/My Crown not Diamonds, Pearls, and gold,/but such as Angels' heads infold./the City where I hope to dwell,/There's none on Earth can parallel./the stately Walls both high and trong/Are made of precious Jasper stone,/the Gates of Pearl, both rich and clear,…/the Streets thereof transparent gold/Such as no Eye did e're behold./a Crystal River there doth run/Which doth proceed from the Lamb's Throne./of Life, there are the waters sure/Which shall remain forever pure./nor Sun nor Moon they have no need/for glory doth from God proceed. (Bradstreet) Spirit develops the idea that the world of Flesh is shallow and piteous but then has no language, but gold, jade, crystal and silver to describe that which makes up the place in heaven she wishes to dwell. The work has the ring of a vanitas, as Bradstreet describes both the world of earth and heaven. It becomes difficult to see the difference that would make such a serious choice so important for the living, to choose to lay a sibling to dust, rather than embrace the riches that can be gained from labor and toil. Bradstreet, does her best within the limitations of language to show that the ethereal, is like the earthly only better, more shimmering and more eternal. Bradstreet also contests to the fact that it would be difficult for a person of her pious character, having been one of the first Puritans to travel and settle in America. The Spirit, must win above the flesh, and yet her honesty is also refreshing as she openly admits that the internal struggle is clearly a difficult one that challenges her and likely others, on a daily basis. Bradstreet was developing a long standing tradition of dialogue with the inclusion of the feminine as encompassing such an internal voice.

The tradition continued...

"The Flesh and the Spirit" by Anne Bradstreet extends the traditional debate form in two ways: her disputants are women (whereas the medieval convention was that the body and soul of a knight were arguing on his bier), and Bradstreet makes clear that the figures of Flesh and Spirit personify abstract qualities of the human soul and imagination. The poet locates the debating personae inside the speaker's head, close to the source of tears: "In secret place where once I stood / Close by the banks of Lacrim flood" (215), making their abstract, allegorical nature unambiguous. (Jaskoski 182)
The message of the work is clear, Puritans, and even Puritan women struggled with the coveting the things of the earth. "But Puritan men and women were constantly reminded of the difference between this fleeting world and the city of heavenly light. Yet knowing something intellectually and living it are two quite different things. Bradstreet's poetry is attractive to us because she is so honest about her affections. " (Millier and Parini 6-7) the world in which Bradstreet lived is reflected in her poetry, but especially well, in "The Flesh and the Spirit," as the world becomes only a shell of words and deeds, while the love of God is eternal and far more promising in its gifts.

Works Cited

Bradstreet, Anne. "The Flesh and the Spirit" inforplease.com Retrieved, September, 5, 2008.

Jaskoski, Helen. "The Catacombs and the Debate Between the Flesh and the Spirit." Critique 35.3 (1994): 181-192.

Millier, Brett C., and Jay Parini, eds. The Columbia History of American Poetry. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.