Anne Bradstreet - The Forces

Anne Bradstreet - the Forces of "The Flesh and the Spirit" at war within the poet

Anne Bradstreet's theological poem "The Flesh and the Spirit" personifies the theological forces warring within the breast of the poet as two speakers with distinct personalities. "One Flesh was called, who had her eye/on worldly wealth and vanity;/

The other Spirit, who did rear/Her thoughts unto a higher sphere." The speaker thus makes a confessional of her own imperfections, noting that she has a tie to the material sphere called the Flesh, even while she strives to rise above this fact. The poem takes the form of rhymed couplets, and unfolds much like a duet, or reasoned argument between the two so-called quarreling sisters of flesh and spirit.

The fact that these forces are called sisters is significant, because it shows that the impulses towards worldly affairs and contemplation can exist simultaneously in the same individual, however moral that individual might strive to be in his or her daily life. The poet writes her reasoned, tightly rhymed argument to essentially convince herself of the wrong nature of her fleshy or earth-bond impulses. If the metaphor of sisterly argument did not frame the poem, the dialogue between two disparate forces might seem as if some people were worldly, others purely spiritual. By calling them sisters, Bradstreet reminds the reader that divergent impulses can exist within the same moral breast.

The poet writes her poetic argument to wrestle with her own conscience, and only finally at the end of the poem does the glorious, heavenly vision of the Spirit silence the persistent voice of the Flesh. Bradstreet allows the Flesh to present a convincing argument. Rather than use devilish words, the Flesh tempts the poet with fame, riches, and rewards, and suggests that contemplation is not enough to satisfy the poet alone. "Dost honor like? Acquire the same, / as some to their immortal fame;/and trophies to thy name erect/Which wearing time shall ne'er deject." Then, the Spirit calls the Flesh: "thou unregenerate part," implying once again that the two forces are part of the same part. However, the Spirit is of the first, and better part of human nature. The Spirit chastises the Flesh with a reminder of how the Flesh was born, with the Fall. "Thou by old Adam wast begot." This allusion to the Garden of Eden reminds the reader of how they should be suspicious of their own, base instincts, for that is how human beings fell in the garden -- by being disobedient and acting upon their base desires. Instead, they must appeal to God for guidance. Rather than seek success on earth, for the Spirit: "my ambition lies above." The Spirit replies to every temptation made by the Flesh with a reference to the world above.