The Conflict in the Poetry of Anne Bradstreet - Assignment Example

and Number of the Teacher’s FINAL EXAMINATION Introduction Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) lived during the daysof the early Puritan English colonies founded in America. She is well-known as America’s first published poet whose works were published at London in 1650 (Campbell 122). Bradstreet’s works are significant as the first form of American literature. There is now a new emphasis given to Anne Bradstreet in American literature through a number of books written on her life and works, a distinctively long poem empathetically recreating the inner life of the poet, by John Berryman: Homage to Mistress Bradstreet, as well as the publication of new editions of the poet’s works. These have urged many contemporary readers to rediscover this poet, and study her writings afresh (Rosenfeld 80). Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate Anne Bradstreet’s unresolved conflicts in her poetry, her direct discussion of them, their unconscious presence in her poetry, and one’s ideas on the underlying reasons for these conflicts. Discussion Anne Bradstreet’s Unresolved Conflicts in her Poetry Bradstreet’s life-long subject appears to have been the issue of understanding the relationship between opposites: of “flesh to spirit, of earth to heaven, of past to present to future, of Old to New England, of generation to generation, of individual member to the body of the congregation, of youth to age, of sickness to health, of summer to winter, of husband to wife, of this world to the next” (Rosenmeier 122). These contrasting factors form the basis for the functioning of poetic imagination. This involves seeking out, finding, being guided by and also affirming the essence of the relationship between such contraries and opposing elements in the poet’s works (Rosenmeier 122). As a Puritan poet, Bradstreet based her ideas on Biblical elements and concepts, while at the same time writing on day-to-day topics. Even so, her poetry had no religious or political ideologies unlike those of her other contemporary writers (Mays 53). Further, Anne Bradstreet struggled against the dogmas prevalent in her contemporary society, expressing through her writing her strongly independent views against the subordinate position of women, dogmas and beliefs regarding marriage, whether there was a life after death, the purpose of human life, and attitudes towards various issues. The poet wrote under the false cover of complying with dogmatic rules, so that she would be able to continue writing despite criticism against women writers (Stanford 378). Unresolved Conflicts: Their Unconscious Presence and their Direct Discussion The contrasting elements of soul and body, heaven and earth are joined by Anne Bradstreet in a manner by which a confusion of concepts appears to occur. The unconscious presence of unresolved conflicts is seen in the marriage poems, for example in A Letter to Her Husband Absent Upon Public Employment (Bradstreet 394-395), the poet states that theirs is the marriage of heaven and earth in which he is the sun and she the dark matrix. The duration of their separation is a “dead time” in which she “mourns in black” because her “Sun is gone so far in zodiac”. The poet uses the metaphor of the sun to represent her husband, with the rising of the sun equated to his returning home. Her husband’s return is also equated to the coming of spring, and a sense of a renewal of Christ’s promises. Christ is correlated with her husband in apparently contradictory ways such as “my dearest guest” and also the sun who provides warmth for both husband and wife to share. Bradstreet refers to herself as “welcome house”; and typologically, house may refer to Christ, to the temple of the Lord, to all nature or to the promised kingdom. Thus a diffusion of imagery and conflict of concepts is clearly evident (Rosenmeier 126). In Vanity of all Worldly Things (Bradstreet 386) the poet uses figurative expressions and Biblical concepts as typology which is: classification into types with common elements, as seen in the following lines: “There is no path no vulture’s eye hath seen Where lion fierce, nor lion’s whelps have been, Which leads unto that living crystal fount, Who drinkst hereof, the world shall nought account This pearl of price, this tree of life, this spring, Who is possessed of shall reign a king” (Bradstreet 386). As in the poet’s other works, with the use of figurative expression in a symbolic manner, she suggests that “Christ at his coming will be concretely real” (Rosenmeier 123). “The living crystal fount” represents Christ’s grace, while “spring” symbolises resurrection and the Puritan’s concept of redemption of the world. Similarly, in The Spirit and the Flesh Spirit says to Flesh “the hidden manna I do eat/ the word of life it is my meat” which comes from the Bible’s Revelation 2:17 where manna from heaven typified God’s grace. Christ is the “word of life” and also her flesh: “my meat”. The poet believes that the visible substance of this world, its flesh, will be in a changed form in the future. Hence, in both the poems referred to above, the vision for the next world is not of eternal spirit, but of “eternal substance” (Rosenmeier 124). Using the substantial concreteness of the Biblical types, Anne Bradstreet tries to resolve the oppositions in the above two poems, correlating the resurrection in Meditation 40 with the spirit’s existence in the flesh in the next life. The direct discussion of conflicts by Bradstreet is seen in the following examples. Opposition of this world with the next and the dialogue between spirit and flesh “the two sisters” is paradoxical through the poet’s use of figurative expressions in the Flesh and the Spirit (Bradstreet 381). In this a conflict of desires, for fame, honor and remembrance after death, is countered by the Puritan rejection of such temptations: “Dost honor like? acquire the same, As some to their immortal fame. And trophies to thy name erect Which wearing time shall ne’re deject” (Bradstreet 382). The flesh’s invitation to succumb to the temptation of acquiring fame and trophies is rejected by the Spirit on the basis of Puritan dogmas against earthly, visible things: “Thy sinful pleasures I doe hate, Thy riches are to me no bait, Thine honours doe, nor will I love, For my ambition lyes above. My greatest honour it shall be When I am victor over thee” (Bradstreet 383). In the conflict between the flesh and the spirit, Anne Bradstreet’s viewpoint is that since God and the after life to come are