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Spring 2021

Poetic Piety: John Winthrop, Anne Bradstreet, and the Puritan

writer’s internal errand
Amelia Kathleen David
Bard College, [email protected]

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errand" (2021). Senior Projects Spring 2021. 125.
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 Poetic Piety:
John Winthrop, Anne Bradstreet, and the Puritan writer’s internal errand

Senior Project Submitted to

The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College

by
Amelia David

Annandale-on-Hudson, New York

May 2021
Acknowledgements

So many thanks, so little time,

© Jaime Alves

© Matthew Mutter

© Elizabeth Frank

© Jane Smith

© Cora Dandeneau

© Anna Oudman

© David Ferney

© Jackie Dandeneau + Barb Culbertson

© Chowder + Lila

© Clay Davies

© Catherine Lovizio

© Maemae Denner-Kenny

© Everyone Near and Dear

© You!
Table of Contents

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..1

John Winthrop: Modeling Puritan Inquiry.…………………...………………………………….7

Anne Bradstreet: Private Practices of Reconciliation…...……………………………………….19

Puritan Personal Narratives: “This is my comfort”...……………………………………………30

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….41

Works Cited ……………………………………………………………………………………..44

 1

Introduction

When I was first asked to read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables in

high school, I hated it. At this point in my life I did not often use language this strong to describe

books I had difficulty with. I fought with Dickens in my elementary school library, I never said

that I hated his work, it just wasn’t for me in that moment, but I decidedly hated Hawthorne.

Over the continuation of my educational career I have found that many people have had similar

feelings towards this American romantic writer.

Hawthorne’s great-grandfather, John Hathorne, was a judge during the Salem Witch

Trials. One of John Hathorne’s first trials was the trial of Sarah Good, who was accused of

witchcraft. When urged to confess Sarah is said to have replied, “You are a liar. I am no more a

witch than you are a wizard, and if you take away my life God will give you blood to drink!” It is

said that the Reverend who urged her to confess died choking on his own blood. John Hathorne

did not show remorse for his actions in the Salem Witch Trials but his descendants certainly did.

You will notice that Nathaniel’s last name is spelled differently than John’s. It is said that

Nathaniel changed his name from Hathorne to Hawthorne to distance himself from his familial

history. This history, and the guilt Hawthorne felt, can be seen in his work. Jaffrey Pyncheon, the

judge in The House of the Seven Gables, died choking on his own blood.

I do not know how truthful this story is, or if there is any way to prove it. What I was

more interested in when I came across this small story about Hawthorne was the way it changed

my feelings about his work. I saw him as working within a larger moment. It was easy to

distance myself from caring about his work when it as existed within a tradition I had deemed

dated and irrelevant to me. When I learned about his relationship to the Puritans I began to see

his work in a new light, I began to imagine it as reactionary. A reaction requires that something
 2

is still unresolved. I realized there was a lot left unsettled in this literary tradition. I want this

project to imagine Puritan literature as equally reactionary, and similarly unresolved. As the

American Puritans are writing they are trying to find their own resolve to build a tradition that

will last.

Hawthorne used his work to process historical and social trends of shame and excessive

Purity; his most famous works show a complicated relationship to faith and the harm it can

cause. Literary practices serve as an equally powerful tool of reconciliation for the Puritans.

Understanding their literary traditions as unsettled can be valuable. I am seeking to understand

them better in order to see their work more completely.

Kathleen Donegan’s book Seasons of Misery helped me to discover this intent.

Donegan’s work seeks to display the Puritan’s suffering honestly and with nuance. Not because

we should pity them, but because we should know them. Her title reveals a lot about the purpose

of her work. She seeks to portray the suffering of the Puritans as something unresolved and

cyclical. Their misery comes back around, and pieces of their suffering are left unresolved. In

this way their misery is seasonal, but “seasons” serves more than one purpose for Donegan. She

is also alluding to the use of “seasoned” to describe those who moved to the colonies and became

acclimatized. “Seasoning’ was a term that originally referred to hardening wood by exposing it

to environmental conditions … by the turn of the seventeenth century, ‘seasoning’ was also used

in reference to people who were fortified through exposure to difficult circumstances” (Donegan

7). Donegan goes on to describe “seasoning” as something to pass through, this understanding of

“seasoning” is then applied to the process of settlement. In this way Donegan presents settlement

as a particularly unsettled stage of colonization, that is necessarily uncertain.

 3

I admire the care that went into crafting Donegan’s title, and I want to take some time to

explain one of the key pieces of my own title, the Puritan “errand.” In Perry Miller’s book

Errand Into The Wilderness the title comes from Reverend Samuel Danforth’s sermon that was

delivered in 1670. According to Miller, an errand can be two things; a task ordered by a superior,

or an action that is aligned with the doer’s purpose and intent. The first option is requested and

often the person performing the action is not considering its intent. This is in contrast to the

second definition of an errand, where the doer is completing a task on their own pretense.

Miller’s examination of this sermon, and the titles of related sermons, shows the errand of New

England to be deeply troubled. “They say, unanimously, that New England was sent on an

errand, and that it has failed” (Miller 2). It is also confused, it becomes unclear which kind of

errand the Puritan settlement of New England was meant to be and where they fall short of their

intent. This explanation of the Puritan errand shows their history as convoluted, and again,

unsettled. My title aims to locate this internal disarray in the Puritans’ writing practices. The

errand they set out to accomplish failed, they were met with misery and a conflicted sense of

self. All they could do was turn their questioning inwards.

My first chapter’s central focus is John Winthrop’s sermon “A Model of Christian

Charity.” The sermon serves as a model for pious and social interaction. Beginning with an

exploration of Winthrop’s standing, and critical reception over time, I aim to remind my reader

of the uncertainty of the moment. I make use of his model of a Puritan society to discuss the

complexities of Puritan ideals, and to provide context for my coming chapters. Winthrop delivers

his sermon on a ship without a formal leadership title. During this overseas journey he is both

literally and figuratively not on solid ground. Winthrop owes his status to the nature of

uncertainly aboard that ship, and it is through his sermon that he seeks to settle himself and those
 4

aboard the ship with him. Winthrop prepares his audience to face difficulty with the language of

the gospel. In showing Winthrop’s own uncertainty in preparing for settlement, I want to present

the Puritan literary tradition as one that is particularly unsettled.

Winthrop’s sermon also models the beginnings of the Puritan’s rhetorical and literary

tradition. I then point to key themes and structural elements of his sermon; such as his discussion

of suffering, and use of pairs, which are both themes that reappear in Puritan literature. I use this

to position his work as a roadmap for other Puritan writers. I look to problems that are presented

to his audience, the ways he chooses to resolve them, and where contradiction is given space to

breathe. I also take time to point to the sense of obligation that Winthrop establishes in his piece,

and how this impacts the Puritan vision as a whole. The sermon is not only a thematic and

rhetorical model, I see this sermon as beginning a tradition where the Puritans understand writing

to be a place to work out problems that arise in their faith. I strive to depict the Puritan literary

tradition as a reactionary tool for reconciliation.

My second chapter turns to the poetry of Anne Bradstreet. Bradstreet was aboard the

Arbella with Winthrop as he delivered his sermon. I found her to be a wonderful example of a

Puritan poet who expressed conflict and ideological tension often, and with care. Her poems

become a prayer, to reconcile the challenges of settlement, with her hopes of a pious life; she

reacts to her grief and is critical of the ways she expresses it. Many of her poems center instances

of death, illness, and accident. Much like in Winthrop’s sermon, suffering is positioned as a key

piece of the Puritan experience. Bradstreet’s poetry asks the question of how this suffering

should be handled, and by the end, she finds her answer in God.

To illustrate this I move through a few of her poems depicting her relationship to

suffering. Then I go on to show the ways that her poetry replicates, and expands upon the themes
 5

and structural elements of Winthrop’s sermon that I established in the previous chapter. I seek to

show how Bradstreet’s work encompasses the tools Winthrop’s sermon provides, in addition to

how she develops them further so that resolution is always found in faith, not reason. The

problems she presents still exist, but for her they are resolved when she refocuses herself on the

heavens. This chapter aims to show how she is expanding upon Winthrop’s method of inquiry;

and how her poetry becomes a unique practice of piety, and an exercise of her faith.

