1. Anne Bradstreet 1612-1672

2. Anne Bradstreet Bradstreet falls into our “Age of Faith” category in junior English. – (The “Age of Faith” is the category we use to define writers during the Puritan era) – (The Puritans were a group of English Protestants in the 1500s and 1600s. Those we study in English 11 class were dissatisfied with the church of England, and many migrated to New England in order to practice more pure worship and doctrine.)

3. Bio Shakespeare was alive at the time of Anne Bradstreet, and Shakespeare’s poetry gave her inspiration for her own poems. The biggest influence on her life, however, was her religion. Bradstreet was born into a family of Puritans, and she moved to America in 1630.

4. …Bio Bradstreet’s father and husband each served as the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. During this time, Bradstreet wrote poems while she was at home raising four children.

5. …Bio Most of her poems were kept private, or shared only with her family. (Why would this be typical for this time period?) Her brother-in-law, John Woodbridge, changed this when he had some of her poems published without her permission. Almost instantly, Bradstreet became a famous poet.

6. “Here Follow Some Verses upon the Burning of our House” Literature book, pages 96-97

7. “here follow some verses…” PAGE 96 Bradstreet’s house burns down. Her first reaction is to mourn the loss of her belongings. She quickly realizes that a Puritan should not react in this way, and she edits her thoughts. Bradstreet ends the poem with the realization that she should not value earthly goods, but should place her value on heaven instead.

8. …“Here Follow Some Verses…” What is inversion? “The world no longer let me love, My hope and treasure lies above” *Inversion = reversal of basic word sequence (*This term will be on future tests and final exams.)

9. “The inversions, you will now reverse…” “In silent night when rest I took, For sorrow near I did not look” Lines 1-2 of the poem show inversion. What would they say in more modern English?

10. Group work: Choose a partner. Log on to Google Classroom, and open today’s assignment. Choose a set of lines to work with, and claim them by typing your group members’ names. Read the entire poem, and then translate your set of lines to modern English. – (Rewrite them as you might say them now – Keep it simple!) – (by the end of this activity we should have a fully translated poem)

11. …“Here Follow Some Verses…” What is Bradstreet’s true conflict in the poem?

12. …“Here Follow Some Verses…” What is Bradstreet’s true conflict in the poem? – Her true conflict is not the fire, but the fact that her natural reaction is to mourn the loss of earthly things. – Poem presents this natural reaction, and then Bradstreet’s Puritan reminder that she should not value these things.

15. (Lines to assign to groups): 1-6 7-12 13-18 19-24 25-30 31-36 37-42 43-48 49-54 (end)