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Emotional Conflict of Puritan Belief Anne Bradstreet was a puritan wife and mother. However, her passion for literary creation was forced, moreover, to operate within the restraints and inhibitions of Puritanism. There is a conflict between Puritan theology and her own personal feelings on life reflected in many of her poems in which reveal her eternal conflict regarding her emotions and the beliefs of her religion. Puritan marriage normally was repressed so as not to distract their life from their devotion to God. In that time, women normally passed away before men.
It was very common for men in that time to remarry rather quickly after the death of his wife to make sure the family is taken care of. However, Anne expressed the bond of love that binds humanity within the divine in her poems. “To My Dear and Loving Husband” conveys Anne Bradstreet’s strong love for her husband: “I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold”. The same poem also expresses her idea of everlasting love between their selves after life on earth which is normally not of typical Puritan belief: “That when we love no more, we may live ever”.
And again, “A letter To Her Husband” communicates her strong love, passion, and unity with her husband: “If two be one, as surely though and I”. The quotes from her poems represented how much she did love and care for her husband in which was rather strong feelings for a Puritan relationship. Puritan’s also believed that God preordained those whom go to Heaven and that all mankind is stained by Adam and Eve’s sin. They believed everything was an act of providence. However, in “Upon The Burning of Our House” Anne expressed a genuine comfort of after life: A price so vast as is unknown Yet by His gift is made thine own;
There’s wealth enough, I need no more, Farewell, my pelf, farewell my store, The world no longer let me love, My hope and treasure lies above. Anne Bradstreet also contradicts the belief of her puritan religion that all “little vipers” went to hell. Anne expressed in her poetry strong faith that her grandchildren went to heaven. “Sith thou art settled in an everlasting state” from her poem “In Memory Of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet” and “Go pretty babe, go rest with sister twain” from “On My Dear Grandchild Simon Bradstreet” reflect her belief that her grandchildren went to a peaceful place to rest referring to heaven.
Puritans believed that women were to take care of their husband and children. They were not believed to be able to write and needed to be attending to their household chores. Anne Bradstreet commonly brought her frustration towards the way women were treated in her poetry particularly “The Prologue”. It becomes apparent in Anne’s poetry that she is bothered by cultural bias in her time: I am obnoxious to each carping tongue Who says my hand a needle better fits; A poet’s pen al scorn I should thus wrong
For such despite they cast on female wits. If what I do prove well, it won’t advance; They’ll say it’s stol’n, or else it was by chance. She proclaims that no matter what men are always going to preside over women and achieve nobler acts just because they are of the dominant sex. She says that it is useless to fight it because “men can do best and women know it well. ” She is almost mocking men by saying that they think that they can do everything better then women and that they always make sure that women are aware of their mightiness.
It is often seen in her poetry the emotional frustration that Anne feels in the way women are treated and looked upon. Anne Bradstreet’s emotional conflict with Puritan belief in regards to strong and everlasting love for her husband, certainty that her grandchildren went to heaven, and her frustration towards the way women were treated were all expressed with dignity in her poetry. Anne Bradstreet’s passion for literary creation was forced, moreover, to operate within the