The Flesh and the Spirit

“The Flesh and the Spirit” is a poem by 17th-century American writer Anne Bradstreet. It was published in 1678 in the second edition of Bradstreet’s book, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, which was retitled Several Poems Compiled with Great Variety of Wit and Learning. 

The poem is about an internal struggle between the worldly and the spiritual aspects of the speaker’s being, which is a frequent concern in Bradstreet’s work. The poem is dramatized by the allegorical presentation of flesh and spirit as two sisters, each of whom presents an argument about why her approach to life is superior. The debate, which the sisters conduct in a scornful tone, is weighted in favor of the superiority of the spiritual life and the heavenly world over the things of the earth. 

The edition of the poem used in this study guide is from The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 2nd ed., Vol. 1, Norton, 1985, pp. 108-110.  

POET BIOGRAPHY

Anne Bradstreet was born on March 8, 1612, in Northampton, England, to Thomas Dudley and Dorothy Yorke. Her father, who managed the country estate of the Earl of Lincoln, ensured that his daughter received a more thorough education than was common for girls at that time. When Anne was 16 years old, she married Simon Bradstreet, a business associate of her father. Two years later, the Bradstreets and the Dudleys sailed to Massachusetts as part of the Winthrop Fleet of Puritan emigrants. Simon Bradstreet was secretary to the newly formed Company of the Massachusetts Bay and would much later (in 1679) become governor of the Bay Colony. 

The Bradstreets joined the small number of English settlers in the Massachusetts Bay area, around Salem and Boston. Life for the colonists, especially during the harsh winters, was hard. Malnutrition and disease were common, and the death rate was high. However, Anne Bradstreet, even though her health had been delicate since she was a child, managed to flourish. During the period 1632 to 1653, she had eight children. The family moved several times, living in Salem, Charlestown, Newtowne (now Cambridge), and Ipswich (about 30 miles north of Boston). In 1644, they moved to Andover (now North Andover). 

Bradstreet had written poetry as a child, and she continued to do so after her marriage. She wrote on subjects drawn from the classical literature of Greece and Rome, as well as some metaphysical verse and poems about family concerns. Her worldview was that of a Puritan, concerned with issues such as sin and redemption, and death and immortality. In 1650, John Woodbridge, her brother-in-law, took her manuscripts to London and arranged to have them printed under the title The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America by “a Gentlewoman of those Parts.” Bradstreet may not have known that Woodbridge intended to publish her poetry. It was the first book by a female poet published in both England and the New World, and it proved popular in both. 

Bradstreet died on September 16, 1672, in Andover, at the age of 60. A second edition of her book appeared posthumously in 1678, retitled Several Poems Compiled with Great Variety of Wit and Learning. It contained some new poems, including “The Flesh and the Spirit.” Although Bradstreet’s work soon became well known, it was not until the 20th century that it received widespread critical acclaim.  

POEM TEXT

In secret place where once I stood

Close by the Banks of Lacrim flood,

I heard two sisters reason on

Things that are past and things to come.

One Flesh was call'd, who had her eye

On worldly wealth and vanity;

The other Spirit, who did rear

Her thoughts unto a higher sphere.

“Sister,” quoth Flesh, “what liv’st thou on,

Nothing but Meditation?

Doth Contemplation feed thee so

Regardlessly to let earth go?

Can Speculation satisfy

Notion without Reality?

Dost dream of things beyond the Moon

And dost thou hope to dwell there soon?

Hast treasures there laid up in store

That all in th’ world thou count'st but poor?

Art fancy-sick or turn’d a Sot

To catch at shadows which are not?

Come, come. I’ll show unto thy sense,

Industry hath its recompence.

What canst desire, but thou maist see

True substance in variety?

Dost honour like? Acquire the same,

As some to their immortal fame;

And trophies to thy name erect

Which wearing time shall ne’er deject.

For riches dost thou long full sore?

Behold enough of precious store.

Earth hath more silver, pearls, and gold

Than eyes can see or hands can hold.

