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How has faith and religion come to shape American literature?
In this poem, faith and religion shapes American literature by detailing the aspect of an afterlife. Many American authors like Bradstreet might've included themes of an afterlife, and the difference between one's soul and one's real body. Their real body and soul are two different parts of a human that vary from person to person.
What role does faith and religion play in the lives of people in general?
Faith and religion play in the lives of people in this poem by showing a religion's belief in spirit, and how one's spirit is connected to their actions. Puritans believed that one's soul is born a sin and must be purified throughout life by God to be decided in heaven or hell. People committed good deeds with their "flesh" to have a chance of having a purified soul, and the people of the puritan community were generally people who abided by their laws and faith.
How can faith and religion blind people from the truth?
Faith and religion can also blind people from the truth in Puritan society. Many puritans were blinded from the fact that a soul and a human's real life body are two of the same things. They were thought the idea of both being two separate identities that they must perfect in their life. However, this wasn't the case, as their actions in life was the main reason for an afterlife, not what they were born with from the start (their soul).
How can faith and religion reveal truth to people?
However, it can also reveal the truth to people. The puritan belief of flesh and spirit gives Puritans the thought to believe in being perfect in life. By not committing crimes and offensives, it allowed for a safer community and better people overall. Although this belief can blind, it also opened up the truth of a perfect society.

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Additional Task for "By Night When Others Soundly Slept": Line by Line Analysis

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Additional Task for "By Night When Others Soundly Slept": Line by Line Analysis

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Line 9: "My hungry Soul he fill'd with Good". This line is Bradstreet's yearning for comfort and God gives her the comfort in the form of filling her soul with Good.
Line 10: "He in his Bottle put my tears". God collects the speaker's tears, which could symbolize God taking it upon himself to help her.
Line 11: "My smarting wounds washt in his blood". This line is another reference to the crucifex in Christianity which means that God gave his life to solving other's hardships. Bradstreet alludes to this be writing this line to show how God used his own body to save her.
Line 12: "And banisht thence my Doubts and fears". This line is about God banishing Bradstreet's "doubts and fears" which represents the sin inside her soul. God banishing these elements means that he's purifying her soul to be choosen as an "elect".

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Additional Task for "By Night When Others Soundly Slept": Analyze Diction

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Additional Task for "By Night When Others Soundly Slept": Analyze Diction

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Line 9: The word "hungry" is the personification Bradstreet gives for her soul, which is hungry for sin. The word "good" is capitalized to show the importance for what God filled Bradstreet's evil soul with.
Line 10: "Bottle" is an allusion to an important topic in the Bible
Line 11: "Wounds" is a word that represents her doubt and questions, which take up her evil soul and sin.
Line 12: "Banisht" is God's action that purifies Bradstreet's soul in response to his good actions. "Doubts and Fears" are two words that represent Bradstreet's sins.

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Additional Task for "By Night When Others Soundly Slept": Purpose

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Additional Task for "By Night When Others Soundly Slept": Purpose

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The purpose of the stanza is for Bradstreet to convey how, and how much God has helped her with her struggles. The stanza narrates the solution for Bradstreet's problem.

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Figurative Meaning: Opposing Puritan Beliefs

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Figurative Meaning: Opposing Puritan Beliefs

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Opposes puritan beliefs by showing how God should be vs. how he is according to the Puritans by showing how he helped Bradstreet in her dilemma. God is being praised because of his ability to help others, not his power. According to the poem, "And Banisht thence my Doubts and fears." (Bradstreet 12). This evidence alludes to God being compassionate to Bradstreet instead of showing her anger. Puritans of this time believed in God to be an all-powerful being that is angry all the time. Due to his immense power, they believed to give him all the praise. In the poem, instead of Bradstreet being afraid of him, God gives her the power to be un-afraid and not sense fear anymore. Thus, shows Bradstreet's view of God and how God shouldn't be feared for his power, but praised for how he chooses to use it against or for others.

