Anne Bradstreet
In
this Page:
Poem:
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She
was one of the first poets to write English verse in the American colonies.
Long considered primarily of historical interest, she won critical
acceptance in the 20th century as a writer of enduring verse,
particularly for her sequence of religious poems “Contemplations,” written
for her family and not published until the mid-19th century.
Her
father, Thomas Dudley, was chief steward to the Puritan Earl of Lincoln, and she
grew up in cultured circumstances. She
married Simon Bradstreet, when she was 16, and two years later she, her husband,
and her parents sailed with the other Puritans to settle on Massachusetts Bay.
She
wrote her poems while rearing eight children, functioning as a hostess, and
performing other domestic duties. The
Bradstreet’s moved frequently in the Massachusetts colony, first to Cambridge,
then to Ipswich, and then to Andover, which became their permanent home.
Bradstreet’s brother-in-law, without her knowledge, took her poems to
England, where they were published as The Tenth Muse Lately sprung Up in
America. The first American edition of The Tenth Muse was published
in revised and expanded form.
Her
later poems, written for her family, show her spiritual growth as she came fully
to accept the Puritan creed. She
also wrote more personal poems of considerable beauty, treating in them such
subjects as her thoughts before childbirth and her response to the death of a
grandchild. These shorter poems
benefit from their lack of imitation and didacticism; in 1956 the poet John
Berryman paid tribute to her in Homage to Mistress Bradstreet, a long poem that
incorporates many phrases from her writings.
She was strongly influenced by the sixteenth century French poet
Guillaume due Bartas.
Common
Devices used and Famous Works:
She used inverted syntax, meaning that she reverses the expected order of
the words.
Rhyme is used in Bradstreet’s poem To My Dear and Loving Husband.
Rhyme is a pattern of words that contain similar sound.
Assonance
is used in Upon the Burning of Our House. Assonance
is repletion of a vowel sound.
Hyperbole
is used in Upon the Burning of Our House also.
Hyperbole is an exaggeration.
Cacophony
is used in Upon the Burning of Our House. Cacophony
is a harsh discordant sound.
1630-
Under the leadership of John Winthrop, about 900 Puritans from England
established the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1665-
The English mathematician and philosopher, Isaac Newton, begins his
inventions into the laws governing the universe.
She
feels she could never give all the love that her husband given her back to him.
And that no love is stronger than theirs.
If ever two were one, than surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee.
If ever wife was happy in man,
Compare with me, ye woman, if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that Rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give
recompetence.
Thy love is such that I cannot repay.
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let’s so preserver
That when we live no more, we may live ever.
We were surely two as one
A man was loved by his wife.
A wife was happy with her man,
Compare other women to me.
I love you more than any treasure
Or all the money the East has.
A river cannot please my thirst for love,
But love given and love returned shall.
Your love is such that I cannot give in return.
I am rewarded greatly when I pray.
While alive, love goes strong,
When our time is up, we will be together forever.