In my third and final chapter I move to an investigation of the Puritan practice of

composing personal narratives. Diaries, journals, and meditations are all a part of the Puritan

practice of religious record keeping. This kind of writing teeters in between the public and

private spheres. Its form expresses a problem, where private and public pious lives are

distinguished. In order to address this question, I turn to Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s piece,

“Vertuous Women Found” which examines ministerial literature about Puritan women. Ulrich’s

work has been very important in my ability to understand and communicate the tension between

private and public piety. Ulrich makes use of Cotton Mathers writing on the topic of women in

the Puritan faith. Mather provides three solutions to solve the “problem of women.” One: women

should be respected for the work they do that is honorable in its own right. Two: women should

seek out new work that would make them more respectable. And Three: the problem of social

status and equality should be ignored, and their thoughts should be focused on the spiritual

realm.

I then turn to the journals and “meditaitions” of Anne Bradstreet to see how she might

make use of these solutions, and again, how she has created her own. Bradstreet’s approach to

the problem, and any other problem she encountered with her faith, is unique. She allows herself

space to investigate the problem, and proposes ways it could be resolved; but in the end her
 6

reconciliation of the issue being addressed is always placed in the hands of God. Bradstreet

writes her concerns and doubts, but does not hand them over to reason and argumentation. It is

her comfort to allow them to remain unresolved. In her work she demonstrates a complex

approach to resolving issues within her religion and religious community. In a time of settlement

her practice allows for uncertainty.

In this piece I strive to paint a picture of the Puritans that is more uncertain than we might

have seen before. Often, they are presented to us in extremes. They have been depicted as

courageous, they have been depicted as meek and bold, they have been depicted as cruel and full

of shame. What I see them as is unsettled. They are shaken and often riddled with contradiction

that they yearn for their God to resolve. This piece aims to showcase the Literature Puritans

produced that does not shy away from this uncertainty. In presenting these works I hope to paint

a more complex and honest picture of the American Puritans and their literature that might help

us consider their impact more carefully.

 7

John Winthrop: Modeling Puritan Inquiry

As the Arbella makes its way across the Atlantic ocean in 1630, the people aboard

prepare themselves for arrival; and John Winthrop delivers his sermon “A Model of Christian

Charity.” The Arbella was a flag ship, leading several other vessels with it. As the ship traced a

path where others should follow, Winthrop’s sermon did the same for those journeying with him.

His sermon was meant to express a vision, and urge commitment to a cause.

The sermon that Winthrop delilvers aboard the Arbella lists ways to live in service of

God and unify his people. A key piece of the sermon is the emphasis placed on a unified societal

vision; where all acts in a community serve Gods purpose and that purpose is unified among the

people. Inequality in the world is shown to be an opportunity for generosity in God’s name.

Winthrop speaks of “brotherly affection,” and emphasizes the value in unity between all

Christians. This imagined bond ties them to each other, their destination, and the community

they intend to create.

Winthrop’s sermon serves as a model, and Winthrop himself has also been presented as a

model for Puritan leadership. In Sacvan Bercovitch’s book The Puritan Origins of the American

Self the chapter “Puritanism and the Self” opens with Cotton Mather’s ode to Winthrop,

“Nehemias Americanus.” Bercovitch uses the title of the piece to get at the core of Mather’s

argument for why Winthrop is an exemplar for an American leader. Winthrop was the the first

governor of New England and was described by Mather as “a saint, as a model magistrate, and as

the leader of a great empire” (Bercovitch 1). The titles reference to Nehemiah emphasizes

Winthrop’s status by relating him to a biblical tale of leadership and applying it to an American

context. Bercovitch admits that it is not a completely flattering picture of Winthrop, it does not

avoid his shortcomings. He is certainly not a saint, but Mather seems to see him as a prime
 8

example of the American Puritan. Winthrop is depicted as someone who might begin to

encapsulate the complexities of the Puritan mind and society.

It can be difficult to recall that when this sermon was delivered Winthrop held little to no

authority as a religious leader. The Puritan identity that I am so interested in investigating now

was not yet established; this sermon provided a unifying vision of the Puritan social ideal. The

sermon is now seen as a key piece of our understanding the Puritan social ideal, and how it

presents itself rhetorically in the works of the Puritans. It is important to recall the conditions in

which this sermon was given. Winthrop was free to preach on the ship because they were still in

open waters. His position of leadership relied on their lack of solid ground, literally and

figuratively. This uncertainty is reflected in the structure of the sermon.

Winthrop does not delineate clear sections of inquiry in the sermon. There are a lot of

different sections that are numerically marked but they are sometimes difficult to follow.

Winthrop first lists three reasons why God has created variety in the lived condition of humans;

some are rich and some are poor, some are well respected and dignified and some are living in

subjection. After the third reason for this disparity, there is a definition of the difference between

rich and poor. By Winthrop’s definition the rich are those who are able to “live comfortably by

their own means duly improved” (Miller 80). Winthrop continues by stating that there are two

laws that should be lived by, justice and mercy. After an explanation of justice and mercy as

individual actions, Winthrop says there is also a double law, and begins to discuss the next

problem of the sermon which is the distinction between the law of nature and the law of grace.

He continues on to list three different ways that the law of nature and the law of grace differ

from each other. Winthrop then carries on with a list of ways that Christians should be helping

each other; these categories of work, are numbered one through four. This list ends with a call to
 9

action which carries Winthrop to the end of the sermon, “thus stands the cause between God and

us” (Miller 82). He speaks to the agreement that his audience made with God, and emphasizes

how important it is for them to maintain it; for their own physical safety, and for the reputation

of their God. All this is to say that the sermons structure is confusing and difficult to follow.

There are many times that a problem is established by posing two contrasting ideas; any one of

these problems could be followed through to a clear conclusion, instead there are many problems

and many solutions. They overlap and intertwine with each other, there is a lot to keep track of

and a lot to resolve. I find it to be an accurate depiction of the Puritan mind in this moment,

grasping for certainty.

Winthrop’s discussion of the covenant, original sin, and the unity that God’s work brings,

are all key to the creation of a Puritan identity. When met with uncertain terrain and hardships,

the Puritan’s assertion that they are God’s chosen people is very valuable to their survival and

sense of self. They need to be able to see their suffering as an act that is in service of God in

order to endure it. Winthrop helps create this structure by reframing the purpose and origins of

conflict.

In the sermon, Winthrop presents his audience with a problem, a contradiction that arises

in life. Broadly, the problem he is presenting could be described as the problem of evil. The core

of the problem is this: if God is good, why should we suffer? Winthrop resolves this problem in a

few ways; one being that God is good but humans have been bad, the second being that suffering

can be valuable in a pious life. He does not deny that there is conflict between their belief in a

merciful God and hardship. Winthrop instead repositions suffering’s role in piety and shows its

purpose to his people.

 10

In this way, Winthrop is shaping a tool for Puritans; a way for them to grieve and process

the difficulty of the life that approaches. This tool is meant prepare them for a way of life where

religious faith is central, and where hardship and toil must be transferrable to faith and praise.

They believe themselves to be creating a new world, in reaction to the old one, one that is also

separate from previously established frameworks. In the absence of connection to land or a sense

of self this identity is accessible through rhetoric. This sermon serves as a guide for how to

bridge the gap between the instruction of the Gospel and life on earth. Through his exposition

Winthrop gives new meaning to difficulty and pain; it is now a sign of God’s work, it is now the

individual’s job to find purpose in the challenges they face. Winthrop’s audience is tasked with

transforming their own suffering into something that serves their faith, and their larger religious

community.

The contradictions in ideology that they are asked to resolve are not only felt by those

aboard the ship. The goal of a Puritan society can often become muddled in discussions of their

piety. Oftentimes of the same contradictions presented in the sermon are held up as examples of

incompetence. If the Puritans were truly committed to the idea that they are undeserving; and life

should be simple and plain, then would they not take a more traditionally ascetic route? Others

might say that the Puritan way of life is too extreme, and should be more forgiving. Perry Miller,

whose accounts of Puritan life and piety are critical in this conversation, explains that these

conflicts do not have as much weight as we might think. In his book The New England Mind he

takes the time to iron out many assumptions made about the Puritans, and where those

assumptions miss the mark. Miller’s writing allows for a nuanced understanding of Puritans,

which strives to paint a full picture of their faith and society. This work is important for my
 11

project because it allows us to see the Puritans more completely; it includes their contradictions

and uncertainties as a piece of their faith and writing, a piece that should not be shied away from.

