Essay on The Flesh and the Spirit by Anne Bradstreet

In The Flesh and the Spirit, how does Anne Bradstreet illustrate the struggle between earthly wealth and heavenly inspiration? How do earthly pleasures (flesh) affect the human spirit? On what does each part of humanity feed? Compare the way she writes about this struggle in this poem with one other poem we have read this week. Consider the different ways humankind is confronted with this conflict.

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Ann Bradstreet is able to illustrate the struggle that exists between heavenly inspiration and earthly wealth by presenting the two sides as two sisters that are always in conflict over what they want and believe. The two sisters in the poem are to illustrate the dual self that everyone has and the fact that they are constantly in conflict shows the fact that the earthly wealth and the heavenly inspiration are always two different sides of the same coin. The title of the poem sums up the whole struggle by showing that the spirit is the good side while the body represents the evil side. This shows that the first instinct of every human being is to get earthly wealth or gratify their earthly pleasures.

Earthly pleasures are known to have a major effect on the spirit. The flesh is always trying to subdue the spirit of a given individual so that the person totally turns to earthly matters thus bringing an end to the constant confrontation that exist in oneself. The flesh tries to do this by constantly tempting the spirit with the material things of the earth as well as lust. This therefore may weaken ones spirit and make the person fall and go the earthly material side. For something to grow, it definitely has to feed. The two parts of humanity, the flesh and spirit, have to feed as well. The flesh feeds on earthly pleasures and material things of the earth. The spirit on the other hand feeds on the word of life that is the work of the creator. The struggle in this poem is different from any other poem because in this case, the struggle is within oneself. Human kind is confronted with this conflict daily in life when it comes to making decisions that go against what they believe in when it comes to religion and doing things that edify the flesh.

How do you see Bradstreets Puritan beliefs regarding love illustrated in To My Dear and Loving Husband? Consider the Puritan attitude towards earthly rewards versus heavenly rewards. What is her ultimate reward for loving her husband as she describes in the poem? Compare her attitude towards love in this poem with one other poem we have read this week. Consider the different types of love and ways of expressing it.

Puritans were people who were known to hold marriage with very high regard and to esteem it and they always considered marriage as the relationship that God blessed. It was therefore very important that love and respect remained at the center of every marriage. This belief is well reflected in the poem To My Dear and Loving Husband where the author clearly brings out the fact that their marriage was filled with love. She clearly brings out the fact that she misses her husband dearly and on a few occasion states the fact that her husband and she are united just to show how much they loved one another.

The puritans were people that were very religious and believed that the things that they had, especially marriage was from God. They considered spiritual things to be of more importance and that is why they held marriage with such high regard. The Puritan attitude when we compare earthly rewards to heavenly rewards was that heavenly rewards were considered to be more important and they preferred heavenly rewards when compared to earthly rewards. This is because the heavenly rewards come from God. According to Bradstreet, her ultimate reward for loving her husband is for them to be sent to heaven. According to the poem, this will make their love eternal.

Her attitude towards love in this poem is different from any other poem because in this poem, she brings out the fact that love in her marriage is an expectation since the marriage is gifted to them by God. The types of love that exist are agape love, phileo love, storge love and eros love. Agape love can be expressed by actions, you do something for someone and expect nothing in return. Phileo is expressed through friendships. Storge is the love that exists between family members. Eros love is the intense love that comes with romantic feelings. This is expressed by people in marriage or in a romantic relationship.