Compare And Contrast To My Dear And Loving Husband And Upon The Burning Of Our House

Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards are two famous Puritan authors, living in Colonial America. Bradstreet is a poet who wrote the famous poems, “To My Dear and Loving Husband,” and “Upon the Burning of Our House.” Edwards wrote more than one thousand sermons to preach, with his most famous one being, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” They are both puritans, heavily influenced by their faith, but they go about expressing their faith in different ways, as shown by their different tones and word choice.

Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards use their religion to heavily influence their literature. In Bradstreet’s poem, “To My Dear and Loving Husband,” she states, “The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray” (10). She is telling the readers

In Bradstreet’s poem, “Upon the Burning of Our House,” after she is done worrying about her house, she states, “Yet by His gift is made thine own;/ There’s wealth enough, I need no more,/ Farewell, my pelf, farewell my store” (50 - 51). Bradstreet has a calm, soothing tone, as she accepts that what has happened to her doesn’t matter anymore because she has what she needs in Heaven. On the contrary, Jonathan Edwards, when describing God, says, “The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber, the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready” (126). Unlike Bradstreet, Edwards sees God as a mighty, angry figure, and he uses an intense, angry tone in his sermon; almost like he is trying to instill fear into his readers. Bradstreet frequently uses imagery and strong diction to paint a picture with her words. In, “Upon the Burning of Our House,” Bradstreet states, “Thou hast an house on high erect,/ Framed by that mighty Architect,/ with glory richly furnished” (43-45). In this quote, Bradstreet is describing God in a positive light, as someone who will take care of you and someone who will look out for you. Edwards also includes a lot of imagery in his writing, but he uses it to paint a completely different picture. In his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Edwards states, "The bow of God’s wrath is