Miller explains that many assumptions about the Puritan lifestyle are based on their later

modes of conduct; where there is a denunciation of clothing inappropriate to class, accruing

wealth, and earthly sensibilities in general (Miller 36). Much of this has diverged from the core

of Puritan life which is more “scholastical,” as Miller describes it. Puritans do not find life to be

tedious and tiresome; their life in the colonies is challenging, physically and otherwise, but their

task is to find joy and faith within their suffering.

I want to emphasize Miller’s positioning of Puritan religion as an intellectual pursuit, as

well as spiritual pursuit for the Puritans. Miller explains in his chapter “The Intellectual

Character” that many people assume Puritans to see philosophical thought and academic pursuits

to be luxurious and therefore irrelevant, or even offensive, to their piety. “It has been assumed

that the Puritan mind was too weighed down by the load of dogma to be worth considering in

and for itself” (Miller, 64). This is not the case. Puritan sermons are meticulously crafted

arguments, using textual evidence from the Bible at every turn. In order to purposefully distance

themselves from frivolity in sermons they carefully reason through their argument. The authors

of the sermons present their argument for how scripture should be taken up and acted upon.

“Religion is revealed in Scripture, but it is proposed to the mind by the ministry” (Miller, 67). To

properly engage with the word of God it needs to be carefully considered and reasoned with.

Winthrop’s sermon reasons through what he sees as conflicting in the scripture, he sees

breaks in reason and wants to expose these as the shortcomings of man’s comprehension, not the

scripture. The process of writing and reasoning through this is an act of resolution for Winthrop,

and it proposes to his audience a resolution on the issues being addressed. More broadly though,
 12

it also proposes a method for resolution individually. The practice of writing the experience of

piety is what allows the Puritans to resolve the contradictions they encounter. Winthrop is

providing a path for approaching the challenges Puritans encounter in their faith. He uses the

Bible and walks through his argument for a social model with evidence, and references his

audience will understand. His logic and reasoning are meant to be replicated privately. The act of

resolution bolsters their faith; the transformation of tension and conflict between ideas is an

important practice for the Puritans. This practice is often literary and personal, it is a spiritual

exercise for them to find faith and blessings in suffering.

Winthrop’s sermon is not only meant to serve as a model in action, his style and rhetorical

choices are meant to be models as well. There are very distinct styles of sermon that are used and

developed over time by Puritan writers. They serve distinct purposes, and are meant to have

religious and social implications. The Jeremiad is a good example of this; it seeks to emphasize

the importance of reprimand and the threat of eternal damnation. Sacvan Bercovitch’s book The

American Jeremiad seeks to explore this connection between the rhetoric and community, as well

as its continued impact on the myth of America. Bercovitch explains the link between this specific

type of sermon and its intended impact. “The American Jeremiad was a ritual designed to join

social criticism to spiritual renewal, public to private identity, the shifting “signs of the times” to

certain traditional metaphors, themes and symbols” (Bercovitch xi).

These distinct types of writing become powerful tools for shaping a society and requesting

social and religious change. However, it was important that these tools were not valued too much.

“Rhetoric never became an end in itself but was rigorously subordinated to conveying the

meaning” (Miller 165). The Puritans were not interested in upholding their writing as feats of

literature, they only want it to serve its purpose in conveying God’s message. If a Puritan were to
 13

value their work and talent, that would be offensive to God; their work is only a vessel. The rhetoric

can and should strive to be effective, but only so that the message is properly understood. The rest

of this chapter will work closely with the specifics of the sermon in order to examine the model it

creates.

Perry Miller introduces Winthrop’s sermon as follows: “For the heart of Puritan piety we

must go to Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation, we find the essence of the Puritan social ideal in

Winthrop’s exposition. Along with Bradford’s narrative, it is the fundamental document for

comprehending the Puritan mind” (Miller 78). This distinction between the social and spiritual

ideals is important. Miller places emphasis on this distinction because it points to something very

important about the Puritan faith; the Puritan faith is unique in that it moves beyond private

piety, they are heavily invested in building a society intertwined with their faith. Winthrop is

using this sermon to remind his passengers of the agreement that they are entering into, privately

to act piously, and publicly, to build a society which will honor God. Faith and piety are the

implied center of the social ideal being formed, but Winthrop wants to further define the values

of the Puritan society beyond private religious pursuits. Winthrop is not focusing on the specifics

piety so much as he is intent on defining how faith should present itself interpersonally and

socially.

Winthrop opens with the problem of the disparities between the rich and the poor; from

the beginning it is clear that this sermon is exploring the place faith has in social dynamics.

Winthrop presents his audience with a problem, and proposes solutions. The sermon serves as a

navigation tool in the creation of social identity, and its coexistence with private piety.

Winthrop’s audience is meant to gain ways of engaging with, and living in, contradiction and

difficulty as a part of their faith.

 14

Very quickly in Winthrop’s sermon we see that in the Puritan mind suffering is a

necessary burden to bear for the graces of God. It is noble to be able to come to terms with pain

and witness it in service of God. The wicked are restrained by God, and the poor are uplifted by

God. He lists the reasons why God has made this so, the main one being that God is then able to

“exercise” his graces through those who are suffering. Their suffering is critical to their purpose,

in this way they are able to see suffering as valuable for a larger purpose.

Winthrop continues the sermon by weighing the contrasting points of the law of nature,

and the law of grace, showing the ways that they might come into contradiction and how this is

meant to be resolved. The biggest difference he establishes between the laws is this: “The law of

nature was given to man in the estate of innocency, this of the Gospel in the estate of

regeneracy” (Miller, 81). Winthrop reminds audience that humanity created cause for law and

rule when we acted against God’s will. Toiling and the burdens of life became necessary after

Adam broke his promise to God and entered into a life of sin. Faith and the Gospel were not

given to us, or were not necessary, until we had given over to temptation. For Puritans, the crux

and origin of faith always comes back to a moral battle within the self, one that humans created.

The last example that Winthrop gives of the differences between the law of nature and

the gospel is instruction on how to deal with enemies. “The law of nature could give no rules for

dealing with enemies, for all are to be considered as friends in the estate of innocency; but the

Gospel commands love to an enemy” (Miller 81). Friend and foe become convoluted here, they

are no longer in stark opposition. There is a desire to reconcile contradiction to find unity in

purpose.

One key piece that signals a desire for unity in social vision and responsibility, is the

image Winthrop uses of a shared body. This image is used to link social dynamics to one’s
 15

responsibility to their faith. First the body is referred to as the body of Christ. “The end is to

improve our lives to do more service to the Lord, the comfort and increase of the body of Christ

whereof we are members” (Miller 82). The body of Christ is meant to describe their Christian

community; it is meant to describe people committed to the same cause.

This metaphor is used again in Winthrop’s sermon to emphasize the importance of

communal and religious improvement being the same cause. “We must delight in each other,

make others’ conditions our own, rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together:

always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, our community as

members of the same body” (Miller 83). Everything shared and built together is a part of the

“commission” which is their agreement with God. Everything they share is in service of God.

There is a large emphasis placed on “the covenant”; which is the religious and social

contract that Winthrop sees every person on the ship as entering into. “Thus stands the cause

between God and us: we are entered into a covenant with Him for this work; we have taken out a

commission, the Lord hath given us leave to draw our own articles” (Miller 82). The work they

see themselves as entering into is the creation of a Puritan society, and this society should reflect

the law of the Gospel. The purpose of this journey is to serve God in the creation of what they

see as a new world.

By the end of the sermon Winthrop makes it clear that if they are to arrive safe and

sound, that is to be taken as a shaking of hands, and a binding contract. If God delivers them

safely, they are all bound to each other, and to the purpose of the Gospel. This covenant does not

have to do with a promise from God to provide, but an agreement on the Puritans end. They are

working to maintain the covenant, and fulfill God’s work. By delivering them safely across the
 16

Atlantic God has promised them some sense of security in return for the work they have set out

to do.