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How has faith and religion come to shape American literature?
Faith and religion shaped American literature by making a profound theme of God and his involvement in American literature. Bradstreet's poem discusses God and his actions that saved her from her sins and how he purified her in this act. This represents a key theme in American literature as authors would use their faith as a central theme in their works. Or, they would include God as the main character in poems, novels, stories, etc.
What role do faith and religion play in the lives of people in general?
Faith and religion played a major role in the Puritans’ lives, exemplified by Anne Bradstreet’s vivid descriptions of God’s love in “By Night When Others Soundly Slept”. Faith and religion were encountered on a daily basis in Puritan life. The Puritans, including Anne Bradstreet, had a profoundly deep relationship with God. They believed that He loved them as much as they loved Him. An example of this is found in stanza three of the poem “By Night When Others Soundly Slept”: “He in his Bottle put my tears”. (Bradstreet Line 10). Bradstreet shows that God cared for her and loved her as He put her tears in His tear bottle. While this may not seem as significant for us living in the 21st century, for Puritans, who read the Bible on a daily basis, this was huge. This line references Psalm 56:8: “You have taken account of my wanderings - put my tears in Your bottle.” When the Bible was written almost 3,000 years ago, tear bottles were one of your most prized possessions. They were even buried beside you. For Bradstreet to say that God had taken her tears and put it in His bottle, she must have believed he loved her profoundly. This love helped the Puritans live in peace and harmony, as described in Bradstreet's poem, “My smarting wounds washt in his blood, / And banisht thence my Doubts and fears.” (Bradstreet Lines 11-12). These lines are referring to Jesus dying on the cross, and later to God banishing Satan to hell. With the knowledge that her God loves her so much that He would die for her and more, Bradstreet, along with many other Puritans, were freed from her fears and doubts that would have consumed them without their spiritual beliefs.
How can faith and religion blind people from the truth?
Faith and religion can blind people from the truth by including information about only actions of positivity in their religion, and not the downsides. Bradstreet's poem includes instances of her devotion to God, and only what good God has done for her. However, there isn't information about what led to God's help and what she had to pay God back with. In Puritan Christianity, the Puritans believed in the people to pay God back with gifts even whether he has helped them or not. Many of these aspects are hidden from the public eye.
How can faith and religion reveal the truth to people?
Religions like Puritan Christianity and others can reveal the truth to people by the actions of people in their religion. Bradstreet's detail about how God choose her as an elect is written in a way that informs the audience about how God can help them and the truth of Puritanism. It reveals to Puritans how God is a big influence in society and is part of every action.

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Connection to Puritan Beliefs and/or Time Period

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Connection to Puritan Beliefs and/or Time Period

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The poem “By Night When Others Soundly Slept” and basic Puritan ideals are intertwined by the idea of devotion, even if it is not easy, which is shown by the usage of unusual capitalization and imagery. Anne Bradstreet is one of the most famous Puritan authors and her works exemplify many aspects of Puritan ideals. The theme of devotion and pain are apparent in this poem, “My hungry Soul he fill’d with Good;/ He in his Bottle put my tears,/ My smarting wounds washt in his blood,/ And banisht thence my Doubts and fears'' (Bradstreet 9-12). In this poem she emphasizes her struggles in her life, and potentially staying devoted to God. However, with her continuing devotion God bottled, washed, and banished her obstacles. When God bottles, washes, and banishes her obstacles after she sought him down with love and earnestness, it shows the immense importance of unwavering loyalty and devotion to God. The usage of capitalization helped emphasize some of the key elements in this poem, helping to focus the reader’s attention on words such as “Soul,” “Above,” “Doubts,” and more. This helps the reader understand the theme of devotion by relating those objects and actions directly to the savior from above. The imagery that Anne Bradstreet implements in this poem also intertwines the Puritan ideal of devotion into this poem. The inclusion of intense visual representations, such as, “He bow’d his ear down from Above./ In vain I did not seek or cry” (Bradstreet 7-8). The image of God bending down to help this distressed woman, who has kept him in her heart, demonstrates the importance of devotion to the church and God. Those who continually remember their savior will be rewarded with his grace, hence, cementing the idea of devotion. Imagery provides reassurance and reinforces the message of the power of devotion, the reader visualizes the power and realizes the importance of devotion to the Puritan religion. Devotion is a vital component in the Puritan religion and the inclusion of it in this poem, through the devices of capitalization and imagery, demonstrates the inclusion of the Puritan religion in the poem.

