The lives of women and the attitudes toward them was a process of change in American literature from early America through the “American Literature in a Divided Nation”. In early America women had limitations and had very little rights. They were only used to produce children and maintain the household. They were not involved in politics, literature, or the government. Meanwhile women from the nineteenth century had more rights compared to those from early America, but still badly mutations to their freedom. By the nineteenth century more women went to school and had a better education, though they were still expected to do their duties. As you read poems and books of women from early America and women in the nineteenth century you can see …show more content…
the style of work change and the reasons for them writing also change within each writer. Prominent female writers from early America like Anne Bradstreet and Mary Rowlandson. Some prominent female writers that inspired other people were Margaret Fuller, Harriet Jacobs and Emily Dickinson. Anne Dudley Bradstreet was the most prominent of early English poets of North America.
Bradstreet was also the first female writer in the British North America colonies to be published. Although Bradstreet did not attend school, she received an excellent education from her father, “who was widely read- Cotton Mather described Thomas Dudley as a “devourer of books”.” (Anne Bradstreet) This benefitted Bradstreet for most women in Colonial America received very little formal education. Bradstreet has eight children between the years 1633 and 1652, which meant that her domestic responsibilities were extremely demanding, she wrote poetry which expressed her commitment to writing. “Her work reflects the religious and emotional conflicts she experienced as a woman writer and as a Puritan. Throughout her life Bradstreet was concerned with the issues of sin and redemption, physical and emotional frailty, death and immortality. Much of her work indicates that she had a difficult time resolving the conflict she experienced between the pleasures of sensory and familial experience and the promises of heaven. As a Puritan she struggled to subdue her attachment to the world, but as a woman she sometimes felt more strongly connected to her husband, children, and community than to God.”(Anne
Bradstreet) Another female writer of early America would be Mary Rowlandson. Born in England in the early 1600s, Rowlandson was brought to the colonies by her parents while still a toddler. Her father was one of the founders of the town of Lancaster, in Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was the richest man in the town. On February 10, 1676 Indians attacked and Mary was captured along with her three children. The captives were then taken north and west to what is now the south western New Hampshire and Vermont. Later Mary was brought back to the Mt. Wachusetts area of Massachusetts where she was redeemed by the brave John Hoar. In 1682, Rowlandson published a narrative of her captivity which became America's first best seller. At this time it was highly unusual for a woman to be a published author. "The narrative provides a first-hand description of Indian life during this conflict. Rowlandson gives an inside account of how the Indians were doing and how her captivity and her redemption we indirectly instrumental in bringing the war to a close."(Who was Mary Rowlandson?) The lives of women during colonial times were different than from today. Since early America, women have been uniquely viewed as a creative source of human life. Women were expected to get married, have children, work in the home, and obey their husbands. Despite the limitations put on women, they played an important role in the growth and survival of the American colonies. The main job of the woman during colonial times was to manage the home. The women worked extremely hard during colonial times. There was always something to do to maintain the house. Colonial women had few legal rights or freedom. Women were not allowed to vote or hold public office. Both Bradstreet and Rowlandson were women in the city. Puritan women were generally taught to read so they could read the bible. Moving into the nineteenth century, female writers like Margaret Fuller, Harriet Jacobs, and Emily Dickinson had come into their own, as both an economic and social force. “Even Nathaniel Hawthorne complained about the “damned mob of