Anne Bradstreet

In our discussion on Monday, we discussed the works of Anne Bradstreet. I learned that she was the first American poet, let alone a woman. In addition, she was the first person in America to have their work published. Her brother in law took her poems to London in 1650 and had them published. In one of the poems we read, “The Author to Her Book”, Bradstreet explains the humiliation she felt after not being able to make her poems perfect before they were published. Although Bradstreet grew up in an upper class family in England, she had an atypical life because her father believed in educating all of his children, even the women. She also married for love which was atypical in 1600s, when she lived. Most authors during this time wrote about God, living a good and holy life, or dying and going to heaven, Bradstreet wrote about life on earth and physical love. In “To My Dear and Loving Husband”, she says that while she is here on earth she wants her love to stay true. She also states in this poem that if she dies before her husband, he needs to marry again because someone has to take care of her children. Children are also another topic in her poetry. “In Reference to her Children”, describes her wishes for her children and knows that they will “fly the coop” one day, but if they are happy, she will be happy. Although Bradstreet was very progressive for her time, throughout the poems we see a focus on being a mother and wife. Most of today’s women do not have their life devoted to only their children and husband, but also everything else such as their jobs. This discussion made me relate back to the discussion we had a few weeks ago with Mr. Robertson when we analyzed the difference between a man and a woman's writing. Men write about accomplishments and women write about things they accomplished with others. Bradstreet follows this by talking about her family rather than herself in her work. Overall, it is empowering that Bradstreet was the first American poet and has a different message in her pieces than other authors at the time.