ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -"Here Follow Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House, July 10, 1666", commonly shortened to “Verses upon the Burning of Our House", is a poem by Anne Bradstreet. She wrote it to express the traumatic loss of her home and most of her possessions.

Detailed explanation-2: -The flame consume my dwelling place. And when I could no longer look, I blest His name that gave and took, That laid my goods now in the dust.

Detailed explanation-3: -The tone of this poem goes from shock to wistfulness to hope. Just before the poem begins, the narrator sleeps peacefully, in unsuspecting security. She is suddenly awakened by “thundering noise” (line 3) and “piteous shrieks” (line 4).

Detailed explanation-4: -The speaker, generally taken as Bradstreet herself, grieves the loss her home and all her material possessions, but also argues that this tragedy was God’s way of teaching her a spiritual lesson about the value of piety and faith.