Idella Rodriguez

Professor: Jeff Jeske

Eng. 225: American Literature Survey I

September 22, 2014

The Lord Prevails in Sickness and in Death

Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor were two different writers of different backgrounds. They were both Puritans who showed devotion to their families and their writing. They both accepted God through good times and bad. Even though Anne Bradstreet suffered from rheumatic fever as a child causing her to risk her own life having eight children, she never blames God for her getting sick and kept praising him throughout her illness. Although Edward Taylor did not suffer from any sickness, he had to bear the loss of a few of his children during their infancy. Even through all of this, he still praised God for taking them out of the pain they endured. He accepted his children’s death as God’s will. In the poem by Anne Bradstreet, “On My Dear Grandchild Simon Bradstreet, Who Died on 16 November, 1669, Being but a Month, and One Day Old.,” she is grieving the loss of her grandchild. She says, “No sooner came, but gone, and fall’n asleep, Acquaintances short, yet parting us weep; Three flowers, two scarcely blown, the last I’ th’ bud, Cropt by th’ Almighty’s hand... (Baym 211). The words gone and asleep are in reference to death. Although Bradstreet speaks of the child’s sleep, it is not literal sleep, but symbolic, the child has died just a month after being born. When she talks about a short acquaintance, she is referring to the child’s time on earth, and crying is the reaction to the baby’s dying. “…bud, Cropt…” refers to death as well. The child, like a flower, has just blossomed. “Cropt” by God would show that He cut the flower, taking the baby’s life, also referring to death. She says “three flowers, two scarcely blown, the las I’ th’ bud,” (Baym 211). I believe that she believes it is God’s will, but wants to question why but is wise not to question the higher power. Instead she wants to praise him, “let’s say He’s merciful as well as just” (Baym 211). “Go pretty babe, go rest with sisters twain,” This refers to death, as the new baby has died and will now join his two sister that have died before him. She says “three flowers, two scarcely blown, the las I’ th’ bud.” (Byam 211) I believe that she believes it is God’s will, but wants to question why but is wise not to question the higher power. Instead she wants to praise him. The last few lines of the poem ends with Bradstreet telling the soul of the child to go be with his sisters in Heaven where there is never ending joy and he will be among the blessed. This poem is deeply personal and moving, and shows Bradstreets’s deep Puritan faith in addition to her deep affection to the people in her life. The next poem is by Edward Taylor, “Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children.” Edward Taylor makes a number of references to death in his poem, like when he says, “But Oh! A glorious hand from glory came…soon did Crop this flower Which almost tore the root… In prayer to Christ perfumed it did ascend, And Angels bright did it to heaven’ tend.” (Byam 284). Taylor is saying that God “cropped” the flower, which is the baby. The child’s death is the cropped flower. Prayer is accompanied by the death of the baby, and the angel tended the child as he or she rose to Heaven. He also says, “It is my pledge in glory, part of me Is now in it, Lord, glorified with Thee,” meaning that there is some contentment to the parent that some part of him is now in the presence of God in Heaven. He says, “In joy, may I sweet flowers for glory breed, “Whether thou get’st them green, or lets them seed.”(Baym 284) In other words he is saying he will happily have more children, regardless of whether God will take the child or let the child live. “Get’st them green” (Byam 284) is another way of saying the loss of a child. In conclusion, both of these poems cover not only strong Christian references, both authors have Puritan backgrounds, but praise God even when the child is lost, and that it is his will the precedes all things.

Works Cited

Baym, Nina, Wayne Franklin, Philip F. Gura, and Arnold Krupat. "Anne Bradstreet." The

Norton Anthology of America Literature. 7th ed. Vol. A. New: W.W.Norton, 2007.

211. Www.wwnorton.com. W.W. Norton & Company. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.

Baym, Nina, Wayne Franklin, Philip F. Gura, and Arnold Krupat. "Anne Bradstreet." The

Norton Anthology of America Literature. 7th ed. Vol. A. New: W.W.Norton, 2007.

283-84. Www.wwnorton.com. W.W. Norton & Company. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.