Compare And Contrast Anne Bradstreet And Edwards

Between 1600 and 1800 religion was a huge part of the literature of the Puritans. Two popular writers in that era Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards were heavily influenced by God in their writing. Both were Puritans who were influential writers at the time, this was because they used their own methods to convince people into becoming Puritans.

The Puritan nature is to be very religious and to provide a bridge for people to come over and join you in your Puritan ways. Both Bradstreet and Edwards heavily include religion into their writing in order to convince the readers to become Puritans, Bradstreet portrayed heaven as being a place where you will live forever and as happy as you can be. Edwards, on the other hand, used hell to scare people

In these lines Bradstreet portrays heaven as being a place where you visit in the afterlife and prosper, she uses heaven to convince people to convert into a Puritan and follow her ways so that they can go to heaven. A strong distinction between Bradstreet and Edwards is that Edwards uses hell instead of heaven to convince readers into converting into a Puritan. In the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Edwards” says; “The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber; the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them; the flames do now rage and glow. The glittering sword is whet, and held over them, and the pit hath opened its mouth under them….”. In the lines Edwards explains how God is ready to smite down the sinners and hell is always burning awaiting for the next person to be cast down into hell. As a result, Bradstreet and Edwards have the same intentions in their writing

In the second to last stanza Bradstreet says; “ Thou hast an house on high erect;/ Framed by that mighty architect,”(lines 43-44). Bradstreet compares God and heaven to an architect and a house. She compares the two so that people understand that God built a heaven for the faithful so that they can live forever if they become Puritans. Bradstreet uses figurative language to display God more simply and not as an almighty being in contrary, Edwards uses figurative language to display God as being a larger than life being who is untouchable to humankind. In the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Edwards states; “ We find it easy to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth; so it is easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that any thing hangs by; thus easy is it for God when he pleases to cast his enemies down to hell….”. These lines allow us to see the perspective that Edwards has on God, he believes that God is so much greater than humans it is like God is human and we are the worms. This causes people to be fearful of God and to convert into Puritans so that they will not be crushed by God’s boot. The figurative language that Bradstreet and Edwards were used for the