Reflection Blog: Fireside poets

The writing style of the Fireside poets is completely different from the previous styles. They basically go in antithetical responses of each other. They cycle from one style to another style that is almost the exact opposite. But, at the same time, they are also getting progressively better.

The first style was of Puritans and Pilgrims, and this was based almost purely on religion. There were writers such as Anne Bradstreet who wrote a poem that expressed her faith in religion. She says “The flame consuming my dwelling place. And when I could no longer look, I blest His name that gave and took” (Bradstreet 91). What she means by this is that God will give and take, but she always has her faith in Him. Although this is poetry and also descriptive, it differs from the Fireside poets in one key aspect. Puritans wrote almost entirely based on their religion, but Fireside poets like Emerson write about things like nature, love, solitude, or many other similar topics.

The next style was the Rationalism period. This was a time of logic and reason and philosophical ideas, writing, and inventions. The writing of this era was a lot of documents, pamphlets, letters, and essays. With this most of the popular writing in America was politically oriented such as Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense.”The person who embodied the Enlightenment, and in the same respect the Rationalism period, was Benjamin Franklin. Franklin made every decision based almost solely on reason. He was one of the people who contributed to making political documents and writing highly influential letters. Franklin represents the style in his autobiography. At this time monotheistic religious fervor was dying down, so people were becoming more accepting of other religions. Franklin, in his autobiography, explains how he went to other churches simply to see what they preached (Franklin). He shows that he had a want for learning, and he would not reject a religion before giving it a try. This is in opposition to the Puritan belief. They wanted one religion and denounced others. The Rationalism was different because it answered questions with logic instead of religion. The Fireside poets responded to this with a more romantic style. Instead of emotionless but logical writing, the Romanticism period was more artistic and based basically on inner feeling and intuition.

The three periods can sort of be juxtaposed by the way they would answer questions. By this I mean the first thing that they would go to. The Puritans would go to religion and God. The Rationalists would use science and logic. And the Fireside poets would use intuition or just whatever happened to seem right. They seem to be getting increasingly better as far as writing goes. The Puritan writing appears primitive because they do not seem to do anything by or for themselves. They live in a relatively bad time period and only experience tragedies, so when something good happens it is an act of God. The Rationalism period was better because it was intellectual writing, but that was all it was. The Romanticism period is the next stage because they can actually tell stories with logic, meaning, emotion, and supernatural things.

Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Henry Altemus. 1895. Print.

Bradstreet, Anne. "Upon the Burning of Our House." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 91. Print.