Verses Upon the Burning of Our House | Baamboozle - Baamboozle

English 16 Public

Anne Bradstreet, a Puritan wife, composed poetry, which her brother published without her knowledge or permission.

Study Slideshow

#poetry #american literature

Does EVERYONE in the Bradstreet family escape the fire? How do you know this?

Yes. "He might of all justly bereft/But yet sufficient for us left" (lines 19-20)

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What is the speaker's first response to hearing the "fearful sound" of fire?

She prayed for strength.

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The lines "When by the ruins oft past,/My sorrowing eyes aside did cast" emphasize that the speaker

is struggling to let go of her home

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What conclusion helps the poet overcome her sorrow?

She knows heaven will be her home.

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Name a line which contains a metaphor.

Answers will vary.

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An inversion is a poetic device where the writer switches the usual order of words in a sentence or phrase. Find a line that includes an inversion.

lines 2, 7, or 20

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What is the poem's rhyme scheme? How many syllables in each line?

AA BB CC...(rhyming couplets) Lines include 8 syllables. This is called iambic tetrameter.

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There are two lines where the -ed ending of a word must be pronounced as a distinct syllable in order to preserve the poem's meter. Name one.

45, 47

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The speaker mostly criticized herself for

valuing material possessions too much

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When Bradstreet writes, "I blest his name that gave and took" she implies

material objects are God's not hers

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When Bradstreet writes, "thou hast an house on high erect," she means

God has prepared an eternal resting place for all believers

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What was the "thund' ring noise" that woke Bradstreet?

The burning of her home

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In this poem, who is the "mighty Architect?"

God

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In the last five lines, what does Bradstreet wish to no longer love?

Possessions

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In the last part of this poem, Bradstreet uses "house" as a metaphor for--

the afterlife or heaven

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Bradstreet emphasizes both the things she has lost and

her memories of happy occasions in the house

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