Verses upon the Burning of our House

“Contemplations” by Anne Bradstreet (1650)

In many ways a companion piece to “Some Verses,” this iconic poem recounts Bradstreet’s meandering stroll along the Merrimack River and her near-heretical contemplations of the sumptuous beauty of the wilderness. As with “Some Verses,” Bradstreet is torn between the sacred and the profane, between her love of this world and her devotion to God. In good Puritan form, however, Bradstreet decides in the end that if this is how beautiful earth is, imagine the splendor of Heaven.

“Homage to Mistress Bradstreet” by John Berryman (1956)

Composed nearly three centuries after Bradstreet’s death, this poem, by a Pulitzer Prize winner, reflects on Bradstreet’s difficult position being a creative spirit within an oppressive society that looks askance at individuality. Berryman largely ignores Bradstreet’s copious verses of Puritan doctrine and history to focus on her domestic poems. In ignoring Bradstreet’s passionate commitment to her faith, the poem uses her as an artist, not a Puritan, and defines creativity as per force an act of apostasy, a comment as much on Berryman’s conservative 1950s America.

“Day of Doom” by Reverend Michael Wigglesworth (1662)

This poem, in conjunction with Bradstreet’s, reveals two radically different types of Puritan poetics. America’s first best-seller, this ambitious recreation of the terror and sublime joy of the apocalypse, rendered in galloping rhythm and anticipated rhymes that made for easy memorization and public recitation, can be compared to Bradstreet’s humbler and more subdued faith. Wigglesworth’s thumping certainty contrasts with Bradstreet’s hesitant look about the ashes and missing the comfort, conviviality, and simple pleasures of her lost home.