poem is the idea of weaned affections; she realizes she should not become too attached to physical things.…
Bradstreet shows how she believes in God and how the things of this earth will not help us when we die. For the Lord has gave us the earth and the things that dwell upon it. God gave her the house and its fulfillments, along with any other “possessions”. For mankind does not own anything, it is all Gods.…
In the poem, Bradstreet is trying to convey the fact that we are drifting away from God and leaning towards materialistic things. This is against the teachings of their religion but it seems no one wanted to bring it up. So, Bradstreet hints about that this whole religion was made but everyone…
She states "To sing of wars, of captains, and of kings/ Of cities founded, commonwealth begun/ For my mean pen are too superior things"(Pg. 147). These lines are meant to show the reader that she knows her place, by saying "For my mean pen are too superior things(Pg. 147)". This meaning that her pen is lowly in comparison, and the words it writes can in no way compare to such great things. She ends this first verse in a manner that expresses her humility, and excuses herself from being frowned upon. "Let poets and historians set these forth/ My obscure lines shall not so dim their worth". This last line keeps Bradstreet safe, in that, she is telling everyone that her words are meant to be overlooked, they are so small and insignificant they "shall not so dim their worth"(Pg. 147). Bradstreet is also expressing her desire not to have her writings trivialize the events of the past. "Let poets and historians set these forth" shows that she wishes such events to be honored by those who are fit to write about them, unlike…
Explain the metaphor Bradstreet uses in the poem for her children. Give at least two specific examples from the poem. An example of a metaphor in Bradstreet’s poem would be that she compares her children as to baby birds that live in a nest. Another example is that she compares them growing up to a bird leaving the nest to take flight.…
The poem is written in blank verse. This means that there is no set rhyme scheme or metre to the poem. The poem is divided into nine stanzas of four lines each and it concludes with one single line stanza. The first nine stanzas with their four lines each, demonstrate the narrow mindedness of the white woman and the thinking of her fellow white Americans; while, the final one line stanza is an attempt by the poet to show that the Native American Indians are both separate and have a broader scope than the white Americans. Yet, the use of the blank verse form by the poet, suggests that there is room for imaginative speculation on the poem.…
In line eighty-nine of the poem, Bradstreet speaks of “the Gates of Pearl.” The gates referring to the gates of heaven; and they are rich and clear, perhaps meaning that living life accordingly means that they are visible in the path ahead and are achievable by means of the Puritan lifestyle, which Bradstreet practiced. Secondly, in lines sixty-seven and sixty-eight of the poem, the word of life is being compared to manna. This references the manna that God gave the Israelites while they wandered in the desert as always a substantial amount of food. The manna was all that the Israelites needed and it was provided for them. The comparison signifies that the word of life, following God’s word, is all that is needed to live a satisfying life. This conforms to the theme of material possessions and wealth being unnecessary because all that is needed is the word of the Lord. This, of course, follows the values embodied in the Puritan society. Lastly, in lines forty-three and forty-four of the poem, the flesh and the spirit are compared as sisters, specifically twins, but remain fixed in a “deadly feud.” The spirit and the flesh being twins; however, nothing alike, displays irony. The spirit and flesh represent two completely different states of mind; the flesh being the desire to seek fulfillment in possessions and wealth, and the spirit being the desire to seek a…
You wake up every morning continuing to live your life. Your body ages, until it’s time for you to ultimately die. So what happens? Is there an after-life, or does your body just decompose, and rot away? As read in John Perry’s A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality an argument arises between two characters being Gretchen Weirob, and Sam Miller. Ultimately the argument consists of the battle between your identity and your soul, probability and possibility, and what happens after death. Your identity is supposed to be a definition of a certain person, but then again what’s the definition of your soul. In this dialogue the character Gretchen Weirob, a teacher of philosophy is on her death bed, seeks comfort from a longtime friend Sam Miller.…