A Gendered Approach to Bradstreet and Taylor

Anne Bradstreet, a 17th-century devout puritan and female poet, finds connections between the material and spiritual worlds through her domestic existence. Her work uses a feminine lens to take a close look at her personal experiences, often revealing her love for modest material things, such as her home and grandchildren. However, though it seems natural that she would care for some of her worldly connections, she is frequently admonishing herself when she feels she has cared too deeply, ultimately leading her work to develop the theme of material love becoming a distraction from spiritual devotion. Bradstreet’s work takes a gendered approach, highlighting her calling as a good Puritan woman to be a caretaker. Bradstreet often struggles to reconcile her responsibilities as a good woman and a good puritan, leading to a series of works that address the pressures imposed by gender in religious settings. Similar to Bradstreet, Edward Taylor is a devout puritan who contends with his material existence as an obstacle to reaching heaven. His work is often a reflection of his belief that he needs to overcome his body through purification. Taylor has equally taken a gendered approach, dubbing the material world and his own body as feminine. It is evident in their works that both poets are contending with the material world in a distinctively gendered way that takes the feminine and places it lower than that of the spiritual. Furthermore, they both actively acknowledge their struggle to overcome the material, allowing the reader to bear witness to what can only be described as an internal battle of self-discipline. 

Bradstreet’s emphasis on heaven aids in revealing a deep desire to rise above her material nature so that she can better access spirituality. Her works frequently describe seemingly normal human hardships being diminished by the concept of a higher place where she can find peace and joy. Perhaps one of the better examples of this is in her poem “In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Anne Bradstreet, who Deceased June 20, 1669, Being Three Years and Seven Months Old,” where she walks through her sorrow over losing a loved one. It is when she writes, “Was ever stable joy yet found below?” (line 7) that the reader can gather a full scope of how much hope and faith she places in the spiritual realm. This use of a question reads as if she is chastising herself for ever believing material happiness could be lasting. In this one line, she is letting the reader know that she subscribes to the common Christian belief that true joy is only found through God, in heaven. The poem continues with the theme of grief yet also continuously comes back to her being comforted through the notion of her spiritual beliefs. Another example of this can be found at the end of the poem when she claims, “Mean time my throbbing heart’s cheered up with this: Thou with thy Saviour art in endless bliss” (line 18), effectively claiming that though she is sad, she knows her grandchild is with God, therefore she finds comfort in this. This poem reads as if Bradstreet is walking down a normal path of grief, yet when she feels she has strayed too far, the reader can witness to how she will correct herself in a reproachful manner. This is to say she feels like she is a bad puritan if she lingers on earthly feelings and possessions for too long. Though it is evident her faith runs deep, it is hard to believe that she is truly able to overcome her human emotions by reminding herself of the spiritual realm. However, it seems much more likely that she is in a constant battle with herself, and through a deep level of self-discipline, she is accomplished in momentary reprieve of earthly things. 

Bradstreet’s works and struggles with the material world are directly colored by her gender. As a devout Puritan woman, she is called to be a caretaker of her home, to love her children, and to be an active participant in other material things that would fall under the umbrella of a maternal nature, ultimately subscribing Bradstreet to a very classic portrayal of femininity. However, this feminine nature is the aspect of the material world that she struggles the most to release. In her poem, “Here Follows Some Verses Upon the Burning of Our House, July 10th, 1666, Copied Out of a Loose Paper,” Bradstreet describes the aftermath of the loss of her home; more specifically, she tells of her sadness over losing everything inside and her fight to cast her thoughts towards heaven rather than lingering on her sorrow. After passing by the ruins of her home and feeling sorrowful yet again, she chastised herself by pleading, “Raise up thy thoughts above the sky / that dunghill mists away may fly. / Thou hast a house on high erect” (lines 41-43). The use of language here is very extreme; not only is she not allowing herself the right to be emotional, she is also calling her old home a “dunghill mist,” effectively diminishing its importance. To further contextualize this, it is safe to assume that her home held irreplaceable items with sentimental value; therefore, it makes perfect sense that it would be emotionally devastating to lose it all. Furthermore, it is vital to understand how her gender is informing her struggle here. She is wrestling with her natural feminine desire to care; therefore, when she disregards this aspect of the material world and says that it is all just a "dunghill,” she is ultimately projecting that same claim onto her feminine nature. It is with this new contextualization that the reader can understand how Puritans viewed femininity, safely assuming that gender is playing a large role in one's spiritual nature and more specifically that the material world and stereotypical female cares were grouped together and viewed as lesser than the spiritual world.

