It is significant to note that Anne Bradstreet considers the importance of nature and uses it to describe feelings. For example, in the poem “To My Dear and Loving Man,” the author tries to convey feelings of love through the use of natural phenomena (Roney-Obrien 183). At the same time, in the poem “In Memory of My Dear Child”, Anne Bradstreet uses the symbolism of nature to reflect the sense of loss. For instance, the author used a beautiful flower, trees that did not have time to develop, and an apple as symbolism (Slawinski 207). The phenomenon of nature allows Bradstreet to describe the grief of the poem’s hero, who lost his granddaughter. Thus, through comparison, the author establishes a parallel between the granddaughter and the beautiful flower, and the cycle of human life is described through the process of tree life. Accordingly, the author devotes considerable attention to natural phenomena and considers people’s lives through their prism.
In the case of Mary Rowlandson, she depicts nature and the environment in close connection with food. However, Mary Rowlandson views nature as a loveless place and as a farm. Thus, Rowlandson observes that the life-giving substance of food defines the connection with nature (Arteaga 445). This focus on this aspect of nature may be related to not concentrating on the loss of a child and not creating deeper images, unlike Anne Bradstreet. Therefore, Mary Rowlandson views nature in the aspect of food and the importance of sustaining the human body. Accordingly, Mary Rowlandson, unlike Anne Bradstreet, describes nature from a practical perspective and does not endow it with characteristic symbols (Arteaga 447). It is significant to mention that both women devote one of the key roles to this phenomenon in their own works.
Works Cited
Arteaga, Rachel. “Mary Rowlandson and Restorative Reading.” Early American Literature, vol, 57, no. 2, 2022, pp. 445-468.
Roney-OBrien, Susan. “New England Women Poets: Roots to Branches.” The Worcester Review, vol. 40, no.1, 2019, pp. 182-192.
Slawinski, Scott. “Literature to 1800.”American Literary Scholarship, vol.1, 2017, pp. 207-220.