Tuesday, February 12, 2008

"By Night When Others Soundly Slept"

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Bradstreet, Ann. “By Night When Others Soundly Slept.”
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/Bradstreet/bradstreet.html#dialogue

Ann Bradstreet (1612-1672) is one of America’s premiere Puritan writers.

Ann Bradstreet brings a warm, personal, and down to earth feel to faith in many of her works. In “By Night When Others Soundly Slept,” Bradstreet again reveals a refreshing approach to a healthy relationship with God. As with all her poems the structure is as well developed as the thought.

I was first introduced to Ann Bradstreet in 2007. Her works continue to inspire me with their clarity of thought and beautiful honesty.

Ann Bradstreet’s “By Night When Others Slept,” and Mark Strand’s “Black Sea,” are similar in their speaker’s desire for the comfort of another. In Strand’s poem the speaker is addressing a woman who might as well be on another planet. He wishes his loneliness would be alleviated by his love miraculously appearing on the horizon of the sea at night. Bradstreet however, is in search of a closeness that can be found regardless of location. In prayer Bradstreet is rid of her worry through faith.

2 comments:

arescoral said...

I really enjoyed "By night while others slept" too. It really struck me as to how alone the speaker seemed. I thought it was really interesting how the speaker falsely makes a person appeared out of the darkness. That really made me connect with the loneliness. I was pretty disappointed we went over this in class because i would have liked to write my paper on it and examine it further, but i chose "Delight in Disorder" instead. Which is pretty cool.

Amy L said...

I also was introduced to Bradstreet in 2007 and really enjoy her works. Instead of being gloomy and depressing like many poets, they are more positive and easy to connect with for me. I too thought it was interesting how the speaker makes a person appear out of the darkness because I thought it sort of suggested that we ourselves make things appear, or make assumptions out of something that is usually nothing.