The First Woman in a Man's World
Anne Bradstreet is a significant woman in American history.
She is considered the first American poet.
When she was eighteen years old, she sailed to America with her husband Simon.
She was not prepared for the harsh living conditions that awaited her in colonial America: the sickness, the lack of food, and the primitive living conditions. She nurtured and raised her eight children, took care of her home, and then found time to write.
Later, her father and her husband would become governors of Massachusetts.
Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan.
Like many others, she believed that God controls the world and the people in it.
Her poems are about her feelings of the joys and difficulties of Puritan life.
Bradstreet's poems were intended for her family's eyes only, especially since many poems were intimate writings to her husband.
Puritans believed in public morality, so Bradstreet's poems should not have been shared with the public. However, her brother-in-law sent them off to England to be published.
Anne Bradstreet did not want to return to England, despite how privileged her life was there.
She was concerned about the cultural bias toward women; it was believed that a woman's place was in the home tending to the family and husband. Thus, the public criticized her writing.
Bradstreet loved her husband, Simon, and he played a role in her poetry.
Their love was a common theme, or message, in her poetry.
Other common themes included her religious experiences, meditations, nature, personal hardships, and historical topics.