Anne Bradstreet's Poem Some Verses Upon The Burning Of Our House

Some Verses Upon the Burning of Our House, a poem written by Anne Bradstreet in 166_, depicts a scene in which a Puritan woman’s house burns down. As one of the many Puritans residing in 17th century America, the author took to incorporating many teachings of Christian doctrine into her work; in this particular poem, Bradstreet centers her entire piece around God and how his actions affect one of his followers. In this particular poem, Bradstreet did so by having the narrator mourn the loss of her belongings in the fire, only to chide herself when she recalls that her possessions were never hers so much as God’s. Furthermore, the narrator determines that she must let go of the negative emotions the event prompted in her, for the only house she should care for as a Puritan is heaven. Through this chain of events one comes to see that, despite her momentary struggle to place her faith in God rather than despair, the incident ultimately strengthens the narrator’s faith by reminding her of everything God is and has made for her.

In the beginning of the poem, we see the narrator perform an action that might be considered somewhat contradictory; though the lines “And to my God my heart did cry / To straighten me in my Distress” suggest that the narrator’s initial reaction to her house burning is grief, she “blest his grace that gave and took” when she could no longer stand to look at the sight (8-9, 14). At first, one wonders exactly why the woman would bless the God that stole her property from her. However, it is then made apparent that she believes her earthly belongings to be under the ownership of God rather than herself, and thus claims that God was perfectly within his rights to take back what he had loaned her. This is evidenced by the