Mary Rowlandson and Anne Bradstreet were two distinct women both having solid religious beliefs. Their strong Puritan qualities permitted them to survive the thorough battles that they continued in their lives. Mary Rowlandson 's battles included her imprisonment by the Indians, where she was expelled from her family with the exception of her sickly daughter. Anne battled with her confidence and her acknowledgment as a writer, since colonial women were for the most part not permitted to be scholars. Despite the fact that their battles were one of a kind to their circumstances, both Rowlandson and Bradstreet expressed themselves and conquered their troubles through their comparable beliefs.
Anne Bradstreet’s poem entitled, The Prologue, consists
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The accompanying passage happens in stanza 7 and is found towards the end of the poem: Let Greeks be Greeks, and women what they are; Men have precedency and still excel, It is but vain unjustly to wage war; Men can do best, and women know it well Preeminence in all and each is yours; Yet grant some small acknowledgment of ours. (Bradstreet 209)
The passage above declares the male 's roles in the Puritan culture and that women like Bradstreet comprehend that. On the other hand, Anne Bradstreet needs praise, a little thankfulness, and acknowledgment for the work and role women play in the public eye. Subsequent to deriding men in the poem, she recognizes and gives them commending praise yet requests the same in return. This stanza demonstrates to the readers the contention of tension the public arena with men and women. In the fourth line of the poem, Bradstreet portrays her disappointment with the Puritan 's thought of the place of a woman. By saying
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Though religion is a very important theme in Rowlandson’s narrative, another theme that s reflected in it is the role of women, similar to Anne Bradstreet’s theme. The female role of maternity is rehashed all throughout the narrative as Rowlandson mediates over her kids. She is delineated as caring to her most youthful, Sarah, until her death where upon her misery as a mother permits her to act strangely for her society; “‘at any other time I could not bear to be in the room where any dead person was, but now the case is changed; I must and could lie down by my dead babe” (Rowlandson 275). She also reflects that, “I have thought since of the wonderful goodness of God to me in preserving me in the use of my reason and sense in that distressed time” (Rowlandson 276). Then she even quickly considered departure, probably death, from what could be saw God 's will brings home her trouble at the opportunity to the reader, however her overcoming such a trial is the thing that takes into consideration her proceeded status. This is contrary to "Joslin" another caught lady whom Rowlandson encounters, Joslin however succumbs to her pain and begged the, “ Indians to let her go home…and yet vexed with her importunity…they knocked her on the head, and the child in her arms” (Rowlandson 284). The comparative favors Rowlandson, as she defeated the trial and martyred herself to suffering God 's will rather than battling His will and enduring a more awful destiny as an outcome.
Always Believe If a person always had god on his or her side would it enable that person to persevere and better overcome challenges? The puritans believed God was always on their side. The puritans had a type of cockiness to them that always get them through difficult obstacles because they thought they were God's chosen people. The idea that the puritans were God's chosen people helped William Bradford in Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford and Mary Rowlandson in A Narrative of Captivity by Mary Rowlandson endure harsh challenges in their lifetime.
Throughout Mary Rowlandson’s “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration,” Rowlandson repeatedly makes mention to the idea of Puritan dominance over Native Americans. Rowlandson exemplifies this through the use of harsh diction, imagery, and biblical allusions. Rowlandson employs these methods in order to create a chasm between her people, the Puritans, and her captors, the Native Americans. Throughout the text, Rowlandson paints the Puritan community as “God’s chosen people,” justifying their forceful taking of Native land that lead to the onset of King Philip’s war. Ironically, many of Rowlandson’s techniques unintentionally portray her as more savage and immoral than her Native captors.
In about 1640, Bradstreet focused her poems primarily in piety, as shown in “To My Dear and Loving Husband,” and courage, as shown in “Upon
Their strong religious values aided them in the survival of the struggle they experienced during their lives. They were two different women with similar struggles but with different situations. Although Mary Rowlandson and Anne Bradstreet both had unique struggles, both women were able to overcome their difficulties through similar faiths. Mary Rowlandson was a woman that relied on God. Rowlandson is comforted in her “low estate” by Biblical passages that [take] hold of her heart” and enable her to survive (Mary Rowlanson’s Captivity and the Place of the Woman’s Subject).
