The poem Contemplations by Anne Bradstreet is a description of the poet's response to nature and the creator of nature. In the first stanza, Bradstreet describes the tree top using literal imagery. She calls the tree top the rich golden head to describe the image of browning leaves in autumn. The description of the green, red, yellow in the components of the tree also uses literal imagery that describes the play of colors. The poet uses alliteration in the ABABCCC rhythm. This pattern is repeated in most of the stanzas. For example, in stanza three, there is the use of alliteration in words aspires, admire and also in the use of born, horn, scorn.
The first half of the poem emphasizes on the splendor of creation and how it must be a reflection of the creator and his majesty in his home heaven. Examples of this are Bradstreet's description of her curiosity about the oak tree. The description of the tree makes one visualize its size and reflect on its age. The sun and its brilliance are also vividly described by use of terms such as shining rays and the splendid throne erected so high. This use of literal imagery gives the reader a visual picture of the actual sun. The second half of the poem describes creation according to the bible. She is saddened by the life and death that human beings experience as when compared to the cycle of life in nature. Towards the end of the poem, the poet uses imagery in his description of the fish playing to depict the innocence and relaxation of childhood. The nature discussion also uses symbolic imagery to compare and contrast the best aspects of nature with the poet's perception of heaven. The poem is a vivid and sound description of the poet's image of heaven and its similarity to heaven on earth.
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Thoughts on the Works of Providence by Phillis Wheatley also has similar themes of religion and creation as the Contemplations poem. It uses different stylistic devices to pass the point across. For example, the use of symbolic imagery begins at the beginning of the poem. In line 6, the poet Wheatley uses the sun as an image of nightfall and sunset when he describes how the sun sleeps in the oceans arms. The sun is described again in the poem by use of a different term, ‘sol.' this time the sun is used as a symbol of authority as it usually seen to rule the world in its place of prominence in the sky. It is compared to God, the creator who is thought to live beyond the clouds and sun in heaven. It could also be seen to be a symbol of Jesus, the son of God. This is especially relevant in the first example where the sun sleeping in the oceans arms is described as Jesus in Mary's arms. The ocean, in this case, symbolizes womanhood, fertility, and regeneration of life. This poem also uses personification when the different objects are given personalities.
There is an additional use of alliteration that Wheatley uses as a source of rhyme in the story. There is no clear rhythm to its use but improves the poem's appeal as it is reasonable out loud. There is a sense of diversity in the description of a deity because it seems that Wheatley has an alternative God in the name of Phoebus. It seems that all the Greek mythological gods that are significant to the author are given a place in creation. While Phoebus is a personification of the sun god Apollo, who is remembered as the god of the future. There is also a reference to Selene who is the goddess of the moon. "Celestial muse, my arduous flight sustain," is the line the poet uses to describe yet another one of the gods held close to the heart. The recurrent theme in this poem is religion.
Here Follow Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House, July 10th 1666 by Anne Bradstreet uses a popular stylistic device that is used in many of Bradstreet's works. The alliteration rhythm takes the pattern of AABBCC. The poem uses rhyme to tell her story of despair after her house burns down. She uses the home that burnt down as a symbolic image of worldly desires. She uses it as a reminder of her Christian belief that her time on earth is just temporary just as her house was only hers temporarily. She convinces herself to switch her focus.
She is grateful to God for saving her life and that of her family. These lives are used as a symbol of eternal life which is the ultimate end of Christian life. It is as though the poet uses the saving of life as a symbol of hope and self-comfort because it is clear that she is distressed. Bradstreet does not hide her distress, but instead, she tries to overcome it with hope and a renewed faith in God. She uses a bubble as a metaphor that stands for the shortness of life. The shortness of life is used to portray the temporary state of nature that moves from one season to another. This is why she celebrates life although she is sick and currently homeless. The hope of a better life makes the suffering in the here and now worth it. Finally, Bradstreet transfers her security from her warm, secure home into a more permanent abode of eternal life with faith and trust in God. The theme of this poem is that of a balance of faith, love, and commitment to the things that count.
Another poem is To My Dear and Loving Husband by Anne Bradstreet. This short poem is vivid in the use of descriptions that show the poet's affection towards her husband. The poem makes use alliteration and rhyme, a feature which is common in many of Bradstreet's poems. This specific poem does not have a direct pattern because it is not written in stanzas but twelve lines like a Shakespeare kind of writing. The internal, as well as the external alliteration and rhyme, paint a picture of mutual love from both the husband and the wife. It also resonates with Bradstreet's theme of eternal life which is a recurrent message in her journey of faith. The use of symbolic imagery in this poem can be applied to the mutual love and respect that Bradstreet talks of. She uses the love between a man and his wife as a symbol of the love between God and his followers. This is an image of the continuity between the love of Christians and God here on earth and in eternal life after time on earth. The comparison of untold riches with her love for her husband is the use of literal imagery to show her love for faith or God over the worldly desires of the earth.
The last poem S.M., a young African Painter, on seeing His Works by Phillis Wheatley carries the theme of religion and freedom as well as the function of art. He uses the description of the painter creating his art, to bring out the stylistic device of personification. The characters in the artwork are given personalities and feelings. The rushing and lifelike images strengthen the author's communication. They can tell the painters story through his depiction and to Wheatley, this gives them freedom of expression. She uses the permanence of art to depict an image of the permanence of eternal life.
The poet uses the fulfillment of the artist through artful expression as a metaphor for fulfillment that comes from spiritual awareness. This is her way of advising that doing quality work will lead to occupational as well as religious fulfillment. Because both the printer and the artist come from a background of slavery, they use art as an escape. This is because, in art and poetry, there is no slavery. This is a use of symbolic imagery to create a state that is desired by temporarily escaping the state that cannot be avoided. Both the poet and painter use imagination as a device of personification to give their desires life. Fire is used as a metaphor for a hope that keeps both going. Finally, the shades of time that the poet talks about are literal imagery to depict the changing fortunes of their lives. This is an attempt to show that the past is gone and the future will be brighter.
