Anne Bradstreet Poem: By night when others soundly slept

Bradstreet, Anne "By Night when Others Soundly Slept"
March 23, < http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/209.html >


Reflection:
The speaker is once again a woman who displays a tone of gratitude for love and what it brings to her life. It seems as though she calls for her certain man, as if night is the only time she prays for his presence. Yet, she must be careful since she does not want anyone to know of her ritual. Since puritans believe that humans must relieve themselves of their materials and man-made objects and only embrace god. The speaker must be secretive of her pleas to the certain man. For example, "By night when others soundly slept…My waking eyes were open kept, And so to lie I found it best". This explains that the speaker is dependent upon her lover's arrival, since it must be a custom of the puritans for the women to be asleep at night, while the men are out. Thus only her lover can quench her agitation for his presence, "I sought him whom my Soul did Love, With tears I sought him earnestly…My hungry Soul he fill'd with Good". Apparently this man fills this woman's heart with such joy; it is pure sensation for him to be in her presence. Her tears, pain, and fear vanish while both this man and woman are brought to together in unity. This man is her savior, and she repays him through commitment and vows to experience eternity with him.