“Some Verses Upon the Burning of Our House, July 10, 1666”
Anne Bradstreet, p. 28-30 in Elements of Literature Fifth Course
Notes (in note section) meter (p. 28, Bradstreet; p. 1178 glossary): A pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in poetry. rhyme (p. 28, Bradstreet; p. 1183 glossary) The repetition of vowel sounds in accented syllables and all succeeding syllables. inversion (p. 28, Bradstreet) The words of a sentence or phrase are wrenched out of normal English syntax, or word order: for example, “In silent night when rest I took” instead of “In silent night when I took rest.”
Writing Assignment:
Assignment after reading:
1. Translate the Holt Reader Inversion Chart into standard English.
3. Write in response to “Extending and Evaluating” [#6] on p. 30. Be sure to give specific examples! Some readers have felt that by so lovingly enumerating her losses,
Bradstreet is crying out to heaven in a way that unconsciously reveals more attachment to her earthly possessions than she would admit to. On the other hand, what Bradstreet does not reveal in this poem is significant: hundreds of books, as well as her papers and all her unpublished poems, were also lost in the fire. Using specific examples from the text, explain why you are, or are not, convinced that the speaker means what she says.
Poem text: http://www.annebradstreet.com/verses_upon_the_burning_of_our_house.htm
Anne Bradstreet:
-Puritan (wife and mother)
-remembered best for simple, personal poems
Here Follow Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House, July 10, 1666
-written in plain style – stressing simplicity and clarity of expression.
-inversion: switching words around from normal English syntax (word order): for example, “In silent night when rest I took,” rather than, “In silent night when I took rest.”
Standards
ELAALRL1.3.
a.i. sound: end rhyme,

ELAALRL1.3.
a.iii. figurative language:, imagery, allusion
ELAALRL1.3.
b. Analyzes and evaluates the effects of diction and imagery (i.e., and tone) as they relate to underlying meaning.
ELAALRL1.3.c.
Traces the historical development of poetic styles and forms in
American literature.
ELAALRL3.1.a.
Relates a literary work to the seminal ideas of the time in which it is set or the time of its composition.
ELAALRL3.1.a.ii.
Colonial/Revolutionary/National literature