Winthrop provides two main consequences for the failure to live and act within God’s

covenant. The first consequences are literal, and physically threatening, the others are rhetorical

and theoretical. The impacts of each become intertwined, and it becomes difficult to tell the

rhetorical threat from the very real physical threat. The first action that God could take against

them is that he will “break out in wrath.” This is something that his audience has feared at some

point on this journey. “The only way to avoid this shipwreck and to provide for our posterity is

to follow the counsel of Micah: to do justly, to love mercy to walk humbly with our God. For

this end, we must be knit together in this work as one man” (Miller 83). He speaks of God’s

wrath that would surely come, and refers to this as a shipwreck that must be avoided. In his

allusion to a shipwreck Winthrop evokes a fear that is familiar to the passengers. At this point in

time they have been on the ship for some time and surely have encountered the challenges of a

life at sea. When imagining what the wrath of God would look like what image could be more

apt than the tragedy they fearfully anticipate.

If they arrive at Plymouth, and they do not abide by their agreement, they could be

removed from the land once they arrive. “We be consumed out of the good land wither we are

going” (Miller 83). In this way, the Puritan presence becomes conditional; if God has not taken

action to remove them, they will continue to believe that they are meant to be there. In the

closing of the sermon Winthrop asserts this again. “The Lord our God may bless us in the land

whiter we go to possess it: but if our heart shall turn away … we shall surely perish out of the

good land whither we pass over this vast sea to possess it” (Miller 84). Their ability to remain on
 17

the land is, in their eyes, a sign of God’s blessing. Winthrop uses this threat to connect the

passengers to the land, as well as to motivate them to uphold the “articles” of the covenant.

The second consequence has to do with the narrative that Winthrop is trying to build. Not

only would there be physical repercussions for their disruption of the covenant, but perhaps more

devastatingly, people would speak ill of their God. They will be made into an example, Winthrop

warns that they “shall be made a story and a by-word through the world: we shall open the

mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God” (Miller 83). The fear of becoming a

cautionary tale creates a drive for his audience to be in control of their narrative, and to write

their own story. This section of the sermon emphasizes the relationship between narrative

construction and violent consequences. To speak evil is to enact violence, he carries on to warn

them of the curses that people will place upon them, spoken words with lasting consequences.

Fear of bodily harm and eternal suffering is what motivates the rest of the sermon, urging

the passengers to create a new world together in service of their God. Suffering together, and

fearing the same thing creates unity that Winthrop hopes will thrive. In order to form a cohesive

working community that will be prepared to face physically taxing lives, he evokes fear and toil

as acts of faith and service to God.

Winthrop’s sermon tries to provide resolutions to conflicts he anticipates encountering,

all while upholding God as the final judge. He works to connect public social life and private

pious life in a way that makes them inseparable. Winthrop wants private piety to be implicated in

all aspects of the functioning society he seeks to build. His sermon is a model for how to

properly apply private piety to public and societal problems that demand address. The next

chapter looks to the poetry of Anne Bradstreet to see where Bradstreet takes up the model that
 18

Winthrop has built in his sermon. In addition to examining where her poems move away from

the model, and something new is created.

 19

Anne Bradstreet: Private Practices of Reconciliation

Anne Bradstreet is a Puritan poet who was aboard the Arbella with John Winthrop as he

delivered his sermon (Hensley xxi). She had recently married Simon Bradstreet at the age of

sixteen before sailing across the Atlantic with him and her parents. Several other members of her

family also wrote verse in their home in Massachusetts, and her husband was described by

Bradstreet as a man who could “inspire a woman to passionate poetry” (Hensley xxiii). Most of

the information we have about Bradstreet’s history comes from her own writings. Most of which

is about adjusting her gaze to the heavens. She writes about illness and grief, joy in her familial

life and her marriage, she also writes about the Old World and expresses her doubts about the

new one. All of these poems come with a reminder to not distracted by the vanity of life on earth;

her writing always humbles her, bringing her closer to God. In addition to her poetry Bradstreet

composed “meditations” to guide her children in the ways of piety. Something to note about her

work is that she had no intent to publish her poetry; it was published by her brother-in-law and so

she did not get a chance to edit.

There are pieces which were shared with her family members more broadly than others,

and a few instances when she prepared eulogies. In her more private works shared with her

children, Bradstreet has made a point in her writing to be open about her expectations, and

difficulties in managing them. She is less open about her concerns about the New World

publicly. Upon her arrival she wrote that initially her heart “rose” upon finding a new world with

new ways. The colonies were in contrast to her comfortable life in England. She quickly

denounces this reluctance to change by reminding herself it is God’s will. Much of Bradstreet’s

poetry allows for contradicting feelings to be expressed, explored, and eventually resolved

through her faith.

 20

This chapter will investigate how Bradstreet takes advantage of the methods of inquiry

presented to her in Winthrop’s sermon to find resolution in her doubts; as well as how she

develops her own additional methods of reconciliation in her poetry. In attempting to lead the life

that Winthrop is championing Bradstreet encounters contradictions and difficulties. Bradstreet

has many poems that depict her struggles with illness. As we saw in Winthrop’s sermon,

suffering can be valuable when placed in the hands of God. Bradstreet does this in what is

considered to be her earliest surviving poem in Cambridge Massachusetts, when she fell ill, and

came close to dying. The poem is titled “Upon a Fit of Sickness,” and was written in 1632.

Bradstreet muses about the possibility of her own death; as the poem goes on she speaks more

broadly about the longevity and purpose of a life on earth. Believing herself to be close to death,

she is able to process feelings of grief and fear by bringing God’s plan to the forefront. She

makes room to fear death while also seeing her suffering as important to her faith.

Similarly to Winthrop, Bradstreet sees the imminent threat of death as valuable to

consider and voice. Her suffering is positioned as a testament to God, and a reminder of the

fragility of life on earth. Much like Winthrop, depictions of bodily fear are meant to motivate

action in service of God; the fear of death motivates a way of life. What she does a little bit

differently from Winthrop is that she allows more room for contradiction. She shows her reader

her doubts and questions. Even though she may feel conflicted, her conclusions always put their

faith in God.

Bradstreet opens the poem by asserting that death is one of God’s works. She reminds

herself, and her reader, that suffering on earth is a part of God’s plan and something humanity

brought upon themselves. “All men must dye, and so must I / this cannot be revok’d / For

Adam’s sake, this word God spake / when he so high provok’d” (Bradstreet 222, lines 5-8). Here
 21

Bradstreet alludes to the original sin of Adam, which cast humanity out of the Garden of Eden. It

is a reminder of what can happen when you do not live in God’s grace and serve him well. The

immediate physical suffering which can be experienced while you are alive serves as a reminder,

and sometimes a threat, of the reality of eternal damnation.

Bradstreet uses the image of a bubble bursting to describe life on earth. She sees it as

short and fragile but also asserts that this bubble is continually breaking. Life, to her, is waiting

and witnessing this bursting of a bubble over and over again. The metaphor of the bubble points

to a how short lived a life on earth is in comparison to the eternity of the afterlife. However, it

also indicates how tiring life is, and the continual striving faith asks of her. Bradstreet displays

the bubble as fragile, asking “O bubble blast, how long can’st last?” (Bradstreet 222, line 17). It

is impermanent and unreliable. She is sure to emphasize its insignificance and trouble it brings

earlier in the poem, “this life’s but small,” and filled only with “care and strife”. It is short and

fragile but also seems tedious and repetitive based on the way she describes the suffering

involved.

All this is resolved by the graces of her God; if death is God’s wish, then she should

accept it graciously. “O whil’st I live, this grace me give, / I doing good may be, / Then death’s

arrest I shall count best, / because it’s thy decree” (Bradstreet 222, lines 21-24). She is reminded

that death is one of God’s works and if she is to die by the word of God, that is something to be

grateful for. Her death is God’s demand, it is an errand that she is honored to complete in God’s

name. Even though the poem begins with a tone that laments her grim fate, as it goes on her

acceptance of God’s will continues to be more explicit.

In the beginning of the poem death is positioned as an ending point that is inescapable.

Towards the end of the poem though death begins to open into something more expansive
 22

connecting her to faith and something bigger. Twice she uses the phrase “the race is run,” once at

the beginning and once at the end of the poem. Both times the allusion to “the race” has a tone of

monotony, and struggle. However, the conclusion she comes to afterward shifts the focus

drastically. When she says it the first time, there is a finality to death. “The race is run, my thread

is spun” (Bradstreet 222, line 3). There is even a sense of grief or defeat when considering the

end of her life.

