Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Daily Inspiration for Bradstreet's Poetry





For people who enjoy writing and even for those who do not, writing can often be used as a means of expressing oneself. Some of history’s greatest poems came about as a result of bottled-up emotions that found their way to the page after being hidden away inside the author. Many people find that writing offers an escape from the real world, and a way to channel their emotions when it is hard to find the words to say. The first thing I noticed about Anne Bradstreet’s poems were how raw and personal they were. Because these writings, excluding the letter to her children, were never supposed to be read by others, there is an honesty to them that one might not find if Bradstreet had been writing for a specific audience.
When people are not writing to entertain or inform others, they are writing for their own personal benefit. This caused me to wonder what was going on in Bradstreet’s daily life that made her want to write. Was there something from which she was trying to “escape”? Is it possible that daily life was difficult for her, and she needed a way to express her feelings?
In her letter to her children, she admits that she was not entirely fond of the New World upon her arrival. I was interested to find out about her daily life, and if there was some aspect of it that caused her to do a great deal of introspection, expressing her feelings only to her pen and paper. I found that this is somewhat true. To begin, the journey to the New World itself was harsh and unpleasant. Lack of food and cases of scurvy caused many of the people on their voyage to perish before arrival. In fact, conditions were so harsh that many who survived the journey died shortly after making it to land. (http://www.annebradstreet.com/anne_bradstreet_bio_001.htm)
After the horrible journey, Bradstreet was quite disappointed when she arrived at the New World. After having to leave the Earl’s manor for this foreign place, she discovered sickness, living conditions that were less than satisfactory, and a shortage of food. This place had few similarities with the place she had called home. Despite the bad taste the New World left in her mouth, she decided to stay there with her family and do the best with what she had, even though she spent large amounts of time alone with the children because of her husband’s demanding job. (http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/16071783/lit/bradstre.htm)
Not only was she disappointed by her living conditions, but she was living in a time where women were not treated as equals. Women were considered to be inferior to men intellectually, and Bradstreet knew she was not. She had received an education from tutors and from her father, and she knew she was just as capable as any man. We can assume this was very frustrating for her, because gender roles were key in the religion on which she based her life. Though she was a very learned woman, she was tied down to more traditional roles in her home.
Bradstreet also had a history of sickness beginning in childhood. In her letter to her children, she speaks of the numerous times that she was sick and how she found God during those trying times. By reading her works, one could tell how much her spirituality meant. In her worst and most difficult times, God was her refuge. This is evidenced in the majority of her works. Here is a video that gives some interesting information about Puritan religion:
It is obvious how strongly she held to her religion through the tribulations of moving to a new land, and her religion is what she wrote about most. Bradstreet used God and writing about her beliefs and feelings as a way to cope with the changes in her life. Luckily, we have her works to paint a picture for us of what life was like during her time.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Religion of the Powhatan Tribe

Something that has always fascinated me about colonization of the “New World” is the nature of the interactions between its current inhabitants at the time and its newcomers. Today, it seems very farfetched to us that a group of unknown people could show up and claim someone else's land as something they “founded", being that there had been people there all along. The culture shock is unimaginable. With little to nothing in common with the English, Native Americans had to find ways to coexist with them, while trying desperately to preserve their culture.
In John Smith’s writings, he mentions acts and rituals performed by the Powhatans for religious purposes. Because I enjoy learning about other cultures, especially languages and religions, this sparked my interest. When Smith mentions the horrified reaction of the Powhatans when English colonists shot at their “Okee", it is made evident that religion was an important part of Powhatan life. This caused me to wonder what their religious life was like before it was tainted by the religion of the English. What was key in their religion? What was most important? Though John Smith’s crew did not colonize Virginia for religious purposes, we can assume that religion is important to them as well because of the religious references in Smith’s writing.
I was very interested to learn what the importance of the Okee was. To understand this, I had to first examine the Powhatan religion more closely. Powhatan Indians worshiped an assortment of gods and spirits in a hierarchical sense. Their two most important gods were Ahone, who was responsible for the creation of good things, and Oke (referred to by Smith as “Okee”), who was responsible for evil and war. Because they believed a certain god was responsible for all the bad things that happened, it only makes sense that they wanted to please it. They went about this by giving offerings to Oke, such as furs, food, tobacco and beads.1 This explains why they sought peace and the return of their idol after Smith’s crew shot at it.
Unlike Oke, the Powhatan people did not make offerings and sacrifices to Ahone.  Ahone was more of an abstract being who was never personified in folklore. They also believed that Ahone had no specific gender until Christian settlers compared Ahone’s benevolence with that of God’s, causing them to begin to refer to Ahone as a “he". 2
Another fact that evidences the importance of religion to this tribe is that the priesthood acted as advisors to the leaders of the tribe. There were two classes of their priesthood: priests and lower-class conjurors. Priests had the responsibility of keeping tribal history, presiding over rituals and maintaining the temples. Lower-class conjurors’ duties consisted of predicting enemy attacks and curing illnesses. Both levels of the priesthood made themselves distinct from the rest of the tribe by painting their faces and wearing feather capes and headdresses. They also attached bird feathers and blackbirds to their ears. 1
Anyone who is familiar with the Christian religion realizes how different these two belief systems are. It was interesting to learn about a religion that places such importance on nature, idols, rituals and sacrifices. Similar religions exist today, but not in regions with which most of us are familiar; therefore, I found learning about the Powhatan religion to be intriguing and eye-opening.


Sources:

Monday, January 16, 2012

Just a Little Bit About Me

Hey guys! My name is Kelly Martin, and I'm a freshman here at JSU. I'm originally from Piedmont, and I am sure only those of you who grew up around here know where that is. I am an Undecided major, which is exciting and making me nervous at the same time! I have always enjoyed going to school, and my favorite things to study are English, Spanish, and history.

I love to read! Some of my favorite books are The Help, A Thousand Splendid Suns, The Hunger Games, Harry Potter (of course!), Of Mice and Men, and Their Eyes Were Watching God. I also love books people have written about their own lives: my favorites being Elie Wiesel's Night, Condoleezza Rice's Extraordinary, Ordinary People, Portia de Rossi's Unbearable Lightness, and Kristin Chenoweth's A Little Bit Wicked. I love to read stories of people who overcome adversity in order to be successful.

In my spare time, I like to spend time with my friends, play volleyball, watch movies, listen to music, travel, participate in campus organizations, and pretty much anything that allows me to socialize. I am excited about this class and of course, being part of something that is breaking the mold! I hope everyone has had a great holiday weekend, and I will see you on Wednesday!