Anne Bradstreet

Background Information

Anne Bradstreet was born somewhere in England to a nonconformist soldier of Queen Elizabeth in 1612. His name was Thomas Dudley who managed affairs with Earl of Lincoln. In 1630, he and his family sailed on a boat to Massachusetts Bay Colony. Simon Bradstreet, who was his associate at the time also sailed with them and later became her husband. She was 16 years old and he was 25. Literature, history, Greek, Latin, French, Hebrew and English were some of the things that she has been well tutored in.

            John Winthrop was one of the people who sailed on the “Arbella” was a very difficult one at that, because so many people were dying during that three month period. After they arrived in Massachusetts Bay Colony; at one point in time, her father became the governor and later on, so did her husband and they left many portraits and records. While living in Massachusetts, she drew quite a bit of attention from some of the women. She said, “Any woman who sought to use her wit, charm, or intelligence in the community at large found herself ridiculed, banished or executed by the colony’s powerful group of male leaders.” Because the puritan life was so boring for her in Massachusetts, how they dressed, and how they acted, led her to open up a shop of her own. She had different ideas and that is what led her to being separated from the church and state. “Deriving her ideas of god from the contemplations of her husbands Excellencies.” One document said.

            One of her friends was Anne Hutchinson who had 14 children and held prayer meetings for women. At these meetings, women talked about their religious beliefs and ethnical ideas. She believed that there was a Holy Spirit within that justifies what a person and not the church in admissions. Because of these such beliefs, the colony began to suspect her of which craft and banished her from the colony forever.

            Anne Bradstreet wrote epitaphs about her mother and father. She wrote this because her mother had died December 27, 1693 at the age of 61. In this epitaphs, she made sound as if her parents were role models of some sort. She wrote one for each individual parent. Her mother’s read: “Here lies/ A worthy Matron of unspotted life,/ A loving mother and obedient wife,/ A friendly neighbor, pitiful to poor,/ Whom oft she fed, and clothed with her store,/ To servants widely awful, but yet kind,/ And as they did, so they reward did find:/ A true instructor of her family,/The which she ordered with dexterity,/ The public meetings ever did frequent,/ And in her closest constant hours she spent;/ Religious in all her words and ways,/ Preparing still for death, till end of days:/ Of all her children, children lived to see,/ Then dying, left a blessed memory.”

Here is the one she wrote for her father: “Within this tomb a patriot lies/ That was both pious, just and wise,/ To truth a shield, to right a wall,/ To sectaries a whip and maul,/A magazine of history,/ A prizer of good company,/ In manner pleasant and severe,/ The good him loved, the bad did fear,/ And when his time with years was spent/ In some rejoiced, more did lament./” He died in 1653, at the age of 77.
            Her and her family moved around a lot and they never did leave behind any definite tombstone or house. They often moved around because of Simon’s political career. Her and her husband has 8 children within a 10 year period and they all lived during childhood. She was often ill and thought that she would die during birth but didn’t. She died at the age of 60.

            She wrote many poems in her life time and most of the poetry that she wrote was for her family and friends. Pretty much all of the people in her life that she loved.  At the age of 38, she was one of the best sellers of poetry on England when her brother-in-law took some of her works over there. I believe that Anne Bradstreet was an inspirational in her time.

Well-known Works

To My Dear and Loving Husband

Another I

Another II

...and many more.

To My Dear and Loving Husband

If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, 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 recompense.
Thy love is such I can no way repay,
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let's so persevere
That when we live no more, we may live ever

Literary Terms

1.   Inverted Syntax- Reverses expected order of words.

2.   Lyric Poem- Short poem in which a single speaker expresses thoughts and feelings in intensely emotional language.

3.   Epic Poem- Is a long narrative poem on serious subject presented in an elevated or formal style.

4.   Imagery- Descriptive words and phrases that a writer uses to re-create sensory experiences.

5.   Free Verse- Is poetry that does not have regular patterns of rhyme and meter.

Blocking

Eventually we became one.

Then he was loved by wife;

If man and wife were ever happy.

If you woman can compare with me.

I'd cherish the love that we have

All the riches the East holds.

The rivers cannot quench my love for you

I pay thee back with my love,

I cannot repay because my love is so much.

I pray thee heavens reward us with many loves.

Our love will keep on going

After we die we be together forever.

Click here for the works cited page