Anne Bradstreet Poem Analysis Essay, Research Paper

Anne Bradstreet wrote the poem Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House July 10th, 1666. Bradstreet was a Puritan who moved to America. She was the first person to publish poetry in the New World. The theme of this poem is that materials are worthless and the only thing that is worthy is going to Heaven in the afterlife.

Bradstreet starts the poem at night while she was sleeping. She is awakened by a voice, which screams Fire! and Fire! . She then goes on to say that she was heart broken because the fire took all her possessions as well as her house. Then she says, I blest His name that gave and took. This phrase means that she believes God can give or take anything because it was God who owned it. Bradstreet describes what her house looked like after the fire. Also she says how nobody can ever eat at the table or come to her house again. After describing all that she says Adieu, adieu, all s vanity. This means that she thinks that all her possessions were worthless. She starts to question herself asking what anything was worth. After she questions herself she answers saying that her biggest and best reward was up above, Heaven. At the very end she says good bye starting with her possessions which she feels were falsely gained and her store. The last lines are The world no longer let me love, / My hopes and treasure lies above. What she is saying is that before she was very attached to her material goods but now she doesn t want any material goods. All she wants is to be in heaven.

The tone of this poem starts off with Bradstreet being very attached to her possessions. She is worried that she will not be able to do anything with everything burned in the house. She is heartbroken by that all her valuables are in ashes now. Then towards the middle she feels that God had the right to burn down the house because it was His. She defends God saying He was the one who gave so He has the ability to take it. Then Bradstreet believes that her house being burnt is a way to let her know that she shall go to Heaven. At the end she is convinced that the only thing worthy is her acceptance into Heaven and no longer care what the fire took.