Anne+Bradstreet

Summary for To my Dear and Loving Husband- In this poem, the lady, assuming it is Anne Bradstreet, loves her husband significantly. She explains how no man loves a wife more than him and how happy he makes her. It also states that nothing in the world could replace her husband by saying "//I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold//". Then the second half of the poem talks about her religious beliefs. Bradstreet says how she prays that he can go to heaven for being such a wonderful husband, because there is no other way to repay her. In the last line of the poem, it states how she wants to live forever with him in heaven.

Summary for Verses Upon the Burning of our House- In this poem, Bradstreet tells of a time when her house burnt down. The burning happened at night when she was asleep until she woke up someone screaming "Fire!". Then she went outside to see the house crumble in front of her. While standing outside, she writes about what is going through her mind. This took up a vast majority of the poem. She describes how no one will ever sleep under that roof, or eat at the table, or talk to family. Then she says how everything will be okay because God is with her and her ultimate house is in heaven.

Correlation: //"I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold Or all the riches that the East doth hold"// -To my Dear and Loving Husband lines 5-6 Explanation: Of course, this passage does show that Anne Bradstreet loves her husband. But it also shows that **its** a different era because one, poets do not write about love in that perspective anymore and two, she is sincere that she would not trade him for anything. //"That when we live no more, we may live ever" -//To my Dear and Loving Husband last line //"My hope and treasure lies above"//-Verses Upon the Burning of our House Explanation: Religion had more importance back in the Puritan era than it does today. In Puritan poetry, one of the main themes or topics was religion and how if one is good on Earth, he or she will be rewarded by going to heaven. //Verses Upon the Burning of our House- Lines 3-50// Explanation: For Anne Bradstreet and most of the Puritan people, life was often rough and your whole life could change in the blink of an eye. Puritans also would probably cope with problems better than the people form the modern era because they were used to calamities such as a premature child death or a house burning down.

Reflection:

After reading these two poems, I realized how the Puritan era in America was much more religious and family-oriented than the modern era. This can be seen in both __To my Dear and Loving Husband__ and __Verses upon the Burning of our House__. In __To my Dear and Loving Husband__, Bradstreet talks about how much she loves her husband. Even though this still is the case in today's society (hopefully), it is seen in a different perspective in this poem. Today, when poets talk about love, it is directed as fictional romance and rarely directed to their own lover. Bradstreet is straight forward and sincere on __how immeasurable her love is with her own husband__. I do not believe that her abundance of love for her family stops at her husband either; she probably loves her children equally and spends most of her day caring for all six of them. In both poems, Bradstreet shows how crucial religion was for the Puritans. In the second half of __To my Dear and Loving Husband__, it talks about how she wants clarifies her dreams by rewarding for his care by going to heaven and "//That when we live no more, we may live ever//". In __Verses upon the Burning of our House__, the final two lines indicate how her treasures are not on Earth, but in Heaven. After her house burns down, which was a much larger deal back then than it is today, she was not worried because she knows her house is in heaven. Both of these stories prove how much more important religion was to their lives than it is today. First off, when putting any religious references in the writing today may create some controversy with people's opinions and religions, which to me is bogus. Bradstreet obviously was not afraid to write about her beliefs. Also, If a normal American's house burns down, one would be devastated and most likely using God's name in vain or thinking that God abandoned them. In the Puritan era, if anything happens, the Puritan population always have faith in God that He makes everything for a reason. In both poems, she makes references to there being a Heaven as well.