Ultimately this moment of illness and closeness to death makes her more attuned to the

purposes of suffering, and refocuses her on the afterlife. The second time we see the phrase “the

race is run” the impression given is that the struggle of life on earth was an obstacle to surpass.

There is something better beyond the race. “O greats the gain, though got with pain, / comes by

profession pure. / The race is run, the field is won, / the victory’s mine I see” (Bradstreet 222,

lines 27-30). Death becomes an opening by the end of the poem, it offers a new closeness to

God. By the end of the poem Bradstreet comes to the realization that she has won a prize

unattainable on earth. It is also clear that this closeness necessarily comes with a price. There is

pride in the degree of suffering that one can withstand in the name of God. The suffering she

goes through allows her to exercise her faith.

Bradstreet is also picking up on the rhetorical moves that Winthrop makes in his sermon

and utilizing them for her own purposes. I see her doing this in her use of pairs. Winthrop uses

contrasting pairs to depict a problem or a contradiction in his sermon; the poor and the wealthy,

the meek and the strong. They are sometimes in contrast with each other, or inverses of each

other. Another example of pairs in Winthrop is the figurative shipwreck meant to represent the

potential for God’s wrath, and the literal threat of a shipwreck. The comparison being made

between imminent physical danger and eternal damnation serves as a reminder of the threat of
 23

God’s wrath, on earth and in the afterlife. These pairs allow for consideration of the contrasts and

intersections between pious imagery and life experience.

Bradstreet uses pairs for a similar purpose in her poem “Upon the Burning of our House,”

written in 1666. In this poem Bradstreet processes the loss of her home by comparing what

remains with the home she imagines God has prepared for her in heaven. This consideration of

an alternative home is what allows her to come to terms with the tragedy of losing her family’s

home. The theme of pairs that Winthrop uses in his sermon is replicated in Bradstreet’s poem in

order to make room for tension to exist. and also help to resolve it.

Bradstreet explores her grief upon losing her home through her senses. Sight and sound

remind her of the memories she had in the home. She laments what she has lost and focuses on

the visceral memories of life in the home. Eventually, she turns her eyes upward, refocusing her

fondness to pious pursuits, beyond the physical.

In the opening stanza as she is waking up to find her house burning she tells the reader

she averts her eyes in sorrow. “For sorrow neer I did not look” (Bradstreet 292, line 6). She

describes herself averting her eyes as she looks at the ruins of the house, indicating some

unresolved feeling towards it. “My sorrowing eyes aside did cast” (Bradstreet 292, line 26). In

this poem she goes back and forth a bit; between recognizing that this is rightfully God’s will,

and lamenting the loss of her home, as well as reprimanding herself for this lamentation.

Bradstreet describes looking at the ruins and recognizing in the ashes places she would

sit, and company that she had entertained there. She reminisces about her favorite things she lost;

like a trunk, a chest, and a resting place. She also mourns the familial memories in the house and

the loss of the space attached to those memories. “No Candle ‘ere shall shine in Thee, / Nor

bridegroom’s voice ere heard shall bee. / In silence ever shalt thou lye; / Adeiu, Adeiu; All’s
 24

vanity” (Bradstreet 293, lines 37-40). Although she admits at the end of these lines that her

attachment to what she lost in the fire is self-serving, she is still conflicted by the fondness she

feels.

Bradstreet has been lamenting the loss of spaces and things, but right before this she

gives attention to the stories that have been lost. “No pleasant tale shall e’er be told, / Nor things

recounted done of old” (Bradstreet 293, lines 35-36). Much like Winthrop, Bradstreet recognizes

the impact of a story can have. Winthrop warns of the power of a negative word spoken about his

people. Bradstreet grieves the loss of positive moments where she could reminisce with her

husband.

She remembers the company she shared in the home speaking about hosting parties, and

as she describes in the above quotation, sharing the space with her husband. She focuses on the

voice of her husband, moving through all these memories with a focus on the senses. The

attention given to the visceral memory makes the contrast of a home in the afterlife more

impactful; it is a conflicted expression of grief. She finds her attachment to material possession

morally troubling, but also, she reminisces about parts of the home that were based in physical

experience, and the memories that go beyond that.

As Bradstreet describes her home and the burning of her belongings she shifts the way

she talks about them. She places her material belongings in the hands of God. We watch the tone

shift as what was once hers is burned and she declares it to be God’s.

And, when I could no longer look,

I blest his Name that gave and took,
That layd my good now in the dust:
Yea so it was, and so ‘twas just.
It was his own: it was not mine;
Far be it that I should repine (Bradstreet 292, lines 17-22)
 25

As she watches her home burn she makes a point to say that it was God who gave these things to

her. For this reason, she asserts that it was “just” for the home to have burned, for it was not hers

in the first place. She ends this stanza by saying that she should not feel upset because she knows

it is not religiously correct for her to feel so attached to material possessions.

Through her observation of the home Bradstreet is able to come to terms with the

tragedy. By the end of the poem it seems that she is more settled. “Raise up thy thoughts above

the skye” (Bradstreet 293, line 45). Though she does not speak directly to her gaze, it is implied.

She lifts her thoughts, and eyes, to heaven. She is no longer averting her eyes, or woefully

scanning the ruins, she concludes the poem fixed on heaven.

In the next stanzas she describes the permanent home that God has prepared for her.

Bradstreet comforts herself and finds peace with reminders that God has better plans,

metaphorically and literally. She speaks about God as the “mighty architect” of the home that

awaits her. What is interesting about this description of the home is that it is still focused on the

physical design of the home. “With glory richly furnished, / Stands permanent tho’ this bee fled.

/ It’s purchased and paid for too” (Bradstreet 293, lines 49-51). What is the most desirable part of

the home it its permanence. Heaven is an escape from the fleeting nature of life on earth and the

impermanence of earthly possessions. The home in heaven will replace the one which has

burned. These two homes are a pair that contrast each other in their permanence, which helps her

to recall her commitment to her faith and rejection of life on earth.

Bradstreet engages more explicitly with the rhetorical construction of pairs in her poem

“The Flesh and The Spirit.” Bradstreet takes the tension between a pious life and the needs of the

body, and abstracts the two components of the problem into characters in dialogue. The spirit

and the flesh are sisters who argue with each other and cannot reconcile their differences. The
 26

poem is written in a way that gives the impression that they have been arguing since the

beginning of time. The poem recounts a story of struggle between these two sisters; on that is

long lasting, and well known.

Bradstreet depicts a back and forth that is personal and internal, and making it a more

publicly visible fight between two sisters. A personal battle is turned inside out and exposed to

the world, it is biblical in how long lasting this conflict is depicted as. The characters are nothing

more than feelings they represent. This is another narrative Puritan audiences can envision

themselves as continuing, similar to Winthrop it urges the audience to follow the method of

reconciliation the author presents. It allows for faltering, it shows miss steps, and it provides an

avenue for reconciliation. Winthrop’s sermon places a lot of pressure on the individual, to uphold

the covenant with God and act in all ways for him. That pressure when you inevitably falter

could become immobilizing. Bradstreet is envisioning a way through this fear, through the

difficulties of faith by presenting her doubts dialectically.

Throughout the poem, Bradstreet works in rhyming couplets, giving the poem a distinct

rhythm. There are few moments in the poem where the rhyme scheme is broken. I want to

consider what feeling these breaks evoke in the poem. They are abrupt and jarring since the rest

of the lines are written in a way that leads up to the rhyme. So, when the rhyme falls short, we

are left with the feeling that something is missing. Most of the time it feels like you are set up to

finish the rhyme, then when you finish the line you find yourself stumbling over its conclusion,

doubting yourself. I want to be attentive to these breaks in rhyme, they build confusion and

tension in the poem.

The poem depicts a struggle and a tension between two entities, rhyme makes the reader

feel the tension within themselves. The breaks are an interruption of certainty, ushering in the
 27

unknown. When I read this poem aloud, I am trusting the rhyme scheme and the rhythm to carry

me to the end of a line with ease. I am trusting that even though I cannot know what is next, the

structure of the poem prepares me to finish the couplet gracefully. When this rhythm breaks, and

I stumble over my words, I continue reading the poem a little less certain. I proceed with more

caution, but I still put faith in the rhyme and eventually settle into its rhythm again.

