Comparing Anne Bradstreet's Poem, The Flesh And The Spirit

In Anne Bradstreet's poem, The Flesh and the Spirit, she acts as two arguing sisters. The poem begins with Bradstreet walks with grief when she comes across two sisters, Flesh and Spirit, who are arguing about the Puritan faith. The conversation between the two sisters brings up questions about the Puritan faith. Flesh asks her sister how she can survive on the meditation she does every day, because flesh doesn’t understand how it keeps her happy. "Nothing but Meditation? Doth Contemplation feed thee so Regardlessly to let earth go? Can Speculation satisfy Notion without Reality?" Flesh also asks if the result of having to wait for prayers to be answered and miracles to happen is hard on the soul. Flesh then goes on to tell her sister spirit about the realistic world filled with joyful emotions and wonderful materialistic things, like happiness and wealth. Flesh continues on telling spirit that all her dreams are "beyond the moon" and might never come true, and that spirit should enjoy the treasures on earth. when spirit finally speaks back she is angered by her sisters ____ and asks her to be quiet. She then tells Flesh to never disturb her heart again. Spirit says that she knows what she is doing, and she knows what she is going to pursue. Spirit tells and if her sister stops her from reaching that goal, she is an enemy. Spirit says that one …show more content…
She used characteristics that reflected the Puritan Religious views. She writes about how you have to have faith to reach the eternal life and that the Earthly pleasures mean nothing compared to the pleasures waiting for her in heaven. Bradstreet uses irony in this poem. When Flesh is telling Spirit about all of the wonderful materialistic pleasures Spirit says materials don’t have any value. But when Spirit is describing what eternal prizes wait for her in heaven she lists off materialistic things: royal robes, precious stones, royal walls, and sparkling