Bradstreet and Thoreau on Materialism:
The Doctrine of Weaned Affections and Self-Sustained Simplicity
Every Problem has a remedy, though this remedy often varies depending on the person who is presenting it. Factors such as their religious beliefs or their individual outlook on life determine what their remedies for a certain problem will consist of. The issue of materialism, a type of behaviour that has “the tendency to treat material possessions...as more important or desirable than spiritual values” (OED), has been in existence for centuries and carries on into modern day society. It is a lifestyle based on material interests and is lived at the expense of spiritual or other values (OED). In this essay will discuss the problem of materialism …show more content…
The doctrine stands for the idea that letting go of material needs and possessions is difficult but will eventually enable man to pave their way into the spiritual world. Bradstreet, an orthodox Puritan, was very ardent in her beliefs about this doctrine. In her poem “Upon the Burning of Our House”, Bradstreet demonstrates her remedy for the problem of materialism very well. After her house burned down, Bradstreet has a tough time letting go of her material possessions. For instance, she says that “My pleasant things in ashes lie, / And them behold no more shall I” (ll. 27-28). This perfectly demonstrates the doctrine of weaned affections as being the poem’s defining characteristic; it embodies the difficulty of Bradstreet gradually breaking her habit of visiting her burned down house and letting go of her earthly possessions. Later in the poem, she realises that the burning of her house was God’s way of taking away her earthly wealth and with that her vanity. This realisation enabled her to say goodbye to her burned possessions, “Adieu, Adieu, all’s vanity” (l. 36), and pave her way into spiritual salvation. Bradstreet stresses the importance of this spiritual salvation even better in her poem “The Flesh and the Spirit”, that personifies worldly desire and spiritual calling as the sisters Flesh and …show more content…
However, Puritanism was no longer as important as it was during Bradstreet’s time so the Puritan doctrine of weaned affections was not considered the best answer to the problem of materialism anymore. Rather, a more individualistic approach was taken by several important figures of the 1800s. One of these figures was author Henry David Thoreau. His spiritual autobiography “Walden” implements the idea that “Spirit is to be found by experiencing nature, not by retreating into the mind” (Schneider 100). Thoreau is arguably the most ardent disciple of Ralph Waldo Emerson, author of the transcendentalist essay “Nature”. Emerson, a leader of the transcendentalist movement, believed that God was within every human and could be found through nature. Thoreau puts Emerson’s beliefs into practice by moving to Walden, though he is not there necessarily to find God. Thoreau, through “Walden”, pleads for a life of “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity” (1018) and therefore moved to Walden as he “wished to live deliberately” (1017). To Thoreau living deliberately meant that man had to live a life worth living and should not think that there is not more to life than the thought that the “chief end of man here [is] to ‘glorify’ God and enjoy him forever” (1017). Rather, he advocates that man should look beyond their so-called reality and dig through the “mud and slush of opinion…to we come to a hard bottom…which we can call
The Doctrine of Weaned Affections and Self-Sustained Simplicity
Every Problem has a remedy, though this remedy often varies depending on the person who is presenting it. Factors such as their religious beliefs or their individual outlook on life determine what their remedies for a certain problem will consist of. The issue of materialism, a type of behaviour that has “the tendency to treat material possessions...as more important or desirable than spiritual values” (OED), has been in existence for centuries and carries on into modern day society. It is a lifestyle based on material interests and is lived at the expense of spiritual or other values (OED). In this essay will discuss the problem of materialism …show more content…
The doctrine stands for the idea that letting go of material needs and possessions is difficult but will eventually enable man to pave their way into the spiritual world. Bradstreet, an orthodox Puritan, was very ardent in her beliefs about this doctrine. In her poem “Upon the Burning of Our House”, Bradstreet demonstrates her remedy for the problem of materialism very well. After her house burned down, Bradstreet has a tough time letting go of her material possessions. For instance, she says that “My pleasant things in ashes lie, / And them behold no more shall I” (ll. 27-28). This perfectly demonstrates the doctrine of weaned affections as being the poem’s defining characteristic; it embodies the difficulty of Bradstreet gradually breaking her habit of visiting her burned down house and letting go of her earthly possessions. Later in the poem, she realises that the burning of her house was God’s way of taking away her earthly wealth and with that her vanity. This realisation enabled her to say goodbye to her burned possessions, “Adieu, Adieu, all’s vanity” (l. 36), and pave her way into spiritual salvation. Bradstreet stresses the importance of this spiritual salvation even better in her poem “The Flesh and the Spirit”, that personifies worldly desire and spiritual calling as the sisters Flesh and …show more content…
However, Puritanism was no longer as important as it was during Bradstreet’s time so the Puritan doctrine of weaned affections was not considered the best answer to the problem of materialism anymore. Rather, a more individualistic approach was taken by several important figures of the 1800s. One of these figures was author Henry David Thoreau. His spiritual autobiography “Walden” implements the idea that “Spirit is to be found by experiencing nature, not by retreating into the mind” (Schneider 100). Thoreau is arguably the most ardent disciple of Ralph Waldo Emerson, author of the transcendentalist essay “Nature”. Emerson, a leader of the transcendentalist movement, believed that God was within every human and could be found through nature. Thoreau puts Emerson’s beliefs into practice by moving to Walden, though he is not there necessarily to find God. Thoreau, through “Walden”, pleads for a life of “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity” (1018) and therefore moved to Walden as he “wished to live deliberately” (1017). To Thoreau living deliberately meant that man had to live a life worth living and should not think that there is not more to life than the thought that the “chief end of man here [is] to ‘glorify’ God and enjoy him forever” (1017). Rather, he advocates that man should look beyond their so-called reality and dig through the “mud and slush of opinion…to we come to a hard bottom…which we can call