Edward Taylor’s work is likewise inflicted with his deep desire to become one with his spiritual self, believing that he must first overcome his material being. In “The Soul’s Groan to Christ for Succor,” Taylor addresses a plea to God for salvation whilst actively admitting his inclination to sin: “Though I confess my heart to sin inclin’de” (line 12). The use of the word “inclined” speaks to a natural desire, essentially allowing the reader to understand sinning is in his nature. This understanding shows the reader that he is writing on his struggle against his very nature in an attempt to be closer to God, a feat that aids in speaking towards the divide between the spiritual realm and Taylor’s material or natural existence. Many of Taylor's other works are riddled with parallels between the material and spiritual worlds, where he is constantly pleading with both himself and God, in an attempt to overcome sin. In “A Fig for Thee Oh! Death,” Taylor personifies death and uses biblical allusions to demonstrate a separation of body and spirit: “Thou struck'st thy teeth deep in my Lord's bless'd side: / Who dashed it out, and all its venom 'stroyed. / That now thy pounderall shall only dash. / My flesh and bones to bits, and cask shall clash.” (lines 7-10). This passage is in reference to Christ’s crucifixion, where he was stabbed in the ribs; the use of this as a connection to Taylor’s own body effectively allows for him to disconnect from his earthly form. In a Christ-like manner, Taylor not only surrenders his body to death but also embraces it, with a belief that it will finally allow for his spirit to enter heaven. Following this passage, Taylor’s relief over death being imminent becomes evident when he writes, “Thou’rt not so frightful now to me, thy knocks. / Do crack my shell.” (line 11-12), effectively yielding his body to death’s will, unafraid. These passages speak to an overall theme of the material body being a hindrance to spiritual fulfillment. Taylor actively seeks out ways to overcome this issue, ultimately embracing death as the great liberator of his sinful nature.

Taylor’s work is also colored by gender, and takes an imaginative approach to the material world as something that is feminine. In “A Fig for Thee, Oh! Death,” Taylor uses classic feminine slights to write of an immense distaste for his own body: “My body, my vile harlot, its thy mess” (line 24). The term harlot is traditionally one that has been used to describe promiscuous women throughout time; therefore, this statement now reads as an even greater separation of self for Taylor; not only is he imagining his body as of this world where his conscious form is of the spiritual, but he is also assigning his body to an entirely different gender than the one he subscribes to. Furthermore, the use of the phrase “vile harlot” is very intense language to use when describing oneself and only aids in solidifying the concept that Taylor does not identify with his body and therefore can degrade it. As the poem moves forward, he begins to employ a strong gender binary to imagine a traditional sexualized image of his body: “Nor for her safety will I 'gainst thee strive, / But let thy frozen grips take her captive / And her imprison in thy dungeon cave” (lines 31–33), further suggesting a misogynistic view of the female as something that is lesser, purely sexual, and in need of saving, or, as Taylor would put it, in the need of purification. 

The study of both Bradstreet's and Taylor’s poems serves a larger purpose in uncovering a consistent misogynistic narrative that has been present in Christianity throughout time. Taylor’s poems are not original in their views, seeing as much like many other puritans he is buying into a belief that women are somehow lower than men. Taylor imagines his own body, the evil temptress, as if it were female; thus, as a man, he is separating himself from his physical form and designating it to being of the world, casting an image of Taylor that reads as detached. Additionally, he is claiming a lack of spirituality in the feminine, a concept that is also evident in Bradstreet’s works and can be seen through her struggles to connect her feminine worries with her spiritual transcension. Unlike Taylor, Bradstreet is unable to fully separate herself from her gender and body; therefore, her struggle reads more on a personal level. Bradstreet is the victim of toxic puritan beliefs; she is rightly frustrated with how she is both called to be a caretaker yet is not allowed to care too much for fear she is too focused on the world. Like most women, Bradstreet's ultimate struggle is with the feminine being viewed as beneath the masculine. Both poets speak to an overall struggle with overcoming their natural selves and do so in a specific gender-inflicted way, creating relevance to their work, seeing as their misogynistic gendered approach is not uncommon in modern Christianity.

Works Cited

Bradstreet, Anne. "In memory of my dear grandchild Anne Bradstreet, who deceased June 20, 1669, being three years and seven months old."

Bradstreet, Anne. "Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of our House."

Taylor, Edward. “A Fig for Thee, Oh! Death.” 

Taylor, Edward. “The Soul’s Groan to Christ for Succor.”