This poem depicts a struggle, one that is difficult and lasting. Bradstreet is expressing an

exhaustion with this struggle between body and mind. To keep fighting she holds tight to the

promises of heaven, and the faith that it will be everything she has been told and more. Theory,

scripture, and prayer are all knocking up against the bodies experience of struggle. The moments

where the rhyme scheme breaks reveal a break in certainty in some ways. They point out the

difficulty and longevity of this fight and the ways that it wears on the spirit. Faith lives in these

breaks, faith is the act of continuing the struggle despite the discrepancy and difficulty. The

breaks in rhyme are not a fumbling on the authors part. They are contributing to the expression

of contrast and resolution that Bradstreet is committed to making space for.

The first notable instance where there is a break in the pattern is in the opening moments

of the poem when the flesh addresses her sister, spirit. “Doth contemplation feed thee, so /

Regardlessly to let earth go? / Can speculation satisfy / Notion without reality?” (Bradstreet 215,

lines 12-15). Speculation is separated from evidence and experiential fact, to be satiated would

be to have that certainty of fact and of experience. The break between “satisfy” and “reality”

points to a key piece of the tension that I began to explain above. The tension here lies between

the abstract of the spiritual world, and the human reality of having a physical experience. Flesh

asks the spirit, are you so satisfied with thought that you don’t need your physical body? This

inquiry is then what moves us into the break. The trouble of a Puritan’s existence is that no
 28

matter how much you commit yourself to your faith, and your study of the scripture, and

contemplation, you are still met with the troubles of having a life that is vulnerable. Resolving

this problem is not possible in this world, and to come to terms with that is the work of faith.

Later in the poem the contrast between theory and action is emphasized. “How oft thy

slave hast thou me made / When I believed what thou hast said, / And never had more cause of

woe / Than when I did what thou bad’st do” (Bradstreet 216, lines 52-55) What is interesting to

me here is that temptation of the flesh is presented verbally. Spirit is not swayed by the riches of

the earth, she is tempted by persuasive speech that feels like it is given in a whisper. The shame

the spirit feels comes from believing false words. Then the second piece of woe, as it is called,

comes from an action. What is most upsetting is only not the misguided belief, but the

embodiment of that certainty, the misplaced faith that is put into action.

Through her poetry Bradstreet is able to express the struggle between the Puritan doctrine

where toil is valued, and an instinct to grieve her own suffering and sadness. Bradstreet

strengthens her faith in the New World and Puritan piety though “versified prayers” (Hensley

xxv). The practice of writing creates space for reconciling problems that arise for Bradstreet in

her pursuit of faith. Her poetry becomes a prayer, for direct action at times, but also generaly for

peace of mind. She asks God to help her resolve the uncertainty she felt during the process of

Puritan settlement. In some of her personal writings Bradstreet makes a point to say that her

writing is not her own work, but rather, God working through her. As she writes she is provided

with resolution. For Anne Bradstreet poetry is a primarily private practice that is closely related

to the practice of prayer, in that she offers her doubts and questions up to be resolved by God.

In the next chapter I will look at the Puritan tradition of journals and personal narratives,

paying specific attention to the writing of Anne Bradstreet within this category. This form of
 29

writing does a wonderful job of showcasing the innerworkings of the Puritan mind and Puritan

piety. It also displays the complex relationship between social order and personal pious practices.

With specific regard to the role and “problem” of women in Puritan society these journal entries

depict an attempt at reconciliation between private and public expectations of Puritan faith.
 30

Puritan Personal Narratives: “This is my comfort”

Bradstreet’s poetry depicts a relationship between herself and God, one that is primarily

meant to remain private. She writes about internal conflicts and the ways that she resolves them.

The most personal poems act as a prayer, for peace in her piety. She seeks to resolve conflicts

and reshape suffering, much like Winthrop set out to do with his sermon. Poetry is distinct from

the sermon in that it is more private and personal, it is a practice that she can continue to come

back to. For many Puritans, and many members of Bradstreet’s family, writing is a powerful tool

for resolving issues of faith.

One issue of faith that we don’t often see resolved or addressed is the question how the

role of women in the church should be understood. Women were not allowed to take on

leadership positions in the church. Other Puritan women were exiled for their efforts to engage in

conversations about Puritan life and spirituality. Despite this, women were still expected to be

very faithful and committed to their spiritual practice. The conflict arises when the question of

audience and the public nature of this piety enters the scene. Women should be committed to

piety, as we will see in the writing of Cotton Mather, but not so much that they could assume a

leadership position.

Historically Bradstreet’s writing has been taken less seriously because of her relationship

to audience and intention. Though many praised her and admired her work, Cotton Mather for

instance, many readers also considered it to be a novelty because of her gender. I found that

often instances where Bradstreet is mentioned are in list form; clumped in with other Puritan

writers to show evidence of a train of thought in Puritan communities. Bradstreet’s work is often

only regarded as historically, rather than artistically, relevant; her depictions of home and

communal life give evidence of what was happening at the time, but are not regarded as serious
 31

literary works. They are seen as novel poems about a women’s life; the novelty is amplified by

the fact that she did not intend for them to be published. Though her work is well known and

respected, her poems are often deemed unassuming and non-threatening. This is the case for

many Puritan women who were writing and thinking about their own piety. As long as their

pursuits remained domestically focused, and appropriate, their writing was not a threat.

Many recent critics write about Bradstreet’s work apologetically. Forwards to her work

often include justification of her writing, asking the reader to remember the conditions it was

written under and forgive. In an introduction to an anthology of Bradstreet’s work Jeannine

Hensley speaks to the way these apologies often undercut her work. “Her work is ‘not a piece of

literature … only … a curiosity … a pitiful indication of the literary poverty of the days and a

land in which it was popular” (Hensley xxxiii). The redeeming quality that is offered up for her

work is that it shows the reader historical examples of challenges Puritans faced; as well as an

intimate picture of the Puritan home. It is seen as a novel illustration of a long-gone religious era.

Rather than what it has the potential to be: a valuable depiction of doubts, a tradition as it is

being discovered, and a moment in history still unresolved.

Bradstreet reveals something much larger about Puritan life than its day to day activities.

Anne Bradstreet’s writing shows how Puritans were using writing and literature as a powerful

tool in their spiritual practice. Bradstreet is using poetry to reconcile challenges and conflicts that

arise for her as she tries to live a pious life. Puritans see themselves as existing within the biblical

narrative as an example of God’s works, and the practice of writing down personal narratives is

often what cements that assertion in their minds. Bradstreet shows that Puritans are writing

without an audience or publication as their motivation.

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Although they were not published in Bradstreet’s lifetime, her poetry is regularly

published along with excerpts from journals she kept for herself and her family. She is

participating in a long-standing tradition of record keeping in religious households. This practice

is of particular importance for the Puritans. Many Puritan writers and community leaders kept

journals that were later printed and serve as valuable indications of time and place. This tradition

was not one kept only by leaders or authors; rather, it was common for household journals to be

maintained by all family members. This practice is aligned with one of the key pieces of Puritan

thought, which places importance on the internal dialogue of the individual. Your sin and your

salvation is first and foremost your own to handle. Individual access to critical thought about

spirituality and the bible is at the core of Puritan life.

This originates in the Reformation, where the ability to read the bible and come to terms

with its stories on your own was something to fight for. The ability to read and understand the

Bible on one’s own literary and analytical terms is a very important fixture in the Puritan faith.

The Bible was made more accessible to people during the reformation with the rise of the

printing press. Sermons became more accessible to various community leaders as an effect of the

reformation moving authority out of the hands of a select few church officials. They are meant to

move the people that hear it forward in their own lives and spiritual studies. The Bible shows the

truth but the sermon is needed to bring it to the people.

