Anne Bradstreet

By Night when Others Soundly Slept

By night when others soundly slept
And hath at once both ease and Rest,
My waking eyes were open kept
And so to lie I found it best.

Song of Solomon

Direct echo of Song of Solomon 3:1-2: 'I sought him whom my soul loveth.' Bradstreet frames insomnia as spiritual longing, not just anxiety.

I sought him whom my Soul did Love,
With tears I sought him earnestly.
He bow'd his ear down from Above.
In vain I did not seek or cry.
My hungry Soul he fill'd with Good;
He in his Bottle put my tears,

Psalm 56:8

Biblical reference—'put my tears in thy bottle' from Psalms. God literally collects and preserves her suffering, making pain sacred.

Eucharist language

Communion imagery—Christ's blood as literal medicine. Puritan theology meets physical healing: wounds 'washt' clean by sacramental blood.

My smarting wounds washt in his blood,
And banisht thence my Doubts and fears.
What to my Saviour shall I give
Who freely hath done this for me?
I'll serve him here whilst I shall live
And Loue him to Eternity.
This work was published before January 1, 1931, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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Reading Notes

Puritan Insomnia as Prayer

CONTEXT Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) lived through repeated illness, house fires, and the death of grandchildren in colonial Massachusetts. Puritan theology taught that sleeplessness could be divine visitation—God keeping you awake for conversation.

The opening reversal matters: 'others soundly slept' versus 'my waking eyes were open kept.' That passive construction—'were open kept'—suggests God is doing the keeping. She's not suffering from insomnia; she's being held awake for an audience with Christ. The phrase 'I found it best' reframes sleeplessness as spiritual opportunity, not affliction.

Notice the shift from 'I sought' (lines 5-6) to 'He bow'd his ear down' (line 7). The grammar reverses: she reaches up, he bends down. The phrase 'In vain I did not seek' uses double negative for emphasis—Puritan plain style breaking its own rules to stress answered prayer. This is testimony literature: proof that her crying worked.

The Bottle and the Debt

Stanza three piles up physical imagery for spiritual transaction: hungry Soul, Bottle, smarting wounds, blood. Bradstreet makes grace tactile. The 'Bottle' (Psalm 56:8) turns tears into saved artifacts—God as collector of suffering, not eraser of it.

'My smarting wounds washt in his blood' fuses medical and sacramental language. 'Smarting' is physical pain; 'washt' suggests both baptism and wound-cleaning. Protestant theology rejected transubstantiation, but Bradstreet uses Eucharist imagery anyway—Christ's blood as literal cure.

The final stanza asks the impossible question: 'What to my Saviour shall I give / Who freely hath done this for me?' The math doesn't work. Her answer—'I'll serve him here whilst I shall live'—offers finite service for infinite gift. That asymmetry is the point. The poem ends in eternal debt: 'Loue him to Eternity' because payment is impossible.