Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Anne Bradstreet's "Upon the Burning of Our House July 10th, 1666"

In The Heath Anthology of American Literature I'm still reading selections from Anne Bradstreet's work.  Last week, I read "Upon the Burning of Our House July 10th, 1666," and I was surprised that the anthology didn't provide footnotes for the Biblical references Bradstreet put in the poem.  While I don't really have anything very literary to write about the poem itself, I thought I could at least catalogue her Biblical references.

Bradstreet's "I blest His name that gave and took" (line 14) echoes Job's "The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD" (Job 1:21).  Despite their losses, both Job and Bradstreet bless God.

"Adieu, Adieu, all's vanity" (line 36) is a quote from Ecclesiastes.  "Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities!  All is vanity" (Ecclesiastes 1:2).  The next verse in Ecclesiastes reflects on the transience of life:  "What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?"  From this, Bradstreet shifts her focus to Heaven, which she calls "an house on high erect, / Framed by that mighty Architect" (lines 43-44).  She asks herself, "And did thy wealth on earth abide? / Didst fix thy hope on mold'ring dust?" (lines 37-38)  Her self-examination seems to be spurred by Matthew 6:19-21:  "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."  Along with the similarity in these views, there's some resemblance between Bradstreet's "mold'ring dust" and the Biblical "moth and rust destroy" (initial M and D, and the -ust of dust and rust).  At the end of the poem, she expresses the same view presented in Matthew: "The world no longer let me love, / My hope and treasure lies above" (lines 53-54).