Reflection blog: How do the writings of Rowlandson and Bradstreet reflect the qualities of Puritan writing?

Both of these novels reflect Puritan writing in their own ways. A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration Of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson showed Puritan writing more than "Upon the Burning of Our House" in my opinion.

Puritans were very religious people. According to Beginnings of 1800,

"The Puritan society placed God at the center of their point of society, and their literature works which were primary diaries and histories expressed as God as the central theme, or as having a strong presence. The Puritan writing is very strict and simple..."

It also states that some of its characteristics include God is the central aspect, the Bible provides a model for Puritan writing, and used writing to find God in their lives.

Mrs. Mary Rowlandson seemed like a very religious woman. Everything she did, she somehow related it to her religion. Even when she was in a dark place, she still strongly believed in her religion and used it to her benefit. For example, when she was worrying about her daughter and about how she did not even know if she was alive or dead, she went to the Bible. The story states that "...And the scripture came to my hand, Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee" (Bradstreet 85). She was going through a horrible time at this point. I cannot even imagine what she was feeling and how depressed she was. To show how depressed she was, she even said that "I did not use wicked and violent means end my own miserable life" (Bradstreet 83). This relates to Puritan writing because she used her religion to stay strong and continue living her life, even though it was miserable at the time.

This story also resembles Puritan writing by all the other references to the bible. For example, she claims that "O the wonderful power of God I have seen, and the experiences I have had!" (Rowlandson 85). She also talks about praying throughout the story. For example, "I pray God he may remember these things, now he is returned to safety" (Bradstreet 84) and mentioned how "No Christian friend was near him to do any office of love for him, either for soul or body" (Bradstreet 84).

"Upon the Burning of Our House" also reflected Puritan writing. Ann Bradstreet references the Puritan religion multiple times throughout this poem. Even though it is a short poem, it still reflects the writing just as well as the previous story did.

For example, she writes "And to my God my heart did cry/ to strengthen me in distress/ and to not leave me succorless" (Bradstreet 91). Once again, the author uses religion to get someone out of a hard situation. When the character is feeling miserable and depressed, he/she turns to religion to get him/her out of her problem. In this situation, the character wakes up to a fire. "In silent night when rest I took/ For sorrow near did I not look/ I wakened was with a thund'ring noise/ and piteous shrieks of dreadful voice..." (Bradstreet 91). She was in a very tough, intense position in her life, and she turned to God. This definitely resembles the Puritan writing style! Another example that the author uses is "Yet by His gift is made thine own;/ there's wealth enough, I need no more.." (Bradstreet 91). In this passage, "His" refers to God. This also greatly resembles the style of Puritan writing.

Puritan writing is very interesting to read about; I personally enjoyed these two readings.

Bibliography

Bradstreet, Anne. "Upon the Burning of Our House." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 89-91. Print.

Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Ms. Mary Rowlandson." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 80-86. Print.