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Verses Upon The Burning Of Our House Analysis

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Edwards vs Bradstreet “The flame consume my dwelling place. / And when I could no longer look, / I blest His name that gave and took” (Bradstreet 69). In “Verses upon the Burning of Our House” and in “from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” the pieces include the observing of God’s hand in daily life in the midst of sin or challenge. Anne Bradstreet wrote “Verses upon the Building of Our House” in the Massachusetts Bay Colony corresponding to the event of her house burning that occurred on July 10, 1666 (“Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)” 68). She immigrated to the Americas from England as a child in the time when belief in Puritanism was overcoming the East coast (“Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)” 68). Leaving England, her family hoped to escape religious oppression and find opportunities to worship freely (“Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)” 68). It is the story of how the burning of her house led her to look heavenward and place her hope in the blessings of the eternities to come (Bradstreet 69-70). On the other hand, “from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” is an …show more content…

One is emotional, personal, and able to reach the heart, while the other is straightforward, serious, and scolding. Anne Bradstreet’s use of pathos is better capable of impacting others and is more effective in its objective. Her poem is soft spoken, calm, and peaceful capturing the reader’s emotions in a considerate way. Viewers can easily make a connection to the experience and imagine themselves in the shoes she is in. Finally, Bradstreet looks in a bird’s eye view of life that broadens the outlook of her story compared to Edwards’ that focuses on the very second. Both of these pieces impact others through the message they contain of love, obedience, and joy in the eternities to come if one places trust in

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Throughout history, many concepts that started off as controversial soon became accepted norms that have been adopted as standard practice. One such idea is the separation of church and state. In many modern-day countries, this separation is not a belief that looks to be accepted anytime in the near future. Most countries in the Middle East still have no desire to take the religious influence out of their governmental rules. This was also the case in the American colonies prior to the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

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Therefore this makes people feel guilty about making God angry, so they start to believe in God. In conclusion, Bradstreet and Edwards both had a strong belief in God, but they had separate ways of interpreting faith. Bradstreet and Edwards both used many literary devices to express their faith through their writing. Bradstreet used allusion throughout her whole poem. In line 36 of Upon the Burning of Our House, she alludes to Ecclesiastes 1:2 in the Bible by saying, “Adieu, Adieu, all’s vanity” (Bradstreet 36).

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Jonathan Edwards’s sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and Anne Bradstreet’s “Upon the Burning of Our House” seem at first glance quite similar to one another regarding context, however, after taking a closer look, it becomes apparent that there are some substantial differences. These differences cannot be understood without the knowledge of cultural context concerning the Puritan belief system and their lifestyle. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was written with the sole purpose of scaring and intimidating the people that purtinans believed to be sinners. Edwards’s work contributed to a movement called “The Great Awakening”. It’s objective was to make the so-called ‘sinners’ aware of their wrongdoings and compel them to repent.

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Literary analysis of “The sinners in the hands of an angry god” The great awakening was a religious revival that occurred in the 1730s and 1740s. It started in England and then gradually made its way over to the American colonies. During this time, many different preachers and religious speakers went around and gave speeches to the people. Jonathan Edwards was one of Americas most important and original philosophical theologians who also went around and gave speeches about God and hell.

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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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Both Bradstreet and Edwards are puritan writers, they are both believe in a higher more powerful God. In their writings “Upon the Burning of Our House”, by Anne Bradstreet and “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, by Jonathan Edwards they both talk about the higher being of God. They both are powerful writers and have a way of getting their points across, but they do it differently. They are both great writers and even though they have different religious views and different writing styles both of their poems, “Upon the Burning of Our House” by Anne Bradstreet and “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards, have the same goal of converting people.

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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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Dealing with a loss can make you question many things in your life. It makes you question how you deal with the deprivation. Anne Bradstreet showed her struggle with loss through her poetry. In the poems, “Upon the Burning of Our House”, and, “Oh My Dear Grand Child Simon Bradstreet, Who Died on 16 November 1669 Being but a Month and One Day Old” you can really see her question her religion because of her loss. Anne Bradstreet puts her struggles with religion into her poetry by using sarcasm and subtle hints of rebellion.

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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,

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During the colonial period many settlers came to the New World to escape persecution for their Puritan beliefs. Writers such as William Bradford, John Winthrop, Anne Bradstreet, and Mary Rowlandson all shared their experiences and religious devotion throughout their literature that ultimately inspired and influenced settlers to follow. This essay will discuss the similarities in Anne Bradstreet and Mary Rowlandson’s work as they both describe their experiences as signs from God. Anne Bradstreet came to the New World as a devoted Puritan as she repeatedly talked about it in her poetry. In her poems she discusses many tragedies that happened in her life such as; the burning of her house and the death of her two grandchildren all of which she thinks were signs from God.

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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.

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

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