The Puritan faith centers the experience of the individual. It is very important for Puritans

to go through a journey of faith on their own and come to their own conclusions. As Perry Miller

so aptly describes, “religion was to be learned only from revelation and from the spirit” (Miller,

65). This experience of revelation was a journey that was meant to be traveled alone. It was also

meant to be difficult and taxing for the individual, and the lessons learned could not be taught.
 33

The importance placed on the experience of the individual is emphasized in Thomas

Hooker’s sermon “Repentant Sinners and Their Ministers.” “That which they have found and felt

in their own hearts, what they have seen and judged in their own spirits” (Miller 168). It is

important that the individual’s sin is felt with intensity, that they are “pierced with godly sorrow”

in order to fully understand the impact of their sin. This intensity should particularly be felt

when one realizes their original sin; sin passed down from Adam to all of humanity. Sorrow for

sin was meant to be devastating and could only be experienced along. No one can help you

discover it. In Thomas Hooker’s sermon “A True Sight of Sin” the discovery of ones own sin is

described as analogous to the difference between reading about an overseas journey, and going

on the journey yourself. “The one hath surveyed the compass of his whole course, searched the

frame of his own heart, and examined the windings and turnings of his own ways” (Miller 154).

You cannot just sit and read another person’s detailing of their realizations of sin, if you want a

written record to rely on the exploration of sin, it should be your own. Journals are a unique

depiction of the Puritan faith for this reason. This religious practice is very personal and made to

be very public as well in its publication.

Puritan personal narratives have not been ignored as sights of critical analysis. Journal

entries have often been a helpful source of historically relevant information. One well-known

example of this is William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation, which is essentially a journal

keeping track of the happenings of the New England colonies and settlement in their early days.

Bradford describes the intention of this writing as valuable to a longstanding tradition. “That

their children may see with what difficulties their fathers wrestled in going through these things

in their first beginnings, and how God brought them along notwithstanding all their weaknesses

and infirmities” (Bradford 46). By mentioning “weakness and infirmities” to be remembered by

 34

future generations Bradford admits to feeling the difficulty of justifying his own hardship.

Writing this narrative allows for the Puritans to imagine their challenges as serving a larger

purpose. The value of his work goes beyond a historical record; it gives purpose and religious

intent to suffering endured throughout settlement.

Personal narrative practices are a key piece of pious life for the Puritans. Perry Miller

describes their purpose as follows: “He needed a strict account of God’s dealings with him, so

that at any moment, and above all at the moment of death, he could review the long transaction”

(Miller 226). Bradstreet has used similar language of Gods “dealings” with her in her own

writing. These “transactions” between the Puritan and God have been given a great deal of

thought. This was especially true for men who were in leadership positions in the church and the

government. Their journals are often used as an exemplar of the innerworkings of the Puritan

mind.

Samuel Sewall’s diaries are another good example of this tradition. Sewall in particular

depicts a piece of the tradition that asks that every moment of a life serves a larger religious

purpose. He details the comings and goings of the colony, and everything he takes note of has

potential to be a key part of God’s dealings with him. It reads more archival than Anne’s at

times, listing names and daily happenings methodically.

Immediately a simple chore like feeding the chickens serves as a reminder of the

necessity of prayer and simplicity for Sewall. Most of his journal entries are like the one cited

below, he mentions a moment in his day that reminds him of a lesson or a biblical takeaway,

proving to his reader that every moment can become a grappling with sin and grace. Everything

can be referentially aligned with the narrative that is already constantly present in his mind, the

Biblical narrative, as well as the Puritan expansion upon it in the New England errand.
 35

Giving my chickens meat, it came to my mind that I gave them nothing save Indian corn
and water, and yet they ate it and thrived very well; and that that food was necessary for
them, how mean soever: which much affected me, and convinced [me] what need I stood
in of spiritual food, and that I should not nauseate daily duties of prayer, etc (Miller 240).

The banal details that Sewall chooses to highlight as a sign or symbol from God seems

excessive. What a life that every small chore should remind you of the inadequacy of your faith.

This is the first entry Perry Miller provides from Sewall’s diary, it is from 1677. As the

entries continue what we see is a picture of Puritan literature that centers instances of suffering.

The entries that follow detail the death of Sewall’s; child, mother, first and second wives, and his

classmate. The reader is told how and when he learned of their passing and is given pieces of the

scripture, and preachers, he turned to for comfort. What comes to the forefront of his work is

how he understands death as it continues to present itself to him. “I humbly pray that Christ may

be graciously present with us all three, both in life and in death, and then we shall safely and

comfortably walk through the shady valley that leads to glory” (Miller 256). When read carefully

it is a beautiful expression of grief, and Sewall’s efforts to process loss. In the end all he can do

is hope that the journey is easy.

Miller describes Sewall’s dairy as a valuable depiction of one man’s transition from the

seventeenth into the eighteenth century. Often it is most valued for its contribution to the

representation of this historical shift in the colonies. These journals are distinct from Anne

Bradstreet’s journals as well as the journals of other Puritan women. The journals of Puritan

women are often regarded as ahistorical, they are interesting but are not seen as influential for

the form of writing, or valuable for archival purposes. In the introduction of The imaginary

puritan: literature, intellectual labor, and the origins of personal life Leonard Tennenhouse and

Nancy Armstrong pay particular attention to this common theme. “We have connected gender to

the fate of writing. It is what might be called feminine writing that declared itself by nature
 36

detached from politics and history so that it might change the status, behavior, and political

objectives of writing” (Armstrong 24). In this introduction they go on to describe the ways that

this changes the relationship to the author as an individual and the broader intentions of writing.

The personal narratives of Puritan women give particular attention to the role of writing and

thinking about piety privately.

They differ first in subject matter; women’s journals often focusing on themes like

familial faith, duty, and the salvation of their children. Special attention is also paid to births and

deaths in the family in their recording of happenings of the household. The journals also differ in

terms of intention. There is no expectation of a public audience or their writings bearing on their

potential for social status. Puritan men who are in leadership positions were likely operating

under the assumption that their journals would be read, and deemed valuable, after their death.

Besides this difference in content and audience, there is also a difference in routine and

practice. Puritan wives are expected to manage the home and other “earthly” duties in order for

their husbands to focus themselves completely on their pursuit of piety. Increase Mather

describes the difficulty this caused his father when his mother died, “She being a Woman of

singular Prudence for the Management of Affairs, had taken off from her Husband all Secular

Cares, so that he wholly devoted himself to his Study, and to Sacred Imployments” (Ulrich 26).

For this reason, the journals of Puritan wives take on a different role, they are often a more

complex engagement with the home life of Puritans. They display the contrast between the

public and private expectations of piety.

In her essay “Vertuous Women Found” Laurel Thatcher Ulrich gives attention to Puritan

ministerial literature about women and their roles in the church. She gives focus to Cotton

Mather’s writing on this topic, and dissects it carefully. Before this though she opens with a clear
 37

list of what was expected of Puritan women. Ulrich begins each paragraph with a statement of

what virtuous women did and did not do, followed by evidence for the claim. A virtuous woman

sought God early, a virtuous woman prayed and fasted, a virtuous woman loved to go to church,

a virtuous woman read, a virtuous woman conversed, a virtuous woman wrote, a virtuous woman

managed well, a virtuous woman submitted to the will of God. Puritan women are expected to

engage in spiritual pursuits with rigor and unflinching commitment, all while managing a home.

They are expected to have the same responsibility and commitment to the scripture, church, and

personal considerations of it as any man of God. The last virtue listed, submission, tells us about

the contradiction that arises in the lives of Puritan women. They are meant to be intensely pious

in all the ways listed, but this commitment must exist privately.

Submitting to the will of God means accepting hardships of birth, the death of children,

or personal illness, with grace. Many of the challenges we see Anne Bradstreet writing about and

coming to terms with fall within this category of submission. Submission to God does not just

mean submission to God’s will; it also means submitting to husbands and fathers as spiritual and

social leaders. In this way, the public social sphere begins to encroach upon the private practices

of piety.

Ulrich turns to the writing of Cotton Mather to depict this tension, one which she

describes as the tension, “between presumed private worth and public position” (Ulrich 40).

Mather tries to resolve this conflict three ways according to Ulrich. Mather encourages women to

“enlarge” activities that will bring them recognition socially. He also pushes for recognition of

the activities that women are already doing that deserve praise. The last way he tries to resolve

the problem is to “deny the importance of status altogether, and turn his attention to the spiritual

realm” (Ulrich 36).

