Thessa Andrade
Professor Heidi Bean
EN234: Survey to American Literature
18 September 2014
Anne Bradstreet: Doubting Faith
Naturally, any people of any kind of religion at some point of their lives question or show a level of uncertainty in their faith. Religion is a complex idea to accept and to truly have full belief in. Curiosity surfaces when humans cannot prove or understand something logically or scientifically right away. As individuals, reason and solution is a must and the truth is what keeps life going. This feeling of ambiguity is no different for the Puritans in the sixteen hundreds. In fact, Puritan Anne Bradstreet reveals her struggle in faith within many of her literary works. To readers, the assumption is already made that as a Puritan member and a woman of society Bradstreet would incorporate godly worships in all her pieces of writing. Although that is true to some degree, once readers deeply analyzes her work in poetry they can see that her relationship with God is not always all mighty and secure. There are moments in her poems where she feels a certain disconnect or a sense of disbelief in His power. In rare occasions, she even blames God for her misfortunes. Bradstreet begins to see God differently than how she did when she was raised as a little girl.
The mentality of every devoted Puritan man and woman in this New World, now called America, is to be a believer in God and only Him. In fact, it is said that “The [...] Puritan was such as one that honored God above all [...] His first care was to serve God, and therein he did not what was good in his own, but in God's sight, making the word of God the rule of his worship" (Geree). However, the hardships of life in this new land consequently led many faithful believers such as, Anne Bradstreet, to question the sincerity of their personal faith. Having been born and raised in a sophisticated, English, Puritan family, Bradstreet was able to spend the first part of her life learning what it meant to be a true Puritan. Shortly after her voyage to the New World, Bradstreet quickly learns that reading about puritanism and living by the ideals of puritanism were not quite the same. Each day in the midst of her chores, children, and other duties, she is forced to explore the true depths of her own faith. In reference to the Norton Anthology American Literature book, it explicitly states “[…] she was troubled many times about the truth of the Scriptures, that she never saw any convincing miracles, and that she always wondered if those of which she read were feigned” (110). Bradstreet questions whether the stories in the Bible are sincere or not, if they even happened at all. She takes her consolation not through theology but from the “wondrous works” of God (110). Nevertheless, Puritans are supposed to believe in the word of God.
Particularly, in times of calamity Bradstreet provides us with the lyrical evidence to comprehend the conflict and tension within her mind. One event in particular, based on a poem entitled the “Burning of Our House July 10th 1666", reveals the evidence of tension Anne Bradstreet faces between faith and doubt (Powell). Bradstreet wrote this poem following the tragic fire that destroyed her home and most of the material possessions inside while she is living in the New England colonies. The poem gives clear evidence of the affection Bradstreet has for the earthly possessions she has connected so many of her precious memories to. Still, as Bradstreet should know, “[…] the quest of every good Puritan must be to rise above the bounds of emotion and sentiment for earthly goods and instead aspire to accept what the good Lord God has ordained to be, whether it be good or bad” (Powell). In the beginning of the poem Bradstreet wakes up and realizes that there is a fire happening and immediately and dreadfully cries out “Fire!” She automatically cries out to God for help. Her initial fear triggers the faith she once doubted. In lines nine through ten she says, "[…] strengthen me in my distress/ and not to leave me succor less (empty or naked)”. Her reactions exemplify the normal puritan behaviors when one is struck with tragedy. Unfortunately, later on as Anne Bradstreet takes a hand full of the ash and dust of her home, her mind is left to deal with the obvious gaps that faith has left behind. In order for her to make sense out of this terrible situation, she must now “turn to her own flawed human rationalization” (Powell). Religious beliefs can rarely explain why things occur, but human reasoning can and that is what leads puritans like her down the path of self-doubt. Bradstreet acknowledges that the house and possessions inside belong to God, and, that she should chastise herself for even expressing such discontent. She also knows, just like every other good standing Puritan, that the Lord God loves her. However, as Powell says, “[…] this point in the poem represents a desperate spiritual outcry”. Bradstreet cannot forget what has happened with just a simple praising of the lord! Although it is clear to her that her possessions should no longer hold any value for her as a devout believer of the Puritan faith, the tension inside her fuels the “tenants of human emotion” and instantly makes her think it is God who should be blamed for this, or that it is God who should have prevented this from happening. With her belief slowly descending, Bradstreet reaches out and embraces the things she has lost, focusing more on the value of these earthly things than simply just seeing them as materials. She has let her feelings grab hold of her to a level of discontent because she has lost all her beautiful prized treasures. The fact that Bradstreet mourns the absence of such extravagances in life showcases the lack of true Puritan spirit, as well as, revealing the mentality of one whose faith in God’s protection has been essentially exhausted.
