Assertion Paragraph

In Anne Bradstreet's confessional poem, "Upon the burning of our house", she is expressing her sorrow, and how it is connected with God punishing her. Anne writes about this "Fire" that is occurring in her poem, which is evident in the verses, "Then coming out, behold a space/The flame consume my dwelling space/And when I could no longer look/ I blest his grace that gave and took".  The first two verses describe a fire at her house, and the last two describe how she feels about the incident, and how it is connected to God.  The last two verses stand out the most because of her controversial reaction to the fire, which is gratitude for supposed punishment by God.  She continues to express how her house is the element of frivolous living, instead of how God wants her to live:  "Adieu, Adieu, All's Vanity/ Then straight I 'gin my heart to chide:/ And did thy wealth on earth abide/ Didst fix thy hope on mouldring dust,/ The arm of flesh didst make thy trust?/ Raise up they thoughts above the sky/ That dunghill mists away may fly/ Thou hast a house on high erect/ Fram'd by that mighty Architect".  She's conveying to the reader that all material objects are worthless in the eyes of the Lord.  This is the tenet of simple living that the Puritans chose to live by, believing that this was what their God wanted, and this is the tenet that Anne Bradstreet wrote of.