Loyalty and the Punishment That Follows a Puritan
When it comes to spreading religious beliefs you can always wonder how much is too much. In typical Puritan culture life is considered a temptation to sin and you must always be grateful for what god has given you. Writing is a way to connect to god and spread a direct, powerful message to the followers of Puritan life. In result of their religion, bible allusions are commonly used throughout their writings. When comparing the two authors, Bradstreet and Edwards, one must look at some of their most common works. To be more specific in this essay we look to “Upon the Burning of Our House” by Anne Bradstreet and “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards. We also analyze their style, personality, and literary devices to discover the reasoning behind their works.
The styles between Anne
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In this quote from Mrs. Bradstreet, she is showing that everything that is gone now, does not matter to her, all that matters is that god is still here, “There’s wealth enough, I need no more” (line 51). She doesn’t need anything when she has god. Mr. Edwards on the other hand, uses fear and doubt to guilt his listeners into becoming apart of the Puritan lifestyle when he says, “God has so many different ways of taking wicked men out of this world” (pg.120). In this quote from “Sinners in the Angry Hand of God” Mr. Edwards reminds his listeners that they could die any day due to their sins without god. Edwards has a common theme of bringing up constantly that god is holding them all over a giant pit that leads to hell, “Held in the hand of god, over the pit of hell.” (pg 126), and that if they chose to join the Puritans, they won’t be dropped in. From their different styles, it can be also inferred they also have very different
In the poetry of the three authors, Anne Bradstreet, Michael Wigglesworth and Samuel Danforth, there are numerous expressions of conventional Christian sentiment throughout. One convention that is similar among all of the puritan poets is the quality of righteousness. Their preoccupation with interpreting god word and living by these standard can be seen in the writing of all three poets. Their reasons for living clean, moral life is because they believed that they would not only be judged for what they did in their mortal life, but also in the afterlife. Although they believed that god had predetermined who was going to heaven and who was going to hell, they thought that if you did not follow the word of god, it would lead to ultimate damnation.
Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards are both early American authors. Bradstreet focuses her work on the poetic spin of writing, whereas Edwards focused his toward the sermon side of things. Two famous works of Bradstreet’s are “Upon Our Burning House” and “To My Dear and Loving Husband ”. She also wrote a short story called ”The Story of An Hour”. Edwards' has a famous sermon called “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” that is long and has a lot of literary devices, such as imagery and diction.
Through strict adherence to religious doctrine, the Puritans demonstrate their honesty, honor, and faithfulness. They want to establish a community that shines as a beacon of God 's greatness to the world, and they consider material and physical wants---in particular, sexual desires as the devil 's work and a threat to the society. The Puritans have no tolerance for
Puritans are a people with a very strong belief in both God and the power of God. When people see power, they interpret it in different ways. Some know of power through anger and impulse, while others see power through the goodness the powerful one shows. Although Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards are both puritan poets, their writings convey mainly different, though sometimes similar, views on God because they have different perceptions of His will and the use of His power. Anne Bradstreet listens to and accepts anything that God wishes, and that is shown through her poem Upon the Burning of my House.
They touch upon the concepts of God being unpredictable with punishment, God as a just figure, and God acting both angrily and mercifully. Although the two stories conflict with their attitudes towards God as being either angry and merciful, the two characteristics of God were still greatly felt within Puritan principles. The similar qualities of the two stories show how Puritan writing greatly expressed the lifestyle of the Puritan people, and they also validate each other’s authenticity as expressions of Puritan
One of his well-known sermon is “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” preached at the meeting house in the village of Enfield, Connecticut, on Sunday, July 8, 1741, at the height of the great awakening. In this sermon, Edwards focused on the consequences of leading a sinful life, the power of God and repenting of ones sins, in order to be saved from hell. The purpose behind this piece of writing was not to terrorize or dismay the hearers, but to make them repent and believe in God again. This piece was aimed at those who lacked belief in God as well as churches.
The victimization of fears and securities is a main weapon in the belt of those who wish to lead and conquer. This is proved when in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, Edwards uses dark imagery and tone, telling the congregation, “O, Sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in... You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it” (156).
