The Optimistic Faith

Despite all the tragedies surrounding the Puritans as they made their trek to the New World, the puritans somehow were able to maintain a certain level of optimism. Perhaps it was this optimism that allowed anybody to survive the harsh New England winters, at a time when food, supplies, and shelter were close. Even through the optimism, people did not always make it out alive. Why stay optimistic? It was the Puritan’s faith that allowed them to stay at some level of sanity (or insanity?) when dealing with the tragedy of death. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the poetry of Anne Bradstreet. On page 432 in the Heath Anthology, Bradstreet makes references to the deaths of two of her grandchildren. Instead of blaming God or blaming the lack of a God for her family’s misfortune she chooses to accept the tragedies as facts of life and as God’s will. This optimism helps her deal with the issues she needs to. Perhaps the puritan’s perseverance despite their harsh reality is indeed tied to their faith. Without this faith it could be argued that maybe they would have given up.