Anne Bradstreet's meaningful poems

Read “Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House….” and “To My Dear and Loving Husband.” Consider what life in the New World seems to mean for Bradstreet. What do the powers suggest about how a wife/mother/woman understands her relationship to daily life?

In the poems of Anne Bradstreet, she has no problem sharing her thoughts and feelings about things in life. In the poem, “To My Dear and Loving Husband”, she express her feelings of how much she loves her husband. In the other poem, “Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House….” Anne specifics her thoughts on her possessions being lost. What Anne considers in life to be in the New World is that it’s different from the life she was living then. Reading her poems give an impressions that women should be able to live freely and voice their opinions about things in life. During that time, the men did the entire decision making and voiced their opinions. To her, it seems like life in the New World is better. She is already starting to opinionate her view point about things, people, etc in her poems.

The power that suggests about how a wife would understand her relationship to daily life is her feelings towards it. For example, as a wife she has positive feelings towards her love life with her husband. A line from “To My Dear and Loving Husband”, “I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold Or all the riches that East doth hold” (The Norton Anthology American Literature, p.206). It explains how much she loves her husband, more than anything in the world. As a wife, you have strong and positive feelings towards your husband which is love. Another line she says is “Then while we live, in love let’s so persevere That when we live no more, we may live ever” (The Norton Anthology American Literature,p.206). This line specifics how while they are alive to keep their love going strong.

The power that suggests about how a woman would understand her relationship to daily life is again her feelings towards something. As for women, they tend to be emotional towards things. For example, in “Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House….” She talks about her feelings on how her possessions were lost and how it affected her. She starts to think about the things she won’t be able to no longer do in the house anymore since it’s gone. She says “Under thy roof no guest shall shit, Nor at thy table eat a bit. No pleasant tale shall e’er be told, Nor things recounted done of old.” (The Norton Anthology American Literature,p.212).These things that happened seemed to be a routine since she remembered it well. She feels sad about what happens to her cherished items but she refers to God since she was a religious woman. She says “And when I could no longer look, I blest His name that gave and took, That laid my goods now in dust. Yea so, it was, and so ‘twas just. It was His own, it was not mine” (The Norton Anthology American Literature,p.212). Anne is saying that even though those possessions did belong to her at one point that they now belong to God. It does seem like she has remorse towards what happened but at the same time she doesn’t blame God for it because those items are in a better place. In the last line it says “ My hope and treasure lies above” (The Norton Anthology American Literature,p.212).She sees life as if things happened, they happened whether you like it or not and to move on.

In these poems she effectively shares her point of view towards things which was not common for a woman at that time. In these two poems, she expresses many thoughts and emotions of what she thought was accepted and entertaining.

Work Cited

The Norton Anthology American Literature. 7th ed. Vol. A. New York: W.W Norton & company, Inc., 2007. Print.

Heroes or Zeros?

The understanding I have of John Smith was from the movie Pocahontas and learning history of him in my sixth grade class. I mostly recalled the information of him from the movie Pocahontas. He is portrayed as a handsome and good leader for the English colony that settled in Jamestown. There are some scenes where John Smith is an adventurous person and tended to do things on his own. For example, in the movie, he would disappear when the captain was looking for him. According to the text, he is viewed the same but in a worse sense. In the text, he is described as “He sometimes used force unnecessarily, and his hard-to-control temper and stubborn self- reliance made him an often troublesome companion” (The Norton Anthology American Literature 56). The image that shapes John Smith is known to be a self- centered and stubborn person overall.

The poem we read about Christopher Columbus described him as a hero for exploring islands during his voyages. It says positive things about him such as “The First American? No, not quite. But Columbus was brave and bright” (In 1492 poem). This poem is giving him a lot of credit for what he did. But it says in the text how his reputation hit a downfall when things didn’t go so well. “His last voyage, intended to recoup his tarnished reputation, resulted in a long period of suffering in Panama and shipwreck in Jamaica, and these outer woes were accompanied by nearly delusional periods as Columbus underwent a virtual breakdown” ( The Norton Anthology American Literature 31). It describes how Columbus just gave up; he basically lost his hope to continue. In the literature text, he is described far from being “brave” and “bright”. He was known to be negative because how he wasn’t able to find success in his voyages and even knew it himself. He wrote a letter talking about his forth voyage and said “I did not sail upon this voyage to gain honor or wealth; this is certain, for already hope of that was dead” (The Norton Anthology American Literature 35). He was also known to be cruel because of the treatment he gave to the Tainos Indians when arriving to the island. He took some as slaves back to Spain. Some Indians died from diseases the Europeans bought with them. The image that shapes Christopher Columbus is a weak and cruel person.

Cabeza de Vaca which is “Cow Head” is portrayed as a positive person who was willing to learn different cultures while on his journeys. I have never heard of him until I read about him in my literature book. He took into account everyone he interacted with and found it fascinating. He learned and followed the Native Americans customs while staying with many. In the text, he says about their customs, “They have strange customs, but I have told the principal and most remarkable of them” (The Norton Anthology American Literature 43). He admits they are strange but quickly adapts to them. Cabeza de Vaca was very friendly with the Native Americans. It was wrong how he was arrested by the Christians who were ordered by Alcaraz (The Norton Anthology American Literature 47). His image is shaped as a friendly and intelligent man.

Overall one was a hero and the other two weren’t. For the hero he really is for learning and not misjudging people. But those two may have been portrayed and credited for positive work but in reality they also had their failures and cruel ways.