Anne Bradstreet moves between domestic and theological concerns within a single poem, often using definite visual imagery for the domestic aspects and then moving off into abstract, spiritual matters.
"To My Dear and Loving Husband" initially seems to be a conventional love poem, as the speaker suggests that their union is complete that they are as one. She recounts her connections to her husband with multiple superlatives images, such as “gold” and “riches.” She brings in “the heavens” as solely capable of repaying what she feels she owes him. At the end, the spiritual dimension is strongest as she encourages him to think of their love as having positive effects that may factor into their salvation: “That when we live no more we may live ever.”
"Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House" has the greatest amount of concrete imagery of the domestic. It revisits the speaker's fear upon waking to find their house in flames. During the fire, they cried out to God for succor in their distress, but afterward they had to conclude that God had only taken back what was his. The domestic details occupy most of the second half of the poem, as the speaker lists the things they lost and will miss. The theological slant emerges most strongly, however, as they say goodbye to the things that represent false attachment to the material world: “Adieu, adieu, all’s vanity.”
In "To my Dear Children," the only concrete image is a book, which the speaker, a mother, says she is leaving to her children. This may be an actual book, either one that the poet has written or the Bible, or a metaphorical book, meaning the sum of what she has taught her children in raising them. The good values she imparts, the speaker says, and especially her love, will be accompanied by God’s blessing.
http://eada.lib.umd.edu/text-entries/to-my-dear-children/
https://poets.org/poem/my-dear-and-loving-husband
https://poets.org/poem/verses-upon-burning-our-house
Great question. Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan writer who came to America on the Mayflower. The Puritans came to America in search of religious freedom. Their freedom came at a high cost; this small religious group (there were only 102 passengers on the Mayflower) faced starvation, sickness, and conflicts with the Native Americans whose land they colonized. Living in early America, creating a new settlement, was not easy. Bradstreet and her fellow Puritans were strong individuals who survived great trials.
Anne Bradstreet's poems are surprisingly optimistic when we recognize the immense challenges that she faced. For instance, her poem "To My Dear and Loving Husband" discusses Bradstreet's great appreciation for her spouse. She uses a large amount of domestic diction in this poem. For example, she writes, about her husband, "I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold." There are multiple references to the love between Anne Bradstreet and her husband in the poem. She also writes, "Thy love is such I can no way repay." Some of her explanations of her love involve theological imagery. The first line says, "If ever two were one," which references Genesis 2. This verse discusses how two people become one person when they get married. She also writes, "The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray," which is another example of Christian description.
In "Verses upon the Burning of our House" Bradstreet writes that when she heard cries of "Fire!" she started to pray:
And to my God my heart did cryTo straighten me in my Distress And not to leave me succourless.
Since Bradstreet was in a new land, with few resources, the burning of her home, belongings, and even stored food could have been a devastating and hope-crushing experience. Yet Bradstreet does not lose hope. She reminds herself that in all circumstances, even tragedy, God is in control. This is seen in the following religious imagery:
Thou hast a house on high erectFram'd by that mighty Architect, With glory richly furnished Stands permanent, though this be fled.
In other words, though her earthly house burned to the ground, she takes courage in remembering the Biblical idea that God has a home provided for her in Heaven. This connects to John 14, where Jesus tells the people that God has a house with many rooms prepared for his followers.
This poem also has domestic imagery. For instance, the speaker talks of her household goods that made her home cozy and comfortable:
And here and there the places Where oft I sate and long did lie. Here stood that Trunk, and there that chest,There lay that store I counted best,My pleasant things in ashes lieAnd them behold no more shall I.Under the roof no guest shall sit,Nor at thy Table eat a bit.
These lines discuss the comfortable items and furniture that Bradstreet is sorry to lose. However, the speaker also includes another bit of theological imagery by referencing "Thy Table," reminding herself and her readers that God provides food for his followers, and possibly even referencing the sacrament of communion.
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