Anne Bradstreet 1612 1672 Father was John Dudley

Anne Bradstreet! 1612 – 1672

• Father was John Dudley, a nonconformist soldier • 1630, sailed with family to America • His coworker, Simon Bradstreet, married Anne when she was 16 and he was 25 • Anne was well tutored in literature, history, Greek, Latin, French, Hebrew, and English.

• In her memoirs, she wrote of America: "I found a new world and new manners at which my heart rose [up in protest. ]“ • Bother father and husband were governors of Massachusetts, allowing her some luxury of lifestyle. • Though her men had social prominence, "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. "

• Her husband, in quest for more land power, constantly moved them to the edges of the dangerous frontier. • Through this dangerous life, Anne and Simon had 8 children, all of whom lived through childhood, which was rare enough in mire populous areas. • Anne herself was frequently ill and constantly expected death, but survived to be 60 years old.

Ann Hutchinson • A Friend of Ann – intelligent, well educated • Mother of 14 children • Debated religious and ethical ideas with other women in the community • She believed good works not necessary to go to heaven • Banished from the colony and killed by Indians

• Her later poetry was published posthumously, and contained a much more well-developed poetic voice. • Her Apologies, especially, dripped with sarcasm in her response to the male opinion of women in society. • Anne was a radically feminist poet, challenging the banishing of women to the private sphere of life and questioning the idea of an unforgiving Puritan God.

• Because of the tendency of the Puritans to ostracize female intellectuals, Anne was hesitant to publish any of her poetry. • Her brother took some of her early poems to England (legendarily against her will) and published them as The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America when she was 38. It sold very well.

• Anne was viewed as an intriguingly feminist writer, merging her sometimes overtly sexual imagery with the concepts of both her love for God and for her husband family. • She examined the paradoxical reconciliation of a woman in the Puritanically repressive roles carnal love for her husband her more stately and respectable relationship with God and the church. • This led to a more in-depth examination by feminist critics in the mid-20 th century of her individualist take on more traditional doctrine.

Criticism • Since she stuck to this traditionally accepted courtly style, her Tenth Muse was wellacclaimed among critical circles.

Literary Terms • Extended metaphors: Detailed and complex metaphors that extend over a long section of a poem - Robert Frost “The Road Not Taken” • Inversion: In grammar, a reversal of normal word order, especially the placement of a verb ahead of the subject (subject-verb inversion). • Ex – “In silent night when rest I took”

• Special thank you to “Biography of Anne Bradstreet” by Ann Woodlief located at http: //www. vcu. edu/engweb/webtexts/Brads treet/bradbio. htm.

• “Even as highly respected a man as Governor John Winthrop believed women could not bear intellectual rigor without irreparable harm. ” • “Women simply did not do what Bradstreet did in the seveenth century unless there was something ‘wrong’ with them”

• In your group read the poem Verses upon the Burning of our House and individually rewrite the versus in your own words. • Do the same thing for “An Author to Her Book” • http: //www. vcu. edu/engweb/webtexts/Brads treet/bradpoems. htm