Anne Bradstreet

Amanda Onalaja

September 6, 2009

Pd. 2- Ms. Brown

Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan woman, who some consider to be the first American poet. Her book of poems was the first book written by a woman to be published in the United States. Her stories display how life was for Puritan woman adjusting to colonial life. She also wrote more personal and intimate works. “The Author to Her Book” and “To My Dear and Loving Husband” are poems written by Bradstreet; however, they seem to show a side of Anne that indulged in more than just God. Her poems appeal to pathos and express the love and emotion she, even as a Puritan woman, felt.

“The Author to Her Book” has somewhat of a maternal but ironic tone. She uses contradictions, “Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain, who after birth didst by my side remain”, she refers to her stories, ideas, or characters as “offspring” giving a maternal mood, but calls them “ill-formed offspring” as if they are ungraceful or unwanted. “My rambling brat (in print) should mother call”, she once again compares her unwanted work to “her” spoiled child. She demonstrates things a mother would do for her child, “…I washed thy face…I stretched thy joints”. Bradstreet is very fond of her work it would seem, however this poem can be looked at another way.

After reading “The Author to Her Book” for a third time, I realized she might have been narrating a story but using the maternal tone to move it along. I believe it’s a story of a poem or book Bradstreet may have written that she didn’t like, “ill-formed offspring”, that was encouraged by her publisher anyway, “Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true, who thee abroad, exposed to public view”. She didn’t like the story and felt it needed revising, “…errors were not lessened…I cast thee by as one unfit for light, thy visage was so irksome”. The maternal aspect of the poem commences, “…Yet being my own, at length affection would thy blemishes amend, if so I could”, and she tries to repair her tale. But in the end she is ashamed of her story and finds there is nothing she can do, so like a “good mother”, she trashes the story, “…which caused her thus to send thee out of door”.

Unlike “The Author to Her Book”, “To My Dear and Loving Husband” is a poem that has an obvious meaning. Bradstreet, uncommon in her time, expresses her affection for her husband. It is a poignant piece with an amorous tone. Bradstreet writes using heartfelt lines, “If ever two were one, then surely we…my love is such that rivers cannot quench… in love let’s so preserve that when we live no more, we may live ever”. There is nothing to infer because she blatantly displays her love to her husband.

Bradstreet’s form of writing is deep and full of affection. She exposes the buried emotions that woman, even now, don’t usually express, and in a profound way. “To My Dear and Loving Husband” did seem a little clichéd but that’s because it’s an original, a piece of literature that paved the way for today’s love notes and songs. To imagine a woman of her time, whose sole duty was home, children, and God, Bradstreet defied the norm.