Anne Bradstreet and Her Feelings Toward Men

Anne Bradstreet and Her Feelings Toward Men

Growing up in the early 1600's was a tough time for many people, especially women. Women were very much discriminated against and made to fulfill the duties that were in the household and nothing else beyond that. Anne Bradstreet was a woman that grew up during this time as a Puritan. Puritans believed that humans could only achieve goodness if they worked hard, were self-disciplined, and constantly examining themselves to make sure that they were living their lives for God. Due to this way of looking at life, Anne Bradstreet had little time for writing her poetry. Being a mother of eight children and a devoted wife one would think that Bradstreet wasn't carrying out her duties to her family and God if she was busy writing poetry. Therefore if people knew that she was writing this poetry she would not want them to think less of her so she would write it in a happy and family oriented sense showing how devoted she was to her family through her poetry. That is why Bradstreet writes how she does in the poem To My Dear and Loving Husband. She writes as if to portray that she has a great relationship with her husband and God. Although from her other poem, Prologue, one can see that underneath she truly feels betrayed by the men in her life and by men in general.

In the poem To My Dear and Loving Husband, Bradstreet is professing how wonderful her and her husband's marriage is.

To My Dear and Loving Husband

If ever two were one then surely we.

If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;

If ever wife was happy in a man,

Compare with me, ye women, if you can.

I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold

Or all the riches that the East doth hold.

My love is such that rivers can...

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... in society. I don't think that she is necessarily fighting for equality here because that was unheard of back in the Puritan age, but she would appreciate a little respect and acknowledgment for her talents. Bradstreet is being viewed as a typical Puritan woman who would like to feel that she is useful for more then the average "household" woman status.

Works Cited

Bradstreet, Anne. "Prologue." The Tenth Muse Lately sprung up in America. Ed. I. Lancashire. London: Stephen Bowtell, 1650. 3-4.

Bradstreet, Anne. "To My Dear and Loving Husband." The Columbia Anthology of American Poetry. Ed. Jay Parini. New York: Columbia UP, 1995. 28.

Chapman, Wes. The Web of American Poetry Teaching Notes.

Martin, Wendy. "An American Triptych." The Norton Poetry Workshop. Ed. James F. Knapp. Online. Accessed 9/25/01. www.wwnorton.com/introlit/poetry/abrad/critWM.htm.