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Anne Bradstreet's Religious


            Anne Bradstreet finds solace in her religious beliefs during both times of tragedy, the death of her granddaughter and the fiery destruction of her home. In the eulogy In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet she expresses the conviction that all God's children live here on borrowed time (3). By questioning her grief Bradstreet renewed her faith and realized that each day man has on earth is a gift to be fully enjoyed, not wasted with complaints or wishes. Through the statement, "settled in an everlasting state," she tries to take comfort that Elizabeth will forever enjoy the happiness of youth, and not suffer the hardships that accompany growth (7). .
             The second stanza begins with a description of nature's life and death cycle as a contrast to God's will. In nature death occurs for specific reasons. Death is expected during the struggle to come of age, reaching old age, or when purpose has been fulfilled (8-11). It is at this point in the poem that Bradstreet comes to terms with her grief. She reaches the conclusion that since none of the above qualifications applied to her granddaughter's death, the time must have been predestined because, " . . . His hand alone that guides nature and fate" (4). .
             Similar beliefs are evidenced in Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away is the basic tenet of this poem. In it, Bradstreet documents her psychological and emotional struggle to not question why. "It was His own, it was not mine/Far be it that I should repine" (17-18). .
             At first the Puritan doctrine instilled in her is not enough to surmount the overwhelming human emotions Bradstreet feels for her losses. Her human reaction to this loss is evidenced by the lines, "When by the ruins oft I past/My sorrowing eyes aside did cast/And here and there the places spy . . . My pleasant things in ashes lie/And them behold no more shall I.


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