Anne Bradstreet Research Paper

Anne Bradstreet was a woman in conflict. She was a Puritan wife and a poet. There is a conflict between Puritan theology and her own personal feelings on life. Many of her poems reveal her eternal conflict regarding her emotions and the beliefs of her religion. The two often stood in direct opposition to each other. Her Puritan faith demanded that she seek salvation and the promises of Heaven. However, Bradstreet felt more strongly about her life on Earth. She was very. She was very attached to her family and community. Bradstreet loved her life and the Earth.

Anne Bradstreet was America's first noteworthy poet in spite of the fact that she was a woman. Both the daughter and wife of Massachusetts governors, Bradstreet suffered all of the hardships of colonial life, was a mother, and still found time to write. Her poem, "The Author to Her Book," is an example of Bradstreet's excellent use of literary techniques while expressing genuine emotion and using domestic subject matter.

Anne Bradstreet was not the typical Puritan author. She wrote sweet and loving poems that greatly contrasted from other writers of her time. She did not write the ever so popular sermons that told people that they were going to hell and there was nothing they could do about it. Bradstreet was a rarity in Puritan times, she was a very educated woman that worked on something other than being a woman in the household. She was one of a kind and the beginning of an era. Using literary criticism when reading Anne Bradstreet’s poems adds a deeper understanding of her character and difficulties in life.

Bradstreet first refers to her collection of writing as an “…ill-form’d offspring of my feeble brain…” letting her reader know that she views her writing as a poorly made child that her brain has given birth to. When she states that, “Who after birth did’st by my side remain, / Till snatch from thence by friends…” she alludes to her unwillingness to share her work with the world and that it was only by someone else’s hand that it was. There are more examples of her humility when she speaks of it as a “rambling brat” and wanting to fix its flaws (Bradstreet, Upon the Burning of Our House, July 10th, 1666 142). In “The Prologue” Bradstreet continues to show her humble nature when she describes epic events and persons of historical significance being too “superior” for her “mean pen” (The Prologue 135). She goes on to say she hopes her “obscure lines” will not diminish the works of these great events and men (Bradstreet, The Prologue 136). These descriptions are used as a way for her to acknowledge her modest life. Throughout these writings, Anne Bradstreet’s humble nature is indicative of her puritan

The tone of this poem is very important. Throughout as I was reading this poem I sensed heartfelt and great concern for the new mother. Also, in this poem one may notice the role of

In conclusion, it is left to the opinion whether Anne Bradstreet reflects the Puritan lifestyle or not because this poem focuses on a longing for her

By writing poems instead of giving time to God, Bradstreet challenged her religious community to the point of disobedience. Implying through her literature, the poet also could not refrain from pleasure, though Puritans did not believe in indulging in pleasures. One of these gratifications was Bradstreet's family, whose love she compared to her love of God. Once again, Bradstreet adored something more than God and her own salvation, suggesting that her human life was more important than heaven. "As a Puritan she struggled to subdue her attachment to the world, but as a woman she sometimes felt more strongly connected to her husband, children, and community than to God" ("Anne

When I read both Anne Bradstreet’s poems, “The Prologue” and “Contemplations” I realized that she is an excellent poet. Her ability to make you feel like you are there experiencing the situation with her. In contemplations she says, “Some time now past in the autumnal tide…The trees all richly clad, yet void of pride, were gilded o’er by rich golden head. Their leaves and fruits seemed painted, but was true, of green, of red, of yellow, mixed hue; Rapt were my senses at this delectable view.” (Bradstreet p.112) I believe the intended audience for these poems were her male critics who believed woman were too inferior to be poets. She did not want to outdo male poets even though she showed she could. In fact, all she wanted was woman to be recognized as poets.

Anne Bradstreet was a well-known poet in the 1700s. During her time, women were underrepresented in the literature work. Despite this, she managed to publish a number of writing pieces especially poems. Most of the poems she wrote, connect religion to her daily basis. Although she was fortunate to be the first female puritan in poetry, there were downside circumstances that impeded Anne in producing her work. As described on page 113, Anne raised eight children while having unhealthy condition. She was also looked down for being a woman, and lost her priceless people and property, yet she still managed to write poems, which is unbelievable. What aroused her energy in literature was due to her belief in her religion or Christianity. It played an essential role in her life as well. In other words, she depended solely on it to understand any tragedy happened surround her. In 1665, she lost her grandchildren and a year later, she lost the entire house

During the critical moment of facing death, Bradstreet wrote “Upon a Fit of Sickness”11632. In the poem she “transformed her loneliness, disappointment, and profound disillusion into verse, drawing on what she had learned not only from her most recent illness but also from the voyage and the first year in America” Gordon

Anne Bradstreet’s poetry resembles a quiet pond. Her quiet puritan thinking acts as the calm surface that bears a resemblance to her natural values and religious beliefs. Underneath the pond there is an abundance of activity comparable to her becoming the first notable poet in American Literature. Anne Bradstreet did not obtain the first notable poet’s title very easily; she endured sickness, lack of food, and primitive living conditions during her time in the New World. Despite these misfortunes she used her emotions and strong educational background to write extraordinarily well for a woman in that time.

Anne Bradstreet, as a poet, wrote as both a Puritan woman in her time and as a woman ahead of her time. Zach Hutchins analyzed this tension in “The Wisdom of Anne Bradstreet: Eschewing Eve and Emulating Elizabeth”, and makes a primary argument that three of Bradstreet’s poems provide evidence that Bradstreet rejects the Puritan views of a woman while keeping her own personal faith. Hutchins fither his argument by declaring that readers should not view Bradstreet as a symbol of rebellion or submission, instead as a symbol of wisdom.

Anne was the first poet of America. Her writing style reflected things and events that occurred during her lifetime. For her, writing poetry was an outlet for stress being that she was a Puritan and they did not allow women to be educated. Anne Bradstreet’s poems directly reflected her emotions and how she processed the events around her.

Anne Bradstreet is well-recognized because she was the first female American poet. The previous statement makes it seem as if her poems are only noteworthy due to her literary importance in history outweighing her poetic artistry. Luisa Hall in The Influence of Anne Bradstreet’s Innovative Errors explains that “the problem Bradstreet faces...is not the problem of being a woman or being the first American poet, but...fearing she has no right to speak, of fearing her voice cannot insert itself into English literary history” (23). Another writer that supports Hall’s claim is Catherine Sedgwick: “Sedgwick’s ability to champion an expansion of woman’s sphere beyond domestic settings was blunted by “deep inner restraints” that derived from her

Anna Bradstreet grows up in a healthy family. She was the daughter of Thomas Dudley who is the manager of the country estate of the Puritan Earl of Lincoln. Anna Bradstreet got married at the age of 16 to the young Simon Bradstreet who was working with Anna father. Anna Bradstreet never went to school but her father always taught her and gave her an education. It that time many women didn’t have an education. Anna considers one of the best and most important American poets. When Bradstreet was a little girl, she writes poems to honor and please her father. After she got married, she kept writing and it marriage didn’t stop her. Her brother in law, John Woodbridge, pastor of the Andover Church, brought with him to London a manuscripts collection of her poetry in 1650. It was her first book, The Tenth Muse was the first published volume of poems written by an American resident and it was widely read. Anne Bradstreet was a very religious and Godly woman. Anne Bradstreet always tried to live life in a perfect way. Anne Bradstreet was a woman of God and she always wrote about her faith in her poetry. She always talked about the Puritan and their believes and views on salvation and reclamation in her poetry. Anna seems to believe that God has punished her through her sicknesses. The Puritans believed suffering was God’s plan of preparing the soul and heart for accepting his mercy