The Evolution of Anne Bradstreet

Anne Bradstreet

The place of Anne Dudley's birth is unknown, but she grew up in Lincolnshire, England. Her father, Thomas, was steward to the earl of Lincoln. Dudley received an excellent education for a woman of the era; she had private tutors and was allowed to use the earl's large library. In 1628 she married Simon Bradstreet. Two years later, Anne and her husband and parents sailed for New England so they could openly practice their Puritan faith. When Bradstreet first saw New England, she was frightened by its wildness, but she came to believe that God had chosen this life for her.

Bradstreet and her husband had eight children. They moved around to various settlements in Massachusetts, finally settling in North Andover. Simon Bradstreet served twice as royal governor of Massachusetts. Furthermore, Bradstreet wrote poetry for her own enjoyment and that of her family. She never intended her work to be published, but her brother-in-law, without her permission, published a volume of her poems in England in 1650. Bradstreet's early poems are conventional and give little indication that the author lived in the untamed wilderness of America. The Puritans typically believed that God took an active role in human life and an interest in each individual's destiny. That raises questions about why man must suffer, and the Puritan answer is evident in Bradstreet's reaction in her book. The catastrophe reminded her to be even more grateful for everything that survived the fire, since everything really belongs to God.She is read today for her later work, which was published after her death. Her later poetry, more deeply felt and less conventional, focuses on Bradstreet's daily life as a settler; her emotions as she faces life's hardships, including the loss of the family home to fire and the dangers of childbirth; her religious beliefs; and nature. Addressing her husband during a pregnancy.

Bradstreet was influenced by a number of poets, including Raleigh, Spenser, Sidney, and Donne. Her most famous work is a poem titled "Contemplations" (1678) in which she ponders time's ability to destroy mortal things but not spiritual ones. In this poem, as in most of her later works both verse and prose, Bradstreet reveals her wisdom, simplicity, and generosity.

Anne Bradstreet, a classically educated Puritan poet, composed works about family, history, and death, culture and nature, spirituality and theology, and the tension between faith and doubt. The first published poet in the New World, Bradstreet wrote meditations on society and expressions of self-examination. In keeping with both her spiritual commitment and the social expectations of her seventeenth-century world, Bradstreet composed her poetry in addition to attending to the duties of her household and family. Her earliest dated poem, “Upon a Fit of Sickness, Anno. 1632, “is notable because it raises a recurring theme throughout her work: the tension between a love of worldly things and a desire to yield to the will of God.

Anne Dudley was born around 1612 in Northhampton, England, the daughter of Dorothy Yorke and Thomas Dudley, ...