ENG 213
Short Assignment 1:
1. You have read the poems of Anne Bradstreet and one poem by Edward Taylor. Both poets are early colonists from England, and both were Calvinists with distinctive attitudes about the sinner and redemption. I made reference to these Calvinists in a previous email. Also, both of these writers were poetically related to the English Metaphysical Poets of the 17th Century. These poets chose subjects for their poems that could be described by certain poetic devices: similes (comparisons using like or as); symbols (a person, a place, an objet that stands for or represents something); imagery that provides words and phrases to encourage our senses to see, hear, smell, taste, or feel texture more vividly; and most importantly the metaphor that is a direct comparison between the subject of the poem and something else. Each poet has a perspective on some aspect of the family. Each poet creates a strong speaker who can express thoughts and feelings to the audience of readers.
· Choose two poems by Bradstreet. For each one, identify what you believe the speakers perspective on the subject and using the above, identify the poetic devices that help to convey the meaning of the poem. Discuss and use illustrations from the poem.
· Choose the poem by Edward Taylor on wedlock and children. Do the same as in the Bradstreet poems.
