Anne Bradstreet
Anne Bradstreet's Themes Lie Within The Rhyme That Does Not Rhyme Mark Twain once said, "The difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lightning and lightning bug." This quote defines Anne Bradstreet, for she has proven to be a master of word placement. Her ability to always create the perfect poetic structure was a necessity, not a luxury. Growing up and living as a woman in a man's world made it impossible for her to show her true feeling on paper, without first disguising them with a contradicting costume. Bradstreet lived in the 1600's as a Puritan. This was a time when women were not expected to be educated and more importantly, were not tolerated if they spoke against the strong, religious Puritan beliefs. So Anne, a highly educated woman, who did not agree with the Puritan's beliefs, very carefully rebelled with beautiful poetry and dynamic rhetorical strategies. The two poems that will be discussed here are "To My Dear and Loving Husband" and "Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our Houses." Though these two poems seem to focus on simplicity rather than complexity, there are many underlying meaning and rhetorical strategies that take place, such as Bradstreet's
" not rhyming, she is questioning the theory of heaven, hell and the afterlife. She hurdled, maneuvered, and attacked those obstacles with such unmatched grace. Fortunately, she was so well educated that she new how to express her feelings without crossing the very thin line that her so!ciety had drawn for her. " In "Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House," the second line reads, "Adieu, Adieu, all's vanity. 95) With the last line ending with "we may live ever. She is a contradiction of everyone from her time period as a Puritan, yet when I read her work, I think she is my theme. use of contradiction to portray a theme. " Here lies a contradiction right at the end of what seems to be a sweet, innocent and simply structured love poem. Throughout the entire poem, there is a description of something or someone who she labels as "Him" and "He. And though the correct answer is infinite, for poems are pieces of art and the theme or conclusion of art is dependent on what the reader discovers within him or herself, my theory is that Bradstreet wants to say something more but cannot because of the time period and her status as a woman. Her words will ring in the hearts of all men and women who read her work forever. In "To My Dear and Loving Husband," the second line that does not rhyme reads, "That when we live no more, we may live ever. " (Bradstreet 102)This entire poem is written to describe the horrors that vanity creates, and it is captured in these two lines.
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Acceptance Essays
