Confession, Exploration and Comfort in Upon the Burning of Our House by Anne Bradstreet :: Upon the Burning of Our House

Confession, Exploration and treasure in Upon the Burningof Our House The theological belief of humankinds inherent depravity created tension in the lives of seventeenth century natural England puritans. The Puritans believed that humans were born sinful and remained in this condition throughout life. This precept stressed self-discipline and introspection, through which the Puritan sought to determine whether crabby spiritual strivings were genuine marks of true religiosity. God preordained election to heaven, and close to Puritans would be saved through the righteousness of Jesus Christ patronage their sins. There was no certainty in this life what eternal muckle awaited because the knowledge of who was elect was a divine mystery. The experience of conversion, where the soul, moved(p) by the Holy Spirit, is turned from sinfulness to holiness, was at least several(prenominal) indication of election. Although full assurance might never be attained, the curse of having been chosen by God fortified the Puritans to contend with the hardships of creating a connection of Christ in the New World. This fundamental knowledge of personal depravity, the snapper of Puritan theology, created an atmosphere of constant introspection in a rotary battle with worldly sin always ending with the acknowledged depravity. The cognisance of Gods preordained elect few did not inhibit the pains all Puritans applied to acknowledge depravity and to try and overcome sinfulness. This concept of depravity as the cornerstone of Puritan faith became a of import theme in Puritan writing. Poet Anne Bradstreet wrote about her life and how her trials ever urged her to widen her self-inspection in an effort to attempt to subdue the carnal desires of this world. The Puritan precept of introspection created a framework for literary confession in the numbers Upon the Burning of Our House July 10th, 1666. This framework freed Anne Bradstreet to fully explore her beliefs without di rect quarrel to authority thus she both remains within and steps away of traditional Puritan beliefs, ultimately allowing her to find solace and comfort in the promise of heavenly reward. In the poem Upon the Burning of Our House Anne Bradstreet exemplifies the universal Puritan lifestyle of tension, although tempered with an allusion of hopefulness not usual in Puritan theology. Opening with an image of sleep, the poem alerts the reader to what would be considered a deterrent example lapse by Bradstreet, for she was not being ever watchful for sin. The idea of millenialism, to go through life as though the second culmination of Christ was imminent, meant that a Puritan was always prepared for the judgement day.