Poetic Analysis Essay

415 Words2 Pages
The poem “Upon the Burning of our House,” by Anne Bradstreet, was in many ways one of the most devout showings of Puritanism. Bradstreet makes many allusions to the bible, as well as to God himself. The poem proves that all in the world is temporary in the eyes of God, but only as a test for our faith in him. Bradstreet uses both allusion, and inverted syntax to show just how temporary mundane items are. These two literary devices are also used to create the dramatic setting of the poem and form the ideas of Puritan values. The poem “Upon the Burning of our House,” by Anne Bradstreet, made many allusions to the bible in order to prove that all things in the mundane world are temporary. The most important one was her allusion to the book of Job, “I blest His name that gave and took,” (L 14) which shows her understanding of how God took all of Job’s possessions in order to test Job’s faith. Bradstreet made this allusion in order to prove that the burning was just a test of faith by God. She also makes an allusion to Ecclesiastes in the Bible, “Adieu, Adieu, all’s vanity,” (L 36) which is saying that the all things of the world are temporary. These two allusions to the bible also show that Bradstreet was Puritan. Anne Bradstreet also uses inverted syntax in the poem “Upon the Burning of our House”. She does so in order to prove God’s way with the world, and how temporary he makes it. In the poem, Bradstreet writes, “I, starting up, the light did spy/ And to my God my heart did cry,” (L 7-8) in order to show the disorganization of her life as the fire consumed her house. Bradstreet also writes, “It was His own, it was not mine,/ Far be it that I should repine,” (L 17-18) in order to show that she acknowledges that God has taken these things away from her as a test. Since God is always testing our faith with these many items that will not last. Thus, Anne
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