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Early American Literature: In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Who Deceased June 20, 1669,

Being Three Years and Seven Months Old by Anne Bradstreet

Anne Bradstreet is one of the most prominent early American poets and writers. She

wrote various poems among them being “In Memory of My Grandchild Who Deceased, June 20

1669, Being Three Years and Seven Months Old”. She was a puritan woman who believed in the

will of God and loved her family very much (Smith p15). This paper seeks to discuss why I

chose this poem, what questions does the poem rises and answer or which question does the

poem struggle with to answer.

There are various reasons that can make someone chose to read this poem like I did and

enjoy reading it. One of the reasons is that the poem contains real life events such as grief;

therefore, reading it can help one to deal with loss and grief like Bradstreet did after losing her

lovely granddaughter at a very tender age. She engaged various ways that helped her to grief the

death of her grandchild which can help someone else who is grieving. For example, in the poem

she questions her grief when she reminds herself the child had gone to be with God (Neimeyer,

Dennis, and Michael p488). This is one way of helping someone who is healing because this will

make them not to feel so grieved of the loss because they believe it is the power of God to take

life.

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Also, the way she engages her audience in the poem is important in strengthening the

faith of those who believe in God and everlasting life. This makes the poem enjoyable especially

when the poet engages various stylistic devices such as use rhetorical questions and imagery in

the poem. This makes the poem enjoyable to read because as the reader you also try to answer

the questions that were disturbing the poet. For example, why did God allow the child to die at

an early age? But having the image of nature as powerful to determine fate of human beings

brings the healing process for those grieving. Therefore, this poem helps one to have answers to

certain questions about religion and how religion explains various occurrences such as death.

Additionally, the poem rhyme scheme is musical which brings pleasure when reading

Bradstreet’s poem (Neimeyer, Dennis, and Michael p491).

Lastly, the love that Bradstreet expresses towards her grandchild is very strong such that

it enhances someone to enjoy reading this poem. Love is an important aspect of human beings

such that when a loved one is taken away for instance the person dies it becomes a difficult

moment. This poem thus is important in helping someone who has lost a loved one on how to

heal from such. In the poem, she calls her grandchild various titles that express her affections

towards her such as in the last fourth line “Farewell my dear child, thou ne’re shall come to me”

it is a clear indication the she really loved her grandchild but nature has taken her and she will

never come back to her (Smith p22). However, Bradstreet believes that she will meet her one day

and all is not lost but her heart has to cheer up and deal with the situation.

Bradstreet in her poem tries to answer various questions but at the same time struggles

with the same questions in finding their answers. For instance, she answers the question of how

someone feels when they lose a loved one. This comes out in line one of the poem when she says

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that she has a troubled heart which makes her tremble while writing. This means that losing an

important person makes someone to be confused and frustrated which affects their ordinary life

activities (Neimeyer, Dennis, and Michael p496). Another answer that the poem provides is how

someone feels when they lose a loved one; there is frustration and lose of hope. These are

expressed in line four and seven when she questions if her hope is set to deal with the loss of the

child and in line seven when she questions if her joy is stable or it is a mixture of woes.

The question of how nature (heavens) decides to take away a little child that made her

happy makes the poet to struggle with finding out the answers. In line two of the poem, the poet

questions why fate has taken away something that was of important to her. This questioning

extends to line three of the poem, “How oft with disappointment have I met” Bradstreet seems to

be questioning further why God has allowed such a tragedy. She tries to answer it by saying the

tragedy has made her wise but the answer doesn’t satisfy her because she feels that her hope and

joy was taken away (Smith p29). Lastly, the poem raises concern about the loss of a loved one

especially a young child who might have had an impact in future on the society. This creates

more woes but there are hopes of meeting again since the person has been taken by the God to

eternity.

Conclusion

“In Memory of My Grandchild Who Deceased, June 20 1669, Being Three Years and

Seven Months Old” poem is one of the most popular poems by Anne Bradstreet in which she

expresses her feeling of grief plainly. This poem is important as it touches on real life events that

affect almost every person in society. Reading this poem not only helps someone who has lost a

loved one to understand how they can deal with grief but also gives opportunity to raise various

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questions concerning death. For instance, Bradstreet completes her poem by accepting the death

of her grandchild giving her farewell but at the same time wondering if they will meet again

(Smith p32).

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Works Cited

Smith, Helen. "Women and the Materials of Writing." Material Cultures of Early Modern

Women’s Writing. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2014. 14-35.

Neimeyer, Robert A., Dennis Klass, and Michael Robert Dennis. "A social constructionist

account of grief: Loss and the narration of meaning." Death Studies 38.8 (2014): 485-

498.

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