Kira Bender Mrs. Dafoe APEL: Period 4 15 September 2014 Bradstreet Rhetorical Précis In her poem, “Upon the Burning of Our House (1666),” Anne Bradstreet, the first female writer in the British North American colonies to be published, employs the capitalization of specific words and a shift in point of view in order to inform us of a situation in which her devotion to God was challenged and yet consequentially strengthened. Bradstreet opens her poem with the burning down of her home and the amount of fear it caused her. She then gives thanks to God, since she believes all things are his and he has the right to take what he wants. She says, “That fearful sound of fire and fire / Let no man know is my Desire,” and later, “I blest his Name that gave and took, / That layd my goods now in the dust,” (lines 5-6, 14-15). By capitalizing the word ‘desire’ and ‘name,’ Bradstreet reveals that God was in …show more content…
However, whenever she passes the ruins, she recollects times she was able to enjoy herself with her possessions: “Here stood that Trunk, and there that chest / …Under thy roof no guest shall sitt, / Nor at thy Table eat a bitt / …No Candle ‘ere shall shine in Thee,” (lines 25, 29-30, 33). The capitalization of inanimate objects like a ‘trunk,’ ‘table,’ or ‘candle’ exposes Bradstreet’s materialistic desires overwhelming her piety. She cannot help but mourn the loss of her