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To My Dear Loving Husband

1. The theme of this poem by Bradstreet is about her every lasting love towards her husband. Throughout the poem, there is the romantic
feeling of love seen through the figures of speech. What's unique about this poem, is that Bradstreet deifies the Puritan views on love. She describes love being her first most priority, with sensational feelings of lust towards her other half.

2. The tone of the poem is one of intense feelings of love. She goes on and on about the love they share and how amazing it is. In these few simple lines, we are overwhelmed with the direct lustful feelings of a women dominated by Puritan ideology.

3. Parallelism affects the story by creating a greater emphasis on the meaning of the poem. She plays around a lot with the words "If ever", "we" and "love". This further brings out the emotions she has. "If ever" means how lucky and fortunate she feels that she found him. "We" is the word that associates they are bonded together. "Love" is everything she wants to express to him and how in love she is.

4. Instances of figures of speech in the poem are seen through paradox, repetition, and personification. The paradox she uses is her last line,"That when we live no more, we may live longer". This is a contradiction since if you die, then how are you living forever. This creates a surreal moment that means her love for him will never be gone. Repetition is heavily used by the use of "love" and "we". These two words shows what a deep and loving relationship they have. Personification in the line "My love is such that rivers cannot quench" illustrates a vivid imagery of how powerful and immense her love is.

The Earth is Beautiful

5. The effects of repetition is that it puts a greater emphasis of Earth's beauty which is the main point of the poem and there are feelings of love towards nature. "Beautiful" is commonly used to describe things we love and it does so in this case. The Navajo Americans really treasured Earth. Corn represents fertility in the way it is able to produce food for the Navajos. With food, you are able to breed new life into the world.

6. Anthropomorphism is used with the metaphors of comparing Earth to human body parts. From the feet to the legs to the chest, it goes back and forth. This creates an image of a cycle which relates to how Earth is the circle of life. The old are recycled and the new generation blossom until one day they too die.

7. The Puritans are paranoid about the woods because they believe the devil resides there. On the other hand, the Navajos nature is the most important thing. Earth is the life,love, and beauty. Puritans also thought the body was sinful and only the soul was good. Native Americans had a balance between the physicality and spirituality.

Navajo Poems

8. The language spoken in the poem is mostly free verse, very conversational and easy to understand because of its simplicity. They were very direct and honest. Puritans poems were more indirect, not the usual way you talk to someone.

9. The author of these poems are the Navajo Americans. This poem are their daily life experiences. They actually live what you've read and envision from these poems.

10. Life a cycle that repeats to create a balance of harmony. Death is death, you just accept death like it is. It's Earth natural way of getting rid of the old. The Navajos have a carefree tone about this. Nature brings life and death. In the poems, the clouds bring rain which then brings life to the crops and thus people are fed. However, it also brings death by disastrous floods. Both things are part of life.

11. Figures of speech are personification, imagery, and symbolism. Examples of personification in the poem are "drunken with happiness" and "owl women". Symbolism are of rain which brings both life and death. The imagery shows that ancestors are still alive and one day we to we join them.

Upon Burning of Our House

12. Bradstreet tone suddenly changes when she speaks "Then straight I gin my heart to chide" (line 37). This is the turning point of the poem. Bradstreet transform from complaining and angry to accepting and peaceful. She feels upset that she made a big deal out of her loss.

13. Bradstreet gets her inner strength to overcome her loss through the faith of God. She turns to her Puritan upbringing to console herself. She feels that this is God's path for her. If her house burns down,then so be it. Today, people would have a more radical reaction than she did. They will most likely blame others and be angry at the world.

14. The house is a extended metaphor for "God's house." God is the architect since this is his house. The house is far better than any other house for it has Anne's dreams, ambitions, and wealth.

15. She uses "pelf" to show how she has move on and no longer cares about her things. They are left without a meaning to her and now she will not focus on these items, but more on her love and faith for God.

16. Bradstreet is very angry and emotional over her house being burned down. She releases all the human suppressed feelings you typically have when things go bad. She complains and complains until she realizes that this was God's will. God decides all things and this must be one of them. She noticeably stops her anger and instead turns to the accept Puritan she is.

17. I believe Bradstreet is lying to herself by saying she fine with her house being burned down. She lost many sentimental things and that would cause a lot of anger. In lines 30-35, she describes all the things she lost. Clearly, she misses them. The parallelism of "no" and "nor" pinpoints her real suppressed emotions of loss.

18. Puritans believed that God planned everything so what happened to Bradstreet was not an accident, but a doing of God's. The belief of predestination is what Bradstreet comes to think of the event. She shouldn't mourn over the loss of her house because all she needs is God. All the items she had were actually belonged to God's so she has no right to feel upset. The fire itself is God's act and for that she can move on from this tragedy because of God.

Before the Birth of One of Her Children

19. Metaphors, personification, and allusions are in the poem. The metaphor "That when the knot's untied that made us one" compares her knot to the marriage of the two. The knot shows how close their marriage is. Personification are "Adversity doth still our joys attend." and "yet love bids me". The allusion is "and if see not half my days that's due." This is a reference to the Psalms 90:10 which is talking about how she feels she can only live to be thirty five. The Psalms are usually praise songs to symbol good, but Bradstreet uses it tragically.

20. Parallel structure in this poem are "and". It empathizes the possibility of death and how she keeps trying to prolong her time of the farewell. She wants him to take care of the children if she dies.

21. The tone of the poem is of one of seriousness, sadness, and weeping goodbyes. The diction used are "death, farewell, fading, and love". These all contributes to the tone by the way she feels as she awaits her baby to be born. The words are used for a sad occasion and sadness.

22. In this poem, she is being an emotional human which is the opposite of Puritan ideology. Puritans welcome death and want to make their to judgement as soon as possible. They live their whole life thinking of the after life. Bradstreet is not like that, she is fearful and terrify of death. The poem also empowers women. It shows how only women can have maternity, giving birth.

The Wild Honey Suckle

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