Affects thou pleasure? Take thy fill.

Earth hath enough of what you will.

Then let not go what thou maist find

For things unknown only in mind.”

Spirit.

“Be still, thou unregenerate part,

Disturb no more my settled heart,

For I have vowed (and so will do)

Thee as a foe still to pursue,

And combat with thee will and must

Until I see thee laid in th’ dust.

Sisters we are, yea twins we be,

Yet deadly feud ‘twixt thee and me,

For from one father are we not.

Thou by old Adam wast begot,

But my arise is from above,

Whence my dear Father I do love.

Thou speak’st me fair but hat’st me sore.

Thy flatt’ring shows I'll trust no more.

How oft thy slave hast thou me made,

When I believ’d what thou hast said

And never had more cause of woe

Than when I did what thou bad’st do.

I'll stop mine ears at these thy charms,

And count them for my deadly harms.

Thy sinful pleasures I do hate,

Thy riches are to me no bait.

Thine honours do, nor will I love,

For my ambition lies above.

My greatest honour it shall be

When I am victor over thee,

And Triumph shall, with laurel head,

When thou my Captive shalt be led.

How I do live, thou need’st not scoff,

For I have meat thou know’st not of.

The hidden Manna I do eat;

The word of life, it is my meat.

My thoughts do yield me more content

Than can thy hours in pleasure spent.

Nor are they shadows which I catch,

Nor fancies vain at which I snatch

But reach at things that are so high,

Beyond thy dull Capacity.

Eternal substance I do see,

With which inriched I would be.

Mine eye doth pierce the heav’ns and see

What is Invisible to thee.

My garments are not silk nor gold,

Nor such like trash which Earth doth hold,

But Royal Robes I shall have on,

More glorious than the glist’ring Sun.

My Crown not Diamonds, Pearls, and Gold,

But such as Angels’ heads infold.

The City where I hope to dwell,

There's none on Earth can parallel.

The stately Walls both high and strong

Are made of precious Jasper stone,

The Gates of Pearl, both rich and clear,

And Angels are for Porters there.

The Streets thereof transparent gold,

Such as no Eye did e’re behold.

A Crystal River there doth run

Which doth proceed from the Lamb’s Throne.

Of life, there are the waters sure

Which shall remain forever pure,

Nor Sun nor Moon they have no need

For glory doth from God proceed.

No Candle there, nor yet Torch light,

For there shall be no darksome night.

From sickness and infirmity

Forevermore they shall be free.

Nor withering age shall e'er come there,

But beauty shall be bright and clear.

This City pure is not for thee,

For things unclean there shall not be.

If I of Heav’n may have my fill,

Take thou the world, and all that will.”

Bradstreet, Anne. “The Flesh and the Spirit.” 1678. Representative Poetry Online. 

SUMMARY

The speaker examines her inner conflict, described in terms of flesh versus spirit. She listens to the arguments made by each of these two aspects of herself, which she presents as two sisters. Flesh addresses her sister, Spirit, directly, saying she is wasting her time in contemplation and meditation about nonmaterial ideas that do not exist in reality—especially since earth has enough riches and pleasures to satisfy any desire. 

Spirit’s reply takes up more than two-thirds of the poem. She is involved in a deadly quarrel with Flesh, and is dedicated to defeating her. Spirit does not trust Flesh and refuses to be her slave. She hates the sinful pleasures that Flesh indulges in. She has a higher ambition and looks forward to being victorious over Flesh and making Flesh her slave. Spirit lives on spiritual sustenance, which is real but beyond the capacity of Flesh to see. Spirit sees the things in heaven that are invisible to Flesh: In heaven, Spirit will wear glorious clothes and live in a city that no earthly city can match, in which even the streets are made of gold. The river of life, which is eternally pure, runs through this city, and the light of the sun is replaced by the light of God. Sickness and age do not exist there but only eternal beauty. Spirit will have her fill in heaven, while Flesh can have the world.