In the poems “To My Dear and Loving Husband” and “Upon the Burning of Our House” the author Anne Bradstreet allows the reader a glimpse of what she values. The two poems are alike because they both explore her religion and show her love for God. In these two poems they let you get a glimpse of the way she looked at things and saw the good side of everything. For example, in “ To My Dear and Loving Husband” it says “ if ever a man were loved by wife, then thee; if ever wife was happy in man,”.
Bradstreet uses an AABBCC rhyme scheme which makes the poem seem to be written in a calm and relaxed state. It is also important to notice that she uses end rhyme which makes it seem as if she was trying to have some control over her life, probably because she lost it due to the fire. The style of the text is really simple because Anne Bradstreet uses what is known as “Puritan Plain Style” makes clear and direct statements and meditate on faith and God with simple sentences and words. It usually contains few elaborate figures of speech.
While both poets try to be optimistic about the death of their loved ones, Wheatley, the more religious poet of the two, emphasizes the importance of religion by using her almost artistic sculpting of descriptive adjectives and robust nouns such as “The glowing stars and silver queen of light/ At last must perish in the gloom of night” and in using this word choice, she shows how much weight her religion holds (19-20). As Wheatley praises her God and his doings in her poem, Bradstreet makes sure to underline how much her relationship with her husband and kids mean to her. “Look to my little babes, my dear remains./ And if thou love thyself, or loved’st me,/
Their strong religious values aided them in the survival of the struggle they experienced during their lives. They were two different women with similar struggles but with different situations. Although Mary Rowlandson and Anne Bradstreet both had unique struggles, both women were able to overcome their difficulties through similar faiths. Mary Rowlandson was a woman that relied on God. Rowlandson is comforted in her “low estate” by Biblical passages that [take] hold of her heart” and enable her to survive (Mary Rowlanson’s Captivity and the Place of the Woman’s Subject).
In her narrative, Rowlandson frequently alludes to the Bible and asserts her undying faith in God. She produces an optimistic tone, even amongst the hardships she endures. For example, she mentions how “the Lord renewed my strength” (234) and “dealt mercifully” with her many times, and that she “fared better” than her captors (235). Rowlandson explains how God gave her the “strength” to persevere through her struggles, and that God treated her “better” than her captors because she believed in him.
Anne Bradstreet mostly wrote about everyday life while making it seem remarkable. Being a Puritan woman, Anne Bradstreet had trouble writing poetry in colonial society. She was expected to behave as a normal Puritan woman who should stay at home and be a housewife. However, she did
Megan Rochelle Professor Devin Pizzino English 10 November 2015 Title The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson is a personal account, written by Mary Rowlandson in 1682. In her accounts, Rowlandson tells the readers of what life in captivity was truly like for her. Mary Rowlandson ultimately lost everything by an Indian attack on her town of Lancaster, Massachusetts in 1675.
It can be said that society has always been quite judgmental, and at times misguided when it comes to women. The negative perceptions that society has towards females are often times directly related toward her actions. What a female does seems to degrade her identity and capabilities in the eyes of some men. In the poems “The Lady’s Dressing Room” and The essay “A Modest Proposal” by Jonathan Swift, we can see both authors use of tone, form and style to develop their works. These poems are mainly driven by men’s attitudes towards women.
In poems one and two about grandchildren, Elizabeth and Anne, Bradstreet shows a difference in her feelings. In
Furthermore, by using end rhyme, Bradstreet symbolically shows restraint. In the same way that a poet controls oneself by specifically using end rhyme, the poet is controlling her emotions when dealing with a sad experience and accepts her mortality. Similarly, in “Verses Upon the Burning of our House,” proof of Bradstreet’s faith is indisputable. After being initially distraught at her house burning down and losing all of her belongings, Bradstreet recounts how she reorients herself and blesses “His name that gave and took,
“A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mary Rowlandson”: The Influence of Intercultural Contact on Puritan Beliefs “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” by Mary Rowlandson gives a first person perspective into the circumstances of captivity and cultural interaction and an insight to Rowlandson 's attitude towards the Indians, both before and after she was held captive. Rowlandson displays a change in her perception of "civilized" and "savage", in spite of the fact that her overall world view does not alter. It should be covered below that in the following Essay, since the author and the narrator are the same person, will not be individually distinguished. For one thing, Mary Rowlandson provides all the conventions typical of a Puritan perspective.