The Importance Of Travel Journals In The 17th Century

Throughout women in colonial America, Anne Bradstreet was one of the strongest and influential figures of the time. Mrs. Bradstreet lived from the years 1612 through 1672 not knowing she would inspire later generations with her works and actions. Ever since a little girl, Anne’s father, Thomas Dudley, would make Anne write poetry so they could read together. Anne later married Simon Bradstreet, a future governor, at the age of sixteen years old and boarded on the ship Arbella headed to Plymouth, Massachusetts, with the famous sermoner John Winthrop??? In the famous writings of the poet, we learn Anne has a personal and formal writing voice. Anne writes in Iambic Pentameter, Couplets, and Paradox. Anne became a well-known colonial writer not

Diaries and journals often provide a wealth of important historical information that illuminates the daily lives, attitudes, experiences, culture and concerns of people in the past. The journals kept by people like Robert Robe and Mary Stuart Bailey as they migrated to the newly acquired western territories during the mid-nineteenth century allows not merely for an opportunity to understand the difficulties that tested their mettle and faith, but also a glimpse into the societal mores and the influence of ideologies like Manifest Destiny during this period. Their journals reveal two different perspectives on traveling west during the mid-nineteenth century as these two individuals became strangers in a new land.

Midwife’s Tale is Martha Ballard’s diary from the years 1787-1809 analyzed by the historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. Martha Ballard is not someone who would appear on a dollar bill, but her diary provides an interesting look into America’s early colonization from the point of view of a woman. Her religiously kept diary is one of the only historical sources we have from a woman in the 18th century providing an interesting look at women’s rights and economics. Martha wrote her diary when she was between the ages 52 and 74 thus the diary follows Martha throughout middle age: a very delicate and dynamic time in a woman’s life. Ulrich analyzed Martha’s diary entries to tell a story of progressiveness and feminism.

Martha Ballard was representative of a majority of women in early America. She was a wife and mother of nine children besides being a healer and midwife. She did not begin her diary until her 50th year in 1785. She wrote in her diary until 3 weeks before her death detailing her daily life’s hardships, chores, patients and the blessings in her life. She was a healer during the time of the scarlet fever outbreak and lost some of her own children to it but she still pushed on daily despite her own

The role of the European woman in the colonial world was consistently complex and often varied. Their role was complex because the filled two roles, a physical role; a role which they directly carried out in the physical realm of the colonial world. This role included being a wife, daughter, missionary, nurse, and even that explore and writer in the rare instance. The second role that colonial women played in the colonial world was one not one of their choosing as Scott Cook explains, “ All [women], however were subject to the legal and customary codes of conduct of a colonial milieu largely set by the male colonizers”. These legal and customary understandings were mainly based around the colonial males understanding of the colonial woman’s sexuality and the sexuality of the colonized male. European women were seen as both the “ ‘bearers of the race, the vessels of their culture, and the ‘angels of the household”. They were also seen as objects of the colonized males lust, and as themselves being overly sexualized and at risk of succumbing to their urges. It was this second role, which served to hinder the access and impact of European women in the colonial world. Their role as a sexualized object, to be protected by their male counterparts was not one of their choosing and prevented them from gaining full access to the colonial realm.

The lives and works of Anne Bradstreet and Phillis Wheatley are similar in many respects. For example, both Phillis and Anne had to leave their home countries and journey to North America. The journey would have been more or less difficult for the both of them, though given Phillis Wheatley’s standing as a slave, one can imagine that her journey was not as comfortable as Bradstreet's. Another quality they both share is their education, a luxury that was not afforded to women of their times. This education is undoubtedly what led to their interest in poetry, another quality they share, and one that was also typically outside the grasp of women.

In discussing the English colonization of the Chesapeake, many people often adhere to Anglocentric and male-dominated perspectives. In adhering to such perspectives, one fails to consider the significant role of women, family units, Native Americans, and imperial politics in colonization. Although males had their own significant role, the development of the early English colonies involved a complex interplay of many different historical actors. The readings for this week force one to consider these other historical actors and the context of English colonization. Collectively, these readings and documents propagate a reassessment of the English colonies in Virginia and Maryland.

A slave stands behind his Mistress with a bowed head. A knight stands in front of his Queen with his hand on the hilt of his sword eyes peering for potential threats. For this reason and others, Queen/knight metaphor is just plain more romantic than that of a Mistress/slave. A knight is a votary, a person who takes vows to live a life of service. A knight as protector is always acting in the interest of his Queen.

In the Wife of Bath’s Tale, the knight talks to the old women and says, “Please choose which may be the greatest pleasure and greatest honor to you and me also” (Chaucer 11). The knight is giving his honor and assurance to the old lady showing that he loves her no matter what she chooses. Knights also showed courtesy to women by defending them when

In the nineteenth century women were mostly left out when it came to writing. A lot of women felt that they were not capable of writing or that their job was just to focus on the domestic aspects of life and that didn’t include writing. There are two women who stood out and up against the prejudices of the women in the nineteenth century. Both, Anne Bradstreet and Mary Rowlandson, were the first published female writers in America at the time. Both women faced the hardships of that time.

The writings of Colonial American authors such as Anne Bradstreet, John Woodbridge, and William Bradford, portray their views of the roles of women in the 17th century. Anne Bradstreet uses her poems to convey her feelings on her life and experiences as a Puritan mother. John Woodbridge utilizes his preface to Anne Bradstreet’s poems to express his thoughts and views on the capabilities of women. William Bradford offers in his journal Of Plymouth Plantation a converse perspective to Bradstreet’s and Woodbridge’s favorable view of women and their abilities. These authors, Bradstreet, Woodbridge, and Bradford, show in their works the recognition of the common belief of the inferiority of women in the eyes of men, and through their writings each

The story shows a link between 19th century family culture and the directives to a wife found in post war America. The description of Sarah’s household duties resembles those found in The Good Wife’s Guide. In the latter the wife is told to have dinner ready and plan ahead, to be interesting and to ensure the household is in order. The wife should be happy to see her husband, and greet him, and make sure that the house is a place of peace and tranquility. In the Guide, the wife is not supposed to complain, make the husband uncomfortable, or question his actions. These are the actions and conduct of Sarah, until she realizes it is time to voice her opinion and

Years ago, my husband and I took a tour of the Mayflower II, a replica of the historic vessel that delivered Saints and Strangers to the New World. Kimberley Woodhouse drew those memories to the forefront of my mind as I began reading her newest novel, The Mayflower Bride. Pairing the two together, I felt a new appreciation for all the Separatists risked to escape persecution and gain religious freedom.

Anne Bradstreet, a well-educated woman, strong in her Puritan beliefs, captured her thoughts by writing poetry, which included works such as “Contemplations” which was preceded by “The Prologue”. Written in the mid 1600’s as the colonies were beginning to form, Bradstreet’s poem included themes of religion, nature, and family. Although she claims to have written them without the intent of publication, a collection of her poetry was printed in 1650. She identifies her struggles with faith, yet writes from the view of a faithful woman who recognizes the superior role of men in her society. Although appearing to be modest and undermining her talents, it seems evident that Bradstreet was, in reality, confident that as a well educated women she was capable of writing just as well as a man. Although it is claimed that Anne Bradstreet did not intend for her writing to be published, her poetry utilizes a feminist tone and theme of higher education conveying her hidden desires to prove herself as a female author.

The first text The Female American is written in 1767, the specified timeline when the terminology colonialism has arrived in the United States of