Upon the Burning of Our House
Upon the Burning of Our House by Anne Bradstreet
LITERARY FOCUS: THE PLAIN STYLE
The Puritans favored “plainness” in all things: in dress, in the architecture and design of their churches, in their forms of worship, and in language. Unlike the ornate “high style” popular in England at the time, the Puritan plain style used simple sentences and common words from everyday speech. The plain style contained few or no classical allusions, Latin quotations, or elaborate figures of speech. The plain style, Puritans felt, was much more effective in revealing God’s truth than the ornate style. Despite the fact that the style used by Puritan writers now seems hard to read, it was considered simple and direct in the 1600s. Although Anne Bradstreet’s “Upon the Burning of Our House” contains some figurative language, it is a good example of the plain style.
REVIEW SKILLS
As you read “Upon the Burning of Our House,” notice the way the following literary devices are used. RHYME The repetition of vowel sounds in accented syllables and all syllables following. METER A pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.
Make It Plain In the left column of the chart below are two descriptions of everyday objects written in an ornate style. Rewrite each description in plain style_as a Puritan might have.
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
Ornate Style Shabby but beloved, my shoes house my feet as they carry me from place to place. The pen spills ink-blood as it brings words to life.
Plain Style
READING SKILLS: ANALYZING TEXT STRUCTURES
“Upon the Burning of Our House” is filled with inversions. In an inversion, sentences are not written in normal word order. For example, Bradstreet writes “I wakened was with thund’ring noise” instead of “I was wakened with thund’ring noise.” Inversion is often used to make a poem’s rhyme scheme work out or to maintain a fixed meter.
Literary Skills Understand the characteristics of plain style. Reading
LITERARY FOCUS: THE PLAIN STYLE
The Puritans favored “plainness” in all things: in dress, in the architecture and design of their churches, in their forms of worship, and in language. Unlike the ornate “high style” popular in England at the time, the Puritan plain style used simple sentences and common words from everyday speech. The plain style contained few or no classical allusions, Latin quotations, or elaborate figures of speech. The plain style, Puritans felt, was much more effective in revealing God’s truth than the ornate style. Despite the fact that the style used by Puritan writers now seems hard to read, it was considered simple and direct in the 1600s. Although Anne Bradstreet’s “Upon the Burning of Our House” contains some figurative language, it is a good example of the plain style.
REVIEW SKILLS
As you read “Upon the Burning of Our House,” notice the way the following literary devices are used. RHYME The repetition of vowel sounds in accented syllables and all syllables following. METER A pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.
Make It Plain In the left column of the chart below are two descriptions of everyday objects written in an ornate style. Rewrite each description in plain style_as a Puritan might have.
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.
Ornate Style Shabby but beloved, my shoes house my feet as they carry me from place to place. The pen spills ink-blood as it brings words to life.
Plain Style
READING SKILLS: ANALYZING TEXT STRUCTURES
“Upon the Burning of Our House” is filled with inversions. In an inversion, sentences are not written in normal word order. For example, Bradstreet writes “I wakened was with thund’ring noise” instead of “I was wakened with thund’ring noise.” Inversion is often used to make a poem’s rhyme scheme work out or to maintain a fixed meter.
Literary Skills Understand the characteristics of plain style. Reading