Anne Bradstreet´s poem “In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet. Who Deceased August, 1665, Being a Year and Half Old” is a beautiful elegy that she wrote to her grandchild Elizabeth. In the poem Anne expresses a contrast between her personal and spiritual feelings regarding death. Throughout the poem she is trying to accept her grandchild’s death and the same time to find a logic for losing her so soon. The title of the poem reveals an exact data so as to interpret in a better way the period of time in which it was written and to show aspects about life and the closer relations in this Puritan society. The poem reflects the feelings of Anne Bradstreet to her grandchild Elizabeth and how she sees death reflected in her religious beliefs. Death is a key element in many of her literary works; in this case, the speaker is making an emphasis on the idea that even when death is something that is predestined by God, she felt deeply losing her grandchild and even she felt that it was not fair.
In the first stanza she describes how she sees Elizabeth, when she refers to her as “baby” and “fair flower”, this words reflects how much she meant to her in a very lovely sense. She also uses the word “lent”, meaning that the life of the little girl was only temporarily and that she never had the opportunity to live enough to enjoy life. Furthermore the speaker reveals her sorrow and confusion about the loss of her grandchild, even when she is conscious that the little “baby” is now resting into eternal peace. Then again the repetition of farewell three times used as an anaphora emphasizes that she is not going to see her again; she is saying goodbye to her, but at the same time Bradstreet shows a clear image of an afflicted grandmother trying to accept why her grandchild had to die so early, in phrases like “the pleasure of mine eye” or “sigh thy days so soon terminated”.
In the second stanza, there is a change in the tone of the poem, in the first part the...