During the colonial period many settlers came to the New World to escape persecution for their Puritan beliefs. Writers such as William Bradford, John Winthrop, Anne Bradstreet, and Mary Rowlandson all shared their experiences and religious devotion throughout their literature that ultimately inspired and influenced settlers to follow. This essay will discuss the similarities in Anne Bradstreet and Mary Rowlandson’s work as they both describe their experiences as signs from God. Anne Bradstreet came to the New World as a devoted Puritan as she repeatedly talked about it in her poetry. In her poems she discusses many tragedies that happened in her life such as; the burning of her house and the death of her two grandchildren all of which she thinks were signs from God.
Jonathan Edwards’s sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and Anne Bradstreet’s “Upon the Burning of Our House” seem at first glance quite similar to one another regarding context, however, after taking a closer look, it becomes apparent that there are some substantial differences. These differences cannot be understood without the knowledge of cultural context concerning the Puritan belief system and their lifestyle. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was written with the sole purpose of scaring and intimidating the people that purtinans believed to be sinners. Edwards’s work contributed to a movement called “The Great Awakening”. It’s objective was to make the so-called ‘sinners’ aware of their wrongdoings and compel them to repent.
The Colonial Period was from 1492 to 1763. During this time many new writing styles and opinions were established by various different writers. Anne Bradstreet, a female poet known as the first Colonial settler and the first woman in England to publish a book of poems. One of her famous poems, “ The Burning of Our House”, refers back to religion and her belief in God/Him many times. The last line of the poem, “ My hope and treasure lies above”, influences the theme to be, spiritual possessions are more important than material possessions.
Jonathan Edwards, a preacher, wrote the sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". In the sermon, Edwards argues that everyone was out of God's favor and they needed to return to a righteous path. The tone of the sermon is indignant and authoritative. Jonathan Edwards uses imagery, logos, and pathos to encourage the unconverted audience to turn to God in order to escape his wrath. Elemental imagery is used in the sermon to inspire fear in the audience.
In this essay, I will analyze the poem Verses Upon the Burning of Our House (July 10th, 1666) by Anne Bradstreet, a puritan who most critics consider to be America’s first “authentic poet. The poem is based on a true story as Anne’s house really did burn down and illustrates her meditations on this event, the pain she felt after losing her home and the effect it had on her faith. The main theme is Anne’s struggle to not become attached to material things. I will begin by explaining the rhyme, style, and tone of the poem, continue by explaining which literary devices and interesting features we can find and the effect they have on the reader, then I will analyze the poem and finally I will give a brief conclusion. Verses Upon the Burning of Our House is a poem written in couplets in iambic tetrameter scheme which makes the story flow nicely.
“Verses upon the Burning of our House, July 10th, 1666” is an poem written by Anne Bradstreet that, at its surface, is about internal conflict that is experienced when the author (in this case a devoted and faithful Christian woman) believes she has become too fond of material or, rather yet, earthly things. However, once the reader has had the chance to appreciate all its aspects respectively, they uncover underlying layers that add meanings that would otherwise be overlooked. Throughout the poem, Bradstreet utilizes a number of literary devices in order to ensure that the poem’s theme is recognized and fully comprehended by the reader. The most significant theme of “Verses upon the Burning of our House, July 10th, 1666” is that no matter how dark times get, with the grace of God all will be well because He has better in store for His believers in their eternal life and in Heaven. When the sequence of the poem is intertwined with the poet’s personal background (which gives insight into how the author
Hawthorne highlights the hypocrisy of Puritans with Mr. Hooper's ostracization. A Puritan is a hypocrite if they should cruelly treat someone because of appearance or sin as both of these are considered unimportant and unavoidable, respectively, in Puritan
Both Bradstreet and Edwards are puritan writers, they are both believe in a higher more powerful God. In their writings “Upon the Burning of Our House”, by Anne Bradstreet and “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, by Jonathan Edwards they both talk about the higher being of God. They both are powerful writers and have a way of getting their points across, but they do it differently. They are both great writers and even though they have different religious views and different writing styles both of their poems, “Upon the Burning of Our House” by Anne Bradstreet and “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards, have the same goal of converting people.