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122 Unit 2 ■ Analyzing Comparisons and Representations

INTRODUCING THE TEXT PRACTICE TEXT
You may choose to open class by asking
students to collect biographical facts about Anne
Bradstreet, including the historical time frame,
location in which she lived, and cultural and
religious beliefs of her community. You may Verses upon the Burning
discuss with students the importance of material of our House
possessions to these individuals, who were
Copyright (c) 2023 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Uncorrected proofs were used with this sample chapter.
beginning to create the American colonies. You Anne Bradstreet
may also discuss Bradstreet’s influence as a
woman writing in this historical time frame.
THE TEXT IN CONTEXT
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Strictly for use with its products. Not for redistribution.
f
Anne Bradstreet (1612–1672) was born to an affluent Puritan amily
IDEAS IN THE TEXT in Northampton, England. An unusually well-educated woman
at the time, she (along with her husband and parents) emigrated
Grief Courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts
to Massachusetts as part of John Winthrop’s Puritan fleet in
Christianity 1630. These settlers sought to practice a purer form of English
Destruction Protestantism free from the official Church of England, which
Faith they considered corrupt. Like many of the Puritans, Bradstreet
Value found the hardships of the New World difficult. She began writing
Resilience poems in the early 1630s that reflected both her religion and
her personal experiences — especially the fragility of human life,
the mpermanence of material things, and her hope for religious
i
salvation. Later, her poetry became more personal, as she meditated on herself and her
domestic life as the mother of eight children. In the 1666 poem “Verses upon the Burning of
our House,” Bradstreet reflects on a personal experience that had an important meaning.
TRM Graphic Organizer: Describing a ® SKILLS CHARACTER
Character’s Perspective AP PRACTICE Describing a Character’s Perspective

As you read “Verses upon the Burning of our House,” consider how details in the
poem help reveal the speaker’s perspective. Record your notes in the graphic
organizer.
Analyzing a Character’s Perspective
Details from What the Details Reveal
Considerations the Text about Perspective
Character’s background
Character’s actions and choices
Character’s internal thoughts
Dialogue
Interactions with others

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CRITICAL APPROACHES
Moral-Philosophical
Literary theorist Robert Richardson Jr. reflects on
the moral complexity of the poem: “Bradstreet’s
struggles between love of this world and reliance
on the next, and the poetic expression of those
struggles, not as the rebelliousness of an anti-
Puritan temperament but [is] an attempt to
achieve the Puritan ideal of living in the world
without being of it.”

122 Unit 2 Analyzing Comparisons and Representations

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