Poetry Analysis: The Flesh and the Spirit In Anne Bradstreet's poem, The Flesh and the Spirit, one will find its content overflowing with figurative language and metaphors. The author is looking to show a comparison between materialism and spiritualism through the voices of different personae. The flesh is shown as a tangible entity that symbolizes the earthly possessions such as gold, pearls and diamonds (84) Each of these items contain price value whereas the spirit is intangible and insoluble with no earthly value(68). There are few in this world that have the ability to have the presence of a spirit surrounding them, much less notice it. As for the flesh, humans can be surrounded by these tangible things and treasures of the world. Being surrounded by their presence leads to self-gratification and the loss of fulfillment that is meant to come from God which the author portrays as "hidden manna". The use of the word "hidden" gives the idea that only a chosen few are aware of the manna. The Israelites were sent food from God in the form of manna and the bread was a blessing from the Lord. Puritans believe that only a few on the earth are chosen to live with God and that those people are the redeemed. However, this idea can be very elusive as Bradstreet uses many metaphorical descriptions. The imagery that the poet displays helps us to see the intricate beliefs upheld within the Puritan religion. Puritans are strongly against giving into wordy pleasures, temptations and desires and believe that the appearance of these things in their life will start them down the road of destruction, away from God.
At first glace, The Flesh and the Spirit is a bit confusing because of the layout. The poem is not divided into small stanzas, but rather one long stanza. Even though the poem is not hard to follow along with, the reader must be aware of the quick change in persona as the poem continues. The first persona seen is most likely an onlooker who saw the conversation between the sisters: Flesh and Spirit. We can see the role this person played as the narrator in lines 2-9. In section the following section the sister, Flesh, is introduced (10- 37) and her sister, Spirit, follows (l38-109), however the poet does not put each of the speakers into stanza form. In the first fifteen lines, Bradstreet uses close (slant) rhymes for the end rhymes which show us that even though the twin sisters are similar in origin and birth, at the end of each line (rhyme), their beliefs and values are deviated from one another. Throughout the poem, one can see the use of iambic tetrameter which can show symbolism to the angles of a square, possibly representing order and balance. Looking even further into the structure, one can also see that each meter (four pairs of iambs) in each line may possibly symbolize a box which is a square-shaped enclosure of the abstract traditions of the Puritans. The Bible tells us that the devil, a fallen angel, was sent by God to rule over...