invisible, it is difficult to place her trust: “in either the actuality of God or the reality of life after death” (Stanford 382). The Reasons for Unresolved Conflicts in Anne Bradstreet’s Poetry Being a Puritan wife and woman, Anne Bradstreet lived a complex life with double roles and inherent dilemma resulting from certain social mores and religious beliefs. In all her poetry, especially in the poems to her husband, Bradstreet referred to Christ as present in polarities: her soul as well as body, in history as well as in its conclusion, in speech and in speechlessness. These conflicting ideas were considered as the manifestation of a divided identity; which Bradfield tried to integrate into a unified whole through her poetry (Stanford 373). American life and literature has opposing tendencies and tensions, partly due to the “lack of mediating institutions between the individual and the state and the individual and his God” (Stanford 373). Some writers believe that the tensions are based in spiritual conflicts that emerge from economic developments, the conflict between the will to believe and the need to be shown evidence for believing, and theoretical principles that may lead to frustration when carried out. Additionally, the Puritan settlers in the New World were faced with hardships and a life totally in variance to the comfortable one they had left behind in England. Bradstreet’s heart had rebelled with dismay at the sight of her new homeland, but she tried to reconcile herself with the thought that it was God’s will. “It is into this pattern of unresolved antitheses that much of the work of Anne Bradstreet fits” (Stanford 373). The vitality of Bradstreet’s writing is attributed to the dogma she encountered and her resistance to dogma such as the superiority of men over women, and the domestic limits set for women in the newly developing American colonies. The fact that she considered herself a poet, wrote poetry, and also continued to write despite criticism, indicate that she preferred to act independently without being adversely affected by the dogmatic assertions of her numerous contemporaries (Stanford 374). In Bradstreet’s earlier writings, after voluntarily accepting that men are superior, she pleaded for a small acknowledgment on women’s capability to use their wits as well. However, by 1643, in her elegy on Queen Elizabeth, the poet was stronger in supporting the intellectual capacity of women, as seen in the following lines: “Nay, Masculines, you have taxt us long, But she, though dead, will vindicate our wrong. Let us say our Sex is void of reason, Know it is a slander now, but once was Treason” (Bradstreet 361). The poet continued to write despite criticism and discouragement from the more conservative and dogmatic of her contemporaries. This was possible only because she conformed to the rules of her community, conducting her domestic duties in the required manner. Bradstreet’s was a quiet rebellion, carried out in a subterfuge fashion (Margerum 159). The poet’s three early elegies include the one to Queen Elizabeth, the other two being funeral poems for Sir Philip Sidney and the French poet, Du Bartas. Instead of a higher Christian transformation, it is fame that the poet celebrates for the above three individuals. In this sense, she is closer to the classic poets and Cavaliers rather than to other Puritan writers. The Sidney epitaph ends in the following manner: “His praise is much, this shall suffice my pen That Sidney dy’d ‘mong most renown’d of men” (Bradstreet 352). The Du Bartas elegy further expands the theme, with the following lines: “The haughty Stile and rapted wit sublime All ages working at shall never climb. Thy sacred works are not for imitation, But Monuments to future Admiration. Thus Bartas fame shall last while starrs do stand, And whilst there’s Air or Fire, or Sea or Land” (Bradstreet: 356). The above elegies and poems by Bradstreet to her husband and children promise a continuation of individual life on this earth through fame. In relation to this point, one of the notable poems is Before the Birth of One of her Children. There is a suggestion of her possibility of dying, probably in childbirth. Thus there is “a conflict between her acceptance of Puritan dogma, and her own warm personality” (Stanford 379). The Puritan believed that a marriage ended at the death of one of the partners, and dogma that a person must not love any earthly thing. “That when that knot’s unty’d that made us one I may seem thine, who in effect am none” (Bradstreet 393). In the above lines, Anne Bradstreet voiced the Puritan views of her time supporting the dissolution of a marriage at the death of one of the partners. Conclusion This paper has highlighted the poetry of Anne Bradstreet, and focused on unresolved conflicts in her works. Her direct discussion of them, unconscious inclusion of conflicts in her poetry, and the possible reasons for these conflicts have been investigated. From the evidence it is clear that this well-known Puritan writer based her work partially on the Puritan ideologies of her time, at the same time attempting to break away from dogmas and repressive beliefs. This was one of the main reasons for conflict in Bradstreet’s writing. She was also interested in contraries and opposing elements, which has also contributed to the unresolved conflicts in some of her poetry. Her strong religious beliefs and understanding of the Bible also crept into her writing, causing diffusion and confusion with her topics pertaining to close family members, day-to-day activities, and her emotions and ideas on various issues. ------------------------------------------------------- Works Cited Bradstreet, Anne. The works of Anne Bradstreet in prose and verse. Charlestown: Abram E. Cutter Publications, 1867. Campbell, Helen. Anne Bradstreet and her time. New York: Kessinger Publishing, 2004. Margerum, Eileen. Anne Bradstreet’s public poetry and the tradition of humility. Early American Literature, 17.2 (Fall 1982): pp.152-160. Mays, Dorothy A. Women in early America: struggle, survival, and freedom in a new world. California: ABC- CLIO Inc, 2004. Rosenfeld, Alvin H. Anne Bradstreet’s “Contemplations”: Patterns of form and meaning. The New England Quarterly, 43.1 (March 1970): pp.79-96. Rosenmeier, Rosamund R. “Divine translation”: A contribution to the study of Anne Bradfstreet’s method in the marriage poems. Early American Literature, 12.2 (Fall 1997): pp.121-135. Stanford, Ann. Anne Bradstreet: Dogmatist and rebel. The New England Quarterly, 39.3 (September 1966): pp.373-389. Read More