Paradisiacal Pestilence

Paradisiacal Pestilence
In her poem “For Deliverance from a Fever”, Anne Bradstreet posits that God causes suffering and, consequently, chooses whether or not to redeem people from this anguish. The poem reflects upon the torturous plight of having a fever in the 17th century, allowing the religious aspects of the poem to provide an antithesis to the grotesque description of illness. The intrinsic belief that both pain and alleviation comes from the grace of God, borne of Bradstreet’s devout Puritan faith, results in the inner turmoil of the narrator. As the moral and religious values of the narrator and Bradstreet mirror each other, it is likely that they are one and the same. If Bradstreet subscribed to the fundamental Puritan doctrine of
The poem initially details her illness and dismay. As Bradstreet writes, “When sorrow had begirt me round / And pains within and out. / When in my flesh no part was found, / Then didst Thou rid me out”, she shows that the fever brings her near death until God decides to cleanse her (231). Continuing to describe her symptoms, she reveals her fear of death and asks God to save her. She regains her heath and praises God for saving her, however, Bradstreet does not describe this redemption as one that God simply gave to her. She recounts her pleas to God, asking Him to “heal [her] soul” (232). By insinuating her own ability to bargain with God, Bradstreet comes dangerously close to going against the Puritan belief of predestination. She narrowly avoids blasphemy by not taking any role in her own recovery and, instead, crediting God with, “redeem[ing] my soul from pit, / Praises to Him for aye” (Bradstreet 232). This signifies that God intended to save her from hell anyway, for which she praises Him rather than blames Him for her strife. However, Bradstreet’s reluctance to trust completely in her fate exposes her internal religious