Just like any two authors, Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards have many distinctly different qualities to them, however they also have many similarities. Both of the authors are prominent writers from the Puritan church in Colonial America. Bradstreet wrote many pieces of literature including The Burning of our House, July 10, 1666 and To my Dear and Loving Husband. Edwards wrote many sermons including Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards’s literary pieces are similar due to their religion, but their writing styles varies greatly.
Quickly, the poetry was “snatcht” (line 3) and “exposed to public view” (line 4), embarrassing Bradstreet immensely. Avoiding the break of the decasyllabic pentameter, Bradstreet brilliantly echos the “halting” (line 5) of the press by using a syncope on the word ‘the’, forming a physical representation of Bradstreet’s shock when her work is poorly represented. The use of parentheses, “(all may judge)” (line 6), highlights Bradstreet’s internal bashfulness as the parentheses create an aside to herself. Calling herself “mother” (line 8) and the poetry “brat”, meaning bastard, Bradstreet references back to the creation of her poetry, its birth, suggesting that it is worth less because it lacks a father.
Two Writers, Similar, Yet Different It may be surprising to some, but the Puritan authors of Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards are very impactful to those around them. Anne Bradstreet, an author of the early to mid 1600s wrote pieces including, To my Dear and Loving Husband as well as Upon the Burning of our House, July 10th, 1666. Jonathan Edwards, on the other hand, brings his writings to the public in the early 1700s with his sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. An example of what is to come is seen when Edwards describes that, “Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, and there are innumerable places in this covering so weak that they will not bear their weight”
During Bradstreet’s time, society was dominated by men who felt superior to women. Men did not believe that women had any intellectual or spiritual value to add to the society. Anne uses irony by belittling herself and her work, but when the reader digs deeper they learn she is also showing her intelligence and writing ability by alluding to the Greek culture and male “superior” poets. In the opening stanza, Bradstreet states it would be almost laughable for her to even attempt to right of her superiors, which leads the reader to believe this poem is just about Anne being critical of herself. Anne uses this sarcasm and irony technique to state that women deserve the recognition that men receive for the same action in a manner full of
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.
Death of a loved one is always a cause for mourning. However, when a baby dies, there is a sadness that goes beyond normal grief. We are programmed to expect that the old outlive the young. When a person who has lived a full life passes away, there is a sense that everything is as it should be. When a baby passes, who has not even has the chance to experience life, his death seems meaningless.
Bradstreet creates a deeper meaning in her poem through her discussion of earthly value versus eternal value and how she discovers the importance of eternal value through the loss of her earthly possessions. The first example of her discovery is her feeling that she has lost her earthly possessions. In her recount of the flames overtaking her house, Bradstreet says, “I blest His name that gave and took, That laid my goods now in the dust” (Bradstreet ll. 14-15). In these lines,
I. “No one will ever love you like I do.” When he spits that out from between his teeth, so full of venom and contempt, what he’s saying is that you are unlovable. You are lucky to find someone who gives you attention, someone still willing to give you attention, but you are throwing it all away. He thinks I’m sorry makes up for barbed words, and harsh criticism, and feeling lower than useless; he thinks you should think that it is better to have this kind of love than none at all; he thinks that convincing you that it’s you and him against the world is something more than just isolating and lonely.
Anne Bradstreet’s poem “To My Dear and Loving Husband” was written between the years of 1641 and 1643. “Not until the year 1678, six years after Bradstreet’s death, the poem was published” (Ruby 228). A poet with Puritan beliefs, this poem uses the religious language, hyperbolic metaphors, paradox, and antiquated diction and style in order to explain the devotion and love for her husband as she struggles with the Puritan way of life along with the uncertainty of her reassurance of love. Reading this poem over and over for countless hours I came to the conclusion that there are two messages that Bradstreet was trying to project in this poem, the Literal way and the sarcastic way. The Literal way clearly shows the readers the love of a wife for her husband.
In Kate Chopin 's novel The Awakening and the short story “The Story of An Hour” feminist beliefs overshadow the value in moral and societal expectations during the turn of the century. Due to Louise Mallard and Edna Pontellier Victorian life style they both see separating from their husband as the beginning of their freedom. Being free from that culture allows them to invest in their personal interest instead of being limited to what 's expected of them. Chopin 's sacrifices her own dignity for the ideal of society’s expectations. Chopin 's sad, mysterious tone seems to support how in their era, there was a significant lack of women 's rights and freedom of expression.
The novel, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, shows the roles women were supposed to take in society, and what would happen when a woman began to realize how unfairly they are being treated. Society has made people believe that a women’s duty was to be a mother and a wife, and yet still maintain their beauty. Edna Pontellier is a married woman, who at first does not think much about the way she is treated by her husband and children; she believes her life is great. But after a while she begins to question why they treat her the way they do and why she let them treat her like that, which eventually leads to her “awakening”. “They were women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves
It’s detailed like a memory and provides the audience of just one incidence the narrator was able to recollect. The poem’s main focus is to take a little look into the disparity between traditional feminine
Puritan Literature In the Puritan faith you are believed to be the chosen ones or the special people. Anne Bradstreet was notable American poet, man or women. She was born in England, and got married at the age of sixteen, then two years later she sailed to Massachusetts. Jonathan Edwards was born in East windsor and he was extremely smart, by the age of twelve he had just entered in what is now Yale University.
In poems one and two about grandchildren, Elizabeth and Anne, Bradstreet shows a difference in her feelings. In
This is shown in the opening line when she says, “If you grow up the type of women...” Throughout this poem, Kay explores the themes of empowerment and identity, through the use of repetition and connotation. Through the frequent use of repetition, Kay puts emphasis on how women are defined in relation to males. Additionally, she also uses connotation to remind women they are more than what they are perceived to be in relation to others and they have the power to define themselves. Therefore the main idea of the poem is to perhaps remind women of their worth and inspire them to define themselves on their own terms, and not through the eyes of men or in comparison/relation to their relationship with others.