Furthermore, the poem “By Night When Others Soundly Slept” and Purtism connect to the theme of cleanliness and preciseness of Puritan lifestyle through the usage of syllables. Anne Bradstreet, like many other poets, used elements exclusive to poetry, such as rhythm and syllable count to help convey messages as well. In each line of the poem, Bradstreet has precisely eight syllables, “By night when others soundly slept/ And hath at once both ease and Rest” (Bradstreet 1-2). The poem that is in-turn created conveys a clean and precise tone. This connects to the lifestyle of the Puritans by snitching the very fabric of the poem with Puritan beliefs and ideals. The Puritan church prides themselves on the cleanliness and preciseness of their practices and Bradstreet’s syllable structure helps to convey the unstained and virtuous styles of the Puritans. A poem that had a messy structure and tone would not entertain and correlate with the strict Puritan laws of the time. The cleanliness and percisness in this poem is meant to correlate with the upstanding and speckless life of an upstanding Puritan citizen, which is shown through the usage of syllables in this story.

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“By Night When Others Soundly Slept” by Anne Bradstreet supports the puritan beliefs and conversion narrative by the hidden meanings used in the poem. In her poem, Bradstreet describes how she asks God for help to subdue her struggle to sleep at night. In this plea for help, Bradstreet continues to express different emotions and experiences to show her love and devotion to God. In stanza two of the poem, there’s an instance of this expression, “My hungry Soul he fill’d with Good;/ He in his Bottle put my tears,/ My smarting wounds washt in his blood,/ And banisht thence my Doubts and fears.” (Bradstreet 9-12). Bradstreet displays that God vanquished the bad in her soul that was “keeping her awake at night” and involved good and positivity into her life, making these fears going away. This represents the Puritan view of God choosing few to be the “elect” or the ones to be saved from salvation. Puritans believed that all humans were born sinners, and throughout their life, God sought few out of many to be the true, pure ones of their society that deserves saving. Bradstreet details how God chooses her as an “elect” as he saves her from the evil depths of her soul that she’s born with. She also explains how God destroyed any fears that may have existed in her from ever coming out again. The language that she uses to describe God’s saving actions in-favor of God, and whatever his actions may be are prioritized. She also capitalizes words that aren’t grammatically correct to show their importance in God’s saving grace.

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How has faith and religion come to shape American literature?
Faith and religion shaped American literature as they created evidence for what shaped and what consisted of early American life. Bradstreet details how American literature was looked down upon due to many authors have strong positions on either supporting their religion or going against the beliefs of society. Religion made American literature be written in different formats to include subtle references to the author's own ideals or the community's.
What role do religion and faith play in the lives of people in general?
Bradstreet's poem showcases how Puritans put a value on humility and make fun of people who go against their traditions and beliefs. The puritans encouraged modest behavior in the community. They also believed that no one in their society should be overbearingly proud of their successes and status and keep it to themselves, giving them the quality of humbleness.
How can faith and religion blind people from the truth?
Faith and religion blind people from the truth by suppressing the truth of their society. Puritans, for example, put emphasis on God and his actions to protect the people from going against Puritan ideals and for everyone to follow through and worship puritanism. In this poem, Bradstreet writes about how the Puritan men that wanted to publish her book, had the goal to publish it to protect the people from finding out the truth of Puritans and instead, show that Bradstreet is a sinner and show her as an example into why one shouldn't go against God.
How can faith and religion reveal the truth to people?
Bradstreet's book in the poem is an example of religion revealing the truth to people. Her book could've told the puritans about the truth of their religion and how many rules of their faith were made up by the higher-ups in society. It could've also exposed sinners in general and women because women already lacked representation in Puritan life.

