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Here Follow Some Verses

upon the Burning of Our


House, July 10, 1666
By Anne Bradstreet

In silent night when rest I took


A HERE’S HOW For sorrow near I did not look A

Reproduced with kind persmission of the vicar and church warden of St. Botolph’s
Reading Focus I wakened was with thund’ring noise
In lines 1–2, I see how the And piteous shrieks of dreadful voice.
inversion makes the words
at the end of the lines rhyme 5 That fearful sound of “Fire!” and “Fire!”
(took; look). In normal word
Let no man know is my desire.
order the lines read: “In silent
night when I took rest / I did I, starting up, the light did spy, B
not look for sorrow near.”
And to my God my heart did cry
To strengthen me in my distress
B YOUR TURN
10 And not to leave me succorless.1
Reading Focus
Re-read line 7. Now, circle
IN OTHER WORDS It was a

Church, Boston, England.


the inverted words. Then,
draw an arrow showing
quiet night. I slept peacefully, never
where those words would

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.


be located in normal English expecting anything bad to happen.
word order. Re-write the new
word order below. Then, suddenly I woke to the sound
of loud noises and screams of “Fire!”
It was a sound I hope no one has to hear. I sat up and saw the
light of the fire. My heart cried out to God, asking him to give
me strength and not to leave me without help or comfort.

Then, coming out, beheld a space


The flame consume my dwelling place.
C HERE’S HOW
And when I could no longer look, C
Vocabulary
At first I was not sure what
I blest His name that gave and took,2
beheld meant. I think the
speaker is watching her
house burn down though,
so beheld probably means
“looked at” or “saw.” 1. Succorless (SUHK UHR LIHS) means “without aid or assistance; helpless.”
2. that gave and took is a reference to the Bible verse Job 1:21: “The Lord
gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

12 Here Follow Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House, July 10, 1666
15 That laid my goods3 now in the dust.
Yea, so it was, and so ’twas just. D YOUR TURN
It was His own, it was not mine, Vocabulary
Far be it that I should repine;4 Use context clues to write a
definition for sufficient. You
He might of all justly bereft5 can then use a dictionary to
20 But yet sufficient for us left. D check your answer.

IN OTHER WORDS Outside, I watched my house burn


down. When I could not stand the sight any longer, I blessed
God, who both gives and takes away, and who left all I owned
E QUICK CHECK
in ashes. It was fair because it all belonged to God, not me.
I should not whine: After all, God had the right to take Where is the speaker now?
What is happening in this
everything away, but he left us enough. stanza?

When by the ruins oft I past


My sorrowing eyes aside did cast,
And here and there the places spy6
Where oft I sat and long did lie:
25 Here stood that trunk, and there that chest,
There lay that store7 I counted best.
My pleasant things in ashes lie,
And them behold no more shall I.
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

Under thy roof no guest shall sit,


30 Nor at thy table eat a bit.
No pleasant tale shall e’er be told,8
Nor things recounted9 done of old.
No candle e’er shall shine in thee,
Nor bridegroom’s voice e’er heard shall be.
35 In silence ever shall thou lie,
Adieu,10 Adieu, all’s vanity.11 E
3. goods: belongings.
4. Repine (RIH PYN) means “complain.”
5. Bereft means “taken away; deprived.”
6. Spy means “see.”
7. Store means “things put away for the future.”
8. e’er means “ever.”
9. Recounted (RIH KOWNT IHD) means “told about.”
10. Adieu (UH DYOO) is French for “goodbye.”
11. all’s vanity is a reference to the Bible verse Ecclesiastes 12:8: “Vanity
of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.” This verse ends a famous
description of the approach of death (Ecclesiastes 12:1–7).
Here Follow Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House, July 10, 1666 13
IN OTHER WORDS I often walked by my ruined house
A HERE’S HOW and looked at the familiar spots—where I sat, where a trunk
Literary Focus or a chest stood, where my favorite possessions lay. All these
When the speaker says fine things are burned to ashes, and I will never see them
“house on high” I think she
means heaven, but she never again. My house! No guest will sit under your roof or eat at
directly mentions heaven. I
your table again. No one will tell stories in you or talk about
know this is an example of
an implied metaphor. old times. No candle will shine in your windows, and no
bridegroom’s voice will be heard. You will lie in silence forever.
B YOUR TURN Goodbye, house—possessions have no real worth.
Literary Focus
Bradstreet is using another Then straight I ’gin12 my heart to chide,13
implied metaphor in this
And did thy wealth on earth abide?14
line. Who is the “mighty
Architect”? Didst fix thy hope on mold’ring15 dust?
40 The arm of flesh didst make thy trust?
Raise up thy thoughts above the sky
That dunghill16 mists away may fly.
C HERE’S HOW
Thou hast an house on high erect, A
Framed17 by that mighty Architect, B
Reading Focus
The last two lines of the 45 With glory richly furnished,
poem contain a tricky Stands permanent though this be fled.
inversion. Bradstreet places
“The world” before “no It’s purchased and paid for too
longer let me love.” This

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.


By Him who hath enough to do.
could mean that the world
no longer allowed her to A price so vast as is unknown
love. But here it means
something else. Bradstreet
50 Yet by His gift is made thine own;
rhymes love with above, There’s wealth enough, I need no more,
emphasizing that she is not
to love the world, but rather Farewell, my pelf,18 farewell my store.
God and heaven. The world no longer let me love,
My hope and treasure lies above. C D
D HERE’S HOW

Language Coach
An antonym is a word that 12. ‘gin means “begin.”
has the opposite meaning 13. Chide (CHYD) means “scold; find fault with.”
of another word. For 14. Abide (UH BYD) means “wait; stay.”
example, an antonym for 15. mold’ring is short for “moldering” (MOHL DUHR IHNG) which means
above is below. “breaking up and wasting away.”
16. A dunghill is a pile of dung or manure.
17. Framed means “put together; constructed; formed.”
18. Pelf (PEHLF) means “wealth or worldly goods; sometimes used as a
term of contempt because the goods are considered to be ill-gotten
or even stolen.”

14 Here Follow Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House, July 10, 1666
E LITERARY ANALYSIS

What is Bradstreet’s final


message about God and
material possessions?

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gift of Samuel Bradstreet, 1919. Photograph © 2009
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

IN OTHER WORDS Then right away I began to scold


my heart: Was your treasure here on earth? Did you fix
your hopes on things that turn to dust? Did you trust in the
human body, which is mortal? Raise your thoughts higher so
the mists that cloud your thinking will fly away. You have a
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

house that stands high above, built by a great architect and


filled with glory. That house lasts forever, though the one on
earth is gone. That house was bought by Jesus with his life,
a price higher than anyone can know, and yet he gives it to
you as a gift. That’s all the wealth I need; goodbye to my
earthly belongings. I will no longer love things of this world;
my hope and treasure are in heaven. E

Here Follow Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House, July 10, 1666 15

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