 38

As was discussed in the previous chapter, Anne Bradstreet’s writing often deals with

reconciliation of religious conflicts. Though she is not addressing the “problem” of women as

directly as the works Ulrich presents, Bradstreet writes about her struggle to submit in instances

of death, birth, and tragedy. I want to now look at how Anne Bradstreet’s journals, letters, and

meditations might make use of the three paths of resolution Mather presents for the pious life of

a Puritan woman. Does she ever address this tension directly? How does she reason her way

through it, and how is this tension resolved for her if it is resolved at all?

Anne Bradstreet’s piece “To My Dear Children” reads like a letter more than poetry or

prose. She makes it clear that this is meant to be read after she has passed. Based on the opening

paragraph, the drive to write this comes from a desire for her beliefs, and lessons to her children,

to be more lasting on earth. She expresses concerns that she will not get to speak to all of her

children before her death, and if not all, perhaps not in the manner she would like. So she begins

the task of recording her thoughts to lend her children a “spiritual advantage by [her] experience”

(Bradstreet 240).

With this opening paragraph setting the intention for the work we can see that Bradstreet

envisions her writing as capable of passing along her faith and the lessons she has learned. This

is not based in ego, she sees herself as a vessel for God to speak through. “I have not studied in

this you read to show my skill, but to declare the truth, not to set forth myself, but the glory of

God” (Bradstreet 240). This is not an uncommon assertion to make in the Puritan faith. Any

technical skill or stylistic practice she has picked up is not to serve her own purposes as an

author, but to more accurately tell the truth of her faith and her relationship to God. She also uses

this to speak humbly about her writing, describing it as “very weakly and imperfectly done”
 39

(Bradstreet 245). She explains to her children that if she had set out to write under different

pretenses, it might have been more pleasing to read, but that is not her focus.

Bradstreet’s letter to her children is very concise, each paragraph details a distinct period

in her life, usually marked by a shift in her relationship to God. At six or seven she begins to

understand sin, and makes an effort to avoid it; she becomes ill and find this to be an opportunity

to commune with God. At 14 or 15 she is “sitting loose from God,” until she is again ill and this

illness restores her relationship to faith. She describes her marriage and journey to the colonies,

being sure to include that she never strayed too far from God; as he often would humble her with

an affliction to “take her home.” She is sure to emphasize that any suffering that God gave her

only made her more committed to her faith. Impacting her reader so that they can also allow their

suffering to bring them closer to God.

Bradstreet admits to her children the doubts that have befallen her in her journey with

faith. She describes the various places where she has argued with herself; about the distinction

between Puritan and Catholic faith, the truth behind scripture and its origins, whether or not there

is a God. All this is resolved through God and his word. Bradstreet makes ample space to detail

to her children her doubts, indicating that admitting to doubts and striving to resolve them is

crucial to her faith.

She admits to questioning how much truth there can be to the scripture. “I never saw any

miracles to confirm me, and those which I read of, how did I know but they were feigned?”

(Bradstreet 243). This is a large doubt to admit to her children, she even admits that at times she

had been unsure if there was a God at all. Privately expressed, these doubts allow for a more

powerful kind of faith. She describes the arguments she had with herself as she tries to prove her

doubts wrong, and finding only more questions and weaknesses. Abruptly she comes to a
 40

resolution “That there is a God, I see. If ever this God hath revealed himself, it must be in His

word, and this must be it or none … no human invention can work upon the soul” (Bradstreet

244). Her doubts are reconciled by the fact of her faith, she cannot reasonably argue her way

through but she reminds herself that this is not her place.

Bradstreet does this again in her piece “Meditations When My Soul Hath Been Refreshed

With The Consolations Which The World Knows Not,” a lengthy title which explains how her

doubts are put at ease. The renewal of her faith cannot be found through argumentation and

reasoning. She reconciles her doubts with thoughts of heaven and her God. Though she works to

consider her doubts carefully, and takes the time to examine them, she finds peace in knowing

they will be resolved in heaven. “But this is my comfort, when I come to Heaven, I shall

understand perfectly what He hath done for me, and then shall I be able to praise Him as I ought”

(Bradstreet 250). Bradstreet allows conflict to exist, with the knowledge that the problem is not

hers to resolve. Puritans should try to resolve their doubts so that they do not “tempt” God to

resolve them, but ultimately, they must know, that it is not their problem to resolve.

This is what sets Anne Bradstreet’s writing apart from the other works that this project

has examined. Earlier in this chapter I said that I wanted to examine which strategies from

Cotton Mather’s writing that Bradstreet makes use of in his writing about women. Encouraging

women to recognize the value in the work they do, encouraging them to take on new kinds of

work that are more respectable, and finally to give the problem over to God. Though Bradstreet

may venture into his other modes of reconciliation, she consistently returns to the third solution

Mather presents. It is a solution that does not come from reasoning in the end, only her faith.
 41

Conclusion

This project has used the distinct literary forms of the sermon, poems, and personal

narratives to seek out the ways that Puritan writers address and resolve questions that arise for

them in their faith, and their society. Each form has sought to display a different relationship to

public and private expressions of doubt. The implications of a sermon are very different from the

implications of a private poem, or family journal. Though the forms vary, each one serves to

express the confusion, chaos, and misery that settlers created for themselves. My hope with this

project is that the reader will be able to examine more closely traditions they take for granted or

accept as settled.

Throughout this project my advisor and I continued to return to a set of questions when

examining a text. We asked what is it that this text “is, does, and is good for.” This set of

questions comes from a book by Richard Brodhead, Cultures of Letters, wherein he poses a

series questions to the reader in his introduction. “Writing orients itself in or against some

understanding of what writing is, does, and is good for that is culturally composed and derived”

(Brodhead 8). This set of questions is meant to place the work within a cultural and historical

context. Overtime the central focus of this project has become my investigation of how Puritan

literature seeks to ask questions of itself.

In Perry Miller’s introduction to Errand Into the Wilderness he explains why this process

of internal questioning occurs. “Thereupon, these citizens found that they had no other place to

search but within themselves–even though, at first sight, that repository appeared to be nothing

but a sink of iniquity. Their errand having failed in the first sense of the term, they were left with

the second, and required to fill it with meaning by themselves and out of themselves” (Miller
 42

15). This project aimed to show that literature was a key piece of the Puritan’s effort to create

meaning.

There are still questions left unanswered in the Puritan literary tradition. Kathleen

Donegan’s chapter on Plymouth is titled “Scarce Able to Bury Their Dead,” and it focuses on

anxieties around burial and death for the Puritans. The title references William Bradford’s

writing from Of Plymouth Plantation where he writes, “the living were scarce able to bury the

dead” (Bradford 95). Bradford presents this as part of God’s plan, but Donegan wants to display

the presence of death as something still unresolved for the Puritans. Donegan asks her reader to

consider what the dead demand of the living, and what is left unsettled. “The dead in and around

Plymouth need to be buried twice: once in fact and then in history” (Donegan 118). Similarly,

the questions the Puritan author asks of themselves and of their audience are still unsettled.

In literature writers continue to react to the Puritan religious and literary traditions. I want

to return to the writing of Nathaniel Hawthorne; a writer who is largely ignored by modern

audiences, but whose questions are still left unanswered. One of Hawthorne’s short stories titled

“Roger Malvin’s Burial,” focuses on anxieties around the task of a proper burial. Roger Malvin

and Reuben Bourne were in battle together; Roger lies dying and the men come to an agreement

before Roger passes. When Reuben is healed, he will return to Roger’s bones and give him a

properly marked grave. Reuben does not fulfill his commitment, and lies to Roger’s daughter,

Dorcas, who he later marries. He is riddled with guilt when he considers the unfinished errand.

His guilt does not leave him until many years later when he is hunting in the forest with his son,

and he shoots at a deer. Dorcas and Reuben approach what they assume to be the wounded

animal, only to find their son, dead, on the markings of Roger Malvin’s grave. Much like

Donegan, Hawthorne is asking how those who came before us can be properly laid to rest. The
 43

tragic turn of events that Hawthorne depicts in this ending makes his reader long for resolution.

Resolution of guilt, resolution of family history, and resolution for the errand left unfinished.

He trusted that it was Heaven’s intent to afford him an opportunity of expiating his sin;
he hoped that he might find the bones so long unburied; and that, having laid the earth
over them, peace would throw its sunlight into the sepulchre of his heart.
(Hawthorne 33)
 44

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