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Compare And Contrast Wigglesworth And Taylor

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Bradstreet, Wigglesworth and Taylor: Private Voices vs. Public Voices in Puritan Poetry

Everyone comes from different ethnic backgrounds, religions, and life experience. These experiences often help a person develop his or her own thoughts and opinions. The way they choose to express these experiences will differ from person to person. Some will lash out in anger while others will show a humble attitude and accept what has been thrown their way. Anne Bradstreet, Michael Wigglesworth and Edward Taylor all used their voices in a humble way and to show thanks to their creator. Most of their works illuminate the difference between a private voice and a public one. Anne Bradstreet was a renowned poet who chose to document her life with words. She did this both for herself and the world. She lived in an age in which the Puritan way of life was most prevalent. This meant that religion was a constant in her life and often dictated how she handled things that happened to her. Most poets of her time wrote in a way that either terrified you into believing that God was going to strike you down or in the way that Bradstreet wrote, to explain why God had done the things he had done. She wrote about her daily experiences, her family, loss, worries and many, many other subjects. In the poem “To My Dear Loving Husband” she talks about how deep and strong …show more content…

In the poems “Upon the Burning of Our House” and “In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet, Who Deceased August, 1665, Being a Year and Half Old”, which was a poem about a grandchild that had passed away, she expresses multiple emotions she may not have been able to articulate publicly. In “Upon the Burning of Our House” she expresses the sadness and fear she had initially for the things she had lost and the situation as a whole. She then turns her attitude toward that of how a Puritan was supposed to respond and

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677 Words | 3 Pages

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,/

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733 Words | 3 Pages

Torrin Heritage Mrs.Staber Honors English 2 30 January 2023 Justice and Mercy Fire and spiders and love oh my! These are all examples or early puritan writing. Early American history has a representation of Puritan culture with people who display differing ideas. Bradstreet and Edward represent early American priorities as illustrated through their distinct views on religion and their contrasting emotional appeals.

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682 Words | 3 Pages

Material Possession vs Religion In “Verses upon the Burning of our House”, about the religious and human view of material things, Anne Bradstreet tries to hide the fact that during the burning of her house she secretly grieves the lost of her material things. The poet struggles in the debate of spiritualism and non spiritualism as she goes on in the poem describing her feelings and thoughts about her house burning down. As I read the poem I felt a bit of controversy from Bradstreet point of view because of her seesaw in how she illustrates the importance of possession, contrary of her religious beliefs. Bradstreet´s final point is that unlike the importance of possession, people, including the poet herself, craves and desires all material things. Bradstreet opens her poem by telling her readers about the impact caused on her when she woke up form a “silent night” (1), term she uses to later express the great impact made on her by the roaring sound of fire burning down her house, and that awakens her from her sleep.

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167 Words | 1 Pages

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

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1138 Words | 5 Pages

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.

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507 Words | 3 Pages

Anne Bradstreet used false modesty to avoid criticism from a male-dominated society that did not accept women as equals. Anne Bradstreet metaphorically referred to her book of poems as an “ill-form’d offspring” (line 1) as a judgment of its poetic worth. The constant repetition of the book being in critics hands, due to “errors were not lessened (all may judg) (line 6), demonstrated the fear she has to the judgment of her lack of resources and abilities from the press. She instead, judged all her poem’s errors because she had knowledge that her book would be published. In addition, she was not ambiguously sincere, since she bragged about her impressive poetic ability and stated her work as awful and shameful for critics to highlight her virtues.

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1171 Words | 5 Pages

It is interesting Bradstreet did not try to disguise the fact that she was a woman poet as so many other literary women did before her. She mentions that the 9 Greek muses were women, “But sure the antique Greeks were far more mild/ Else of our sex, why feigned those nine/ And poesy made Calliope’s own child;” (Bradstreet 31-33). Throughout the whole poem she is putting down her own work in comparison to a man’s epic poetry, but in a way that suggests that she is not ashamed of her gender or her work. She knows that in her society she will not be taken seriously.

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512 Words | 3 Pages

Anne Bradstreet and John Edwards both puritans but both had very different ways in showing their beliefs to puritans and other readers or crowds. The first one of these writers that is going to be analyzed is going to be Anne Bradstreet who wrote “Upon the Burning of Our House” a poem with a deeper meaning than just a house. It

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547 Words | 3 Pages

Theses writings were for personal use and despite their wishes were eventually published. Because of this, their writings showed true emotion and not that for entertainment or religious persuasion. Once released to the public their experiences were valued and passed on for generations to come. There was many simulates in the works of Anne Bradstreet and Mary Rowlandson’s describing signs from God to appreciate the nature, family and most importunely to put God first. Because of these signs and resulting tragedies, Anne Bradstreet and Mary Rowlandson had a very positive outlook on life and inspired many to follow and appreciate the simple things in life.

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1128 Words | 5 Pages

The question of what exactly is literature comes up every time something is written or read. This question forms many of the English classes that students take all around the world, and this question dominates the literary community. So what exactly is literature and why is it so important? Literature is non-factual, with sensuous language, about particular people or events that have significance. Literature is often figurative and appeals to the emotions.

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1091 Words | 5 Pages

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,

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1079 Words | 5 Pages

Bradstreet knows the goodness in God and rather than fearing him she thanks Him or asks for help. While her house was burning she asked God “to strengthen [her] in [her] time of distress”(9) because she knows everything that happens is through the will of God and only He can help her through this difficult situation. Bradstreet sees God as a just one even though he took all of her physical possessions. She takes His justness a step further by saying in lines 18 and 19 that even if He took all of her belongings, it would still be reasonable. Bradstreet also believes in a positive afterlife for herself and most people around her.

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286 Words | 2 Pages

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,”.

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1694 Words | 7 Pages

She talks about how incredible the heavens must be if he could do such wonderful things here on the earth. I believe that is how Bradstreet believes it should be, based on her puritan background. According to puritan values, you should look to God’s word for everything knowing you will one day get to be with him forever. She also knew it wasn’t always the case in a world where, through Adam and Eve, sin was born. The next seven stanzas are dedicated to Cain, Adam and Eve’s son, who “With sullen hateful looks he goes his ways.”

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904 Words | 4 Pages

In poems one and two about grandchildren, Elizabeth and Anne, Bradstreet shows a difference in her feelings. In

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