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Connection to Puritan Beliefs and/or Time Period

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Connection to Puritan Beliefs and/or Time Period

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Purtians believed in predestination which is the idea of God determining if a person is going to heaven or hell before they are on earth/or even born. Theme of perfectionism and how puritans believed in perfect ideas.

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Bradstreet's poem is mainly about her works of literature and compares her main book to a child. Her poem describes how she wasn't fully finished polishing her book for the public to see and it wasn't her main intention to publish this book of literature. She writes that her book was published due to her going against the Puritan church and its ideals. "Where errors were not lessened (all may judge) At thy return my blushing was not small, My rambling brat (in print) should mother call..." (Lines 6-8). This evidence is Bradstreet's explanation of her unfinished book and how she wanted to break the rules of the Puritans with this book, and the community wanted to expose her for being a sinner and breaking their religious laws.

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Bradstreet's poem details how her choices/actions are all represented by the child in the poem, which is actually a representation of her main work of literature, a book about her thoughts on Puritanism. In the poem, Bradstreet tries to fix "child's" actions on her own to make them acceptable in society. (Insert Evidence) Bradstreet's goal to fix this child is a representation of how she tried, but failed to fix her book to be acceptable in puritan society, while still trying to not go against God and puritanism abruptly and to the public eye.

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How can faith and religion reveal truth to people?
Bradstreet's poem shows how she truly believes in God and the Puritans. It shows how people should put trust in God and that his actions will come true if their thoughts and prayers are put toward God. However, it also shows the people how God might not always help them out, and can take them at the same time.
What role do faith and religion play in the lives of people in general?
Bradstreet explains how people ask God for help after the bad has happened and helps her overcome the loss of her house that has occurred. The puritans also depend on and plead for God in any panic-filled situation and they put their full trust in God.
How can faith and religion blind people?
Bradstreet's poem can detail how religion can blind people during times of distress and trouble. During her house fire, Bradstreet looks to God instead of coming to the reality of the destruction of her house, and the dangerous fire. She put too much faith into God when in reality, God won't be there to help in times of trouble.
How has faith and religion come to shape American literature?
Many American authors, such as Bradstreet, have included stories about God and his actions as a savior to save them from dangers. Authors have also discussed God's actions in taking things in return of a good deed.

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Connection to Puritan Beliefs and/or Time Period

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Connection to Puritan Beliefs and/or Time Period

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Bradstreet's poem supports the Puritan lifestyle. In her poem, she focuses on the connection between her and God, and how her actions are in relation to God's actions. Additionally, the purpose of her in society and under god's people. She details how other puritans can let go of wealth and trust in God. Also, that material wealth is unimportant in their society and God should be of their upmost importance.

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Bradstreet feels blessed by God even during the tragedy. This is called the Reverence of God. "And when I could no longer look, I blest His name that gave and took," (Bradstreet 13-14). Bradstreet prays during the tragedy of her burning house and is blessed that God responds and realizes the truth of the action.

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The house is a symbol of her faith in Puritan Interperation. Bradstreet's intention in this poem is to how she wanted this fire to occur. The fire represented how she wanted to be free or "burn away" from puritanism and their beliefs.
Rejection of Hardhsip on Earth meaning not elect
Bradstreet's writing how the fire is an action of God telling her and society that she isn't chosen as an elect. The fire is God's sign of how she will stay a sinner for her life and keep the devilish intent in her.
Evidence: Lines 5-6, 39-40, 42-43