Anne Brandstreet and Female Identity Essay

A Puritan woman in the 1600’s who devoted herself to care for her family. Anne Bradstreet was a mother and a writer. Writing became a hobby when Bradstreet decided to give it a try because she had read much of poetry in so many styles and languages. Most of her pieces were written for teaching purposes in a small school where she served. The author kept most of the poems private for the following reasons: Bradstreet believed her work was unexceptional and at the time it was peculiar for a woman to be writing poetry. In the back of her mind, the author’s principal obligation was raising her children when writing was completed in her unused time. Through the use of metaphors, Anne Bradstreet connected among the

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.

Growing up in the early 1600's was a tough time for many people, especially women. Women were very much discriminated against and made to fulfill the duties that were in the household and nothing else beyond that. Anne Bradstreet was a woman that grew up during this time as a Puritan. Puritans believed that humans could only achieve goodness if they worked hard, were self-disciplined, and constantly examining themselves to make sure that they were living their lives for God. Due to this way of looking at life, Anne Bradstreet had little time for writing her poetry. Being a mother of eight children and a devoted wife one would think that Bradstreet wasn't carrying out her duties to her family

The poem “To my Dear and Loving Husband” by Anne Bradstreet, is not just an exceedingly felt expression of a wife’s marital love and commitment to her husband, as it is about a puritan women who is supposed to be reserved but she makes it her obligation to enlighten her husband of her devotion. A thorough analysis of the poem’s paradox, hyperbole, imagery and repetition reveals how she conveys her message.

Anne Bradstreet was not only the first English-speaking, North American poet, but she was also the first American, woman poet to have her works published. In 1650, without her knowledge, Bradstreet’s brother-in-law had many of her poems published in a collection called The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up In America. Although these poems did not reflect what would be her best work, they did emulate what would be the greatest influence on all of her writing. Anne Bradstreet’s Puritan life was the strongest, and the most obvious influence on her work. Whether it was her reason for writing, how she wrote, or what she wrote about, Bradstreet’s poems would reflect the influence of Puritan life and doctrine.

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.

Puritan literature captures not only their beliefs as a religion, but their beliefs as individuals. All Puritan literature is utilitarian, meaning it is useful, purposeful, and reflecting a non-ornate style of writing. One of the most prominent of early English poets was Anne Bradstreet. Her poems reflect the utilitarian style, but do so in a way that is entirely unique to herself and her emotions. Anne Bradstreet opens the bridge between her faith and her personal experiences in her poetry. In her poems “Upon the Burning of Our House” and “In Reference to Her Children” she reflects utilitarianism by recounting the conflicts between her love of her worldly things and her devotion to God’s eternity.

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

Bradstreet acknowledging men are the dominant members of society and that all she wants is for some acknowledgement of her skill as a poet. I believe her poems spoke volumes about her culture and where she came from. Her poems reflect on her questioning scriptures and dealing with the confines of the wilderness.

Anne Bradstreet (1600’s) and Phyllis Wheatley (1700’s) wrote poetry in two different centuries. Their topics, themes and the risks these women took in their writings are groundbreaking in that they paved the way for women’s rights today. Both women are known as the first published poets of the new world. Bradstreet’s writings were first published in 1650 and her poetry included controversial subjects such as the relationship between a husband and wife, displays of affection, and women who have made their place in society as leaders. These topics were not typical of women who were brought up a Puritans. In fact, the puritans did not approve of public displays of affection.

Bradstreet lived in the Puritan-Colonial literature period which was generally under strict religious rule. The effects of the literary are instructive and didactic and the style is written in a straight forward, non-creative style. Bradstreet states that marriage is about life partners respecting each other more than any case of material excellence or riches like gold. At this time period marriage is a strong commitment and relationship between a man and woman destined to stay forever “I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold” (5). Bradstreet clarifies that in our day by day lives we ought to be cheerful and have faith in God. The poet clarifies that her love is like a river

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.

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

Anne Bradstreet’s approach to feminism was subtle, but it was a strong start to women documenting their feelings about male dominance. In most of Bradstreet’s works, she talks about family. Since she lived in the sixteenth century, she was constrained to writing about subjects in which were appropriate. Though she would talk solely about her family, this does not mean that she did not include some rebellion on societies’ biased views. In The Prologue, she mentions “Let Greeks be Greeks, and women what they are,” which is written in a way to show her readers that she is allowing the men to outperform women and will not try to beat men, even though she made it seem that she could if she felt like doing so (Bradstreet 209). Bradstreet made comments that were uncommon in a

Bradstreet begins stanza 2, “But when my wond’ring eyes and envious heart/Great Bartas sugared lines do but read o’er” (Bradstreet 7-8). Bradstreet in some way degrades her poetry, just like the Puritan society would do. She talks about another poet Barta. When she reads his poems they seem so great and she envy’s him. She also refers to Bartas work as sugared lines referring to his poetry as pleasurable to read. She uses Barta (a male figure), to further clarify how she will not challenge the