The Conflict in the Poetry of Anne Bradstreet

The Conflict in the Poetry of Anne Bradstreet. Write a 1750 word paper answering; These have urged many contemporary readers to rediscover this poet and study her writings afresh (Rosenfeld 80).Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate Anne Bradstreet’s unresolved conflicts in her poetry, her direct discussion of them, their unconscious presence in her poetry, and one’s ideas on the underlying reasons for these conflicts.Bradstreet’s life-long subject appears to have been the issue of understanding the relationship between opposites: of “flesh to spirit, of the earth to heaven, of past to present to future, of Old to New England, of generation to generation, of the individual member to the body of the congregation, of youth to age, of sickness to health, of summer to winter, of a husband to wife, of this world to the next” (Rosenmeier 122). These contrasting factors form the basis for the functioning of poetic imagination. This involves seeking out, finding, being guided by and also affirming the essence of the relationship between such contraries and opposing elements in the poet’s works (Rosenmeier 122).As a Puritan poet, Bradstreet based her ideas on Biblical elements and concepts, while at the same time writing on day-to-day topics. Even so, her poetry had no religious or political ideologies unlike those of her other contemporary writers (Mays 53). Further, Anne Bradstreet struggled against the dogmas prevalent in her contemporary society, expressing through her writing her strongly independent views against the subordinate position of women, dogmas and beliefs regarding marriage, whether there were a life after death, the purpose of human life, and attitudes towards various issues. The poet wrote under the false cover of complying with dogmatic rules so that she would be able to continue writing despite criticism against women writers (Stanford 378).&nbsp.&nbsp.&nbsp.&nbsp. The contrasting elements of soul and body, heaven and earth are joined by Anne Bradstreet is a manner by which confusion of concepts appears to occur.&nbsp.&nbsp.