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- Reveal the truth
R&F reveals the truth to worshippers by showing them that morals should be prioritized over material.
- Blind from the truth
On the other hand, blind faith leads to people abandoning practical matters to chase a purely abstract idea.
- Play a role in society
Religion plays a role in society as a set of morals to aspire to. These morals disavow greed and avarice, traits associated with materialism.
- Shape American Lit
American Literature dips heavily into symbolic representation and romanticism, something done as a result of the strong religious influence pervasive in society.

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(5) She seeks God, who she loves with all her heart ("whom my Soul did Love") - Pro-Puritan; Idolizing God aligned with Puritan beliefs
(6) A sad Bradstreet sought for him persistently - Pro-Puritan; Aligns with Line 5
(7) God bows his ear down from the heavens - Oppose; God would never bow down to a human.
(8) She didn't request his help and cry for nothing - Support; Aligns with Line 6.

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Anne Bradstreet is seeking God to comfort her with tears in her eyes. This is part of her decision-making process.

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- Lowercase masculine pronouns - Since Puritans usually capitalize Him and His when talking about God to indicate superiority, Bradstreet not capitalizing his pronouns indicates a lack of that.
- Above - Heaven, or the place God is coming down from to meet Bradstreet. This is an inversion of the usual flow where the subservient person comes to Him. Readers can pick up on how Bradstreet treats God as her equal and not her superior.

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Shows how God should be, not how God actually is.
God is being praised, not because of his power or how he should be feared, but because of how he took care of Bradstreet.
In addition, opposition to Predestination (events happen FREELY)
Evidence = LINE XII (12), (13-14)

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Connections to Puritan Beliefs and Time Period

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Connections to Puritan Beliefs and Time Period

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- Stanza 4 - Bradstreet asks what to pay God back with
- People who were chosen as elects had to repay God
- Covenant Agreement
- Praise God with gifts and services in exchange for forgiveness. (Considered natural)
- People supposed to praise God due to his predestination.
- Devotion to God
-Cleanliness and Precision of Puritan lifestyle
- Structure of the poem is exact, and reflects the lifestyle

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--> People in general: Deep relationship with God (10) - Psalm 56:8 (Tradition of tear bottles)
- Religion allowed people to live in peace and harmony - Particularly sacrifices of the holy (Jesus) - Less doubts/fears
- God is the ONLY source of comfort because he determined everything.
--> Blind people from the truth.
Religion and faith blind people from the truth by allowing them to chase unprovable ideas. Bradstreet's poem is largely meant to be a conversion narrative, proof that she is one of the elect. However, experiences with God are impossible to prove/disprove, so the legitimacy of a narrative comes down to subjective opinion.
--> Reveal the truth.
R&F can reveal the truth to people by providing signs that they are one of the elect. Puritans interpreted differences between a person and the rest of society (such as insomnia, in Bradstreet's case) as an act of God, so these differences can be interpreted in different ways.
--> Shape American literature
R&F allows for the creation of a new style of literature called conversion narratives. The goal of the narrative is to convince the members of a church that the author has had an intimate experience with God.

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- Describes how she asks God for help
- Expresses different emotions and experiences tos how her love to God
- God vanquished the bad in her soul and involved positivity
- CONVERSION NARRATIVE - She is one of the elect

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Connections to Puritan Beliefs and Time Period

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Connections to Puritan Beliefs and Time Period

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- Influences opinions, especially about the self
- Normal to feel a bit self-conscious about your art or be afraid of criticism.
- Omniscience of Sin - Referenced via flaws and defects
- Predestination - The book was never going to be good or up to Bradstreet's standards.

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What role does faith and religion play in the lives of people in general? - Faith and religion provides a role for every person in the community. This is revealed in metaphors, where the "child" shows that faith implemented doubt and criticism in her writing. (Oppose) - Encourages humility and instills a moral code. (Support)
--> Reveal truth to people
Religion and faith help reveal truths to people by exposing flaws in their work. Bradstreet herself is an example of this, as her faith reveals the flaws and defects in her child, her written works.
--> Blind people from the truth
Meanwhile, religion and faith can block people from the truth by instilling self-censorship. Bradstreet can't publish herself due to her being a woman, and public opinion treats anti-Puritan opinions as sacrilege.
--> Shape American literature
As well as being a manifestation of her own flaws, the "child" also shows how the Puritan religion shapes American literature. Bradstreet in this poem is afraid of incurring criticism from the public, which is a testament to the power of public opinion.

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Brastreet's "child" is referring to her book that was taken from her and published by her family The poem describes the various flaws and bad qualities the book had, and how it was never to see a public audience. (6-8) The Puritan Church published the book in order to expose Bradstreet's desire to break its rules, and the publication served as punishment.

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The poem contradicts the Puritan View on two accounts. The first is Bradstreet's attempt to fix her child herself directly opposes Puritan Views. The Puritans believed that God only forgave sins, not the humans themselves; this doesn't align with Bradstreet trying to fix her child. The second count comes from trying to fix the child and change the outcomes of her choices. This conflicts with the Puritan notion of predestination, where all events are set in place.

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How can F/R blind people from the truth?
--> Bradstreet's house metaphor shows her waking from the delusion of Puritanism. Faith and religion can prevent people from seeing other options. She was blinded to the truth due to her religion.
People in general
--> Religion acts to relieve stress after loss and trauma, and it is also used to help people overcome hardship, as shown by Bradstreet herself.
American literature
--> Faith and religion come to shape American literature because it is ingrained within the fabric of American culture. With the entirety of society controlled by Puritanism, it naturally follows that literature would draw from religion as well.
Reveal truth
--> Religion can help people reveal truths by letting them read into events that occur in their lives. When the Bradstreet house burns down, Bradstreet interprets that as sin and avarice being torn down.

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Connections to Puritan Beliefs and Time Period

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Connections to Puritan Beliefs and Time Period

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Material wealth was less important than love, family
Items were much harder to make in 17th century New England
Devotion to God above all else.

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Faith in God over everything else - Allusion to Job 1:21
Rejection of greed - God over materialism

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The house = her faith in Puritan interpretation (5-6)
Rejection of hardship on Earth = not elect (39-40)
Trying to get away from the church (42-43)