Bradstreet’s journey continues to presume to the world of doubt and that is apparent in other works of hers. She turns her sorrows to the things that people, like family and close friends of the puritan community would never be able to do under the roof of their home. To repeat, that is what ultimately leads Bradstreet to make another dangerous departure from the virtues of Puritanism to the concerns of her lost “pleasant tales" (Powell). Take for instance her first elegy, written after the death of her beloved one and a half year old grandchild, Elizabeth. Commonly, the memoriam begins with a melancholy yet optimistic farewell. However, towards the ending of the first stanza Bradstreet begins to question her faith. She writes: “Blest babe, why should I once bewail thy fate, / Or sigh thy days so soon were terminate, / Sith thou are settled in an everlasting state” (ll. 5-7). At first glance, it seems that Bradstreet is content with the idea that her grandchild is taken from her at such young age because as a puritan it is believed that the child is now in heaven with God. However, as her language becomes more impartial, Bradstreet makes no attempt to inform the reader that her grandchild is indeed with God and in heaven. She directly states that the child is in an “everlasting state”, wherever that may be. As a well-established and descriptive writer Anne Bradstreet has shown to be, the lack of specifics displays some kind of uncertainty in her beliefs; perhaps even questioning if there is even a heaven.
In the second stanza, she continues to write brokenly about fruits and vegetable plants found in nature that are not harvested until they are ripe. She uses this metaphor to compare the unfairness of human life versus the lifecycle of nature. In other words, plants do not decrepitate before they are fully developed so why must her young un-experienced child die before actually living a full life? This bothers her and she does not understand it, which brings her to undermine God’s power in decision. Bradstreet is aware that God decides who lives or dies. In the last two lines of the poem it reads, “And buds new blown to have so short a date, / Is by His hand alone that guides nature and fate” (ll. 13-14). Bradstreet is not praising God here in any kind of form. Yes, she still believes in Him but she is misconstrued by his actions and is definitely shows inquiry into just what kind of God she is following.
Also, it is noteworthy that prior to becoming an adult and puritan mother, Bradstreet had already struggled with faith in the early stages of her adolescent years. Her elegy “To My Dear Children” she confesses to her children that she had great troubles in finding comfort in Scriptures and avoiding the evils of the world. As read in the Norton Anthology American Literature book, “But as I grew up to be about 14 or 15, I found my heart more carnal, and sitting loose from God, vanity, and the follies of youth take hold of me” (124). It is not until sixteen that she started to believe in God but only because affliction was brought upon her. Bradstreet took it as a sign from him and let that be proof of God’s existence. Furthermore, her faith is determined by God’s gracious actions not so much by the written words in the holy bible and that is the dilemma in puritan light.
To conclude, Anne Bradstreet never denounced her religion, but there is enough evidence in her writing that suggest she did in fact battle with doubts in faith and God’s word on a regular basis. Much of her poems reflect her concern for her family and home and the pleasures she took in everyday life (110). Because her poems frequently put so much emphasis on family and her husband at times it shows that she values family and loved ones more than God. There have been endless times where she has expressed deep love and affection for her significant others but displayed limited emotion or used neutral language when speaking about God. In no shape or form does Bradstreet’s moments of disbelief make her a bad person; it simply just makes her human and illustrates that Puritanism is not the framework of her life like it may have been to the other settlers of the New World.
Works Cited
Baym, Nina. The Norton Anthology of American literature. 8th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print.
Geree, John. "The Character of an Old English Puritan or Non-Conformist." URL: http://www.cet.com/~mtr/GereeChar.html (13 Nov. 1997)
Powell, Timothy. "The Tension between Faith and Doubt as reveled by the work of Anne Bradstreet." ENGL 316 Paper. Web. 19 Sept. 2014. <http://tapowell.150m.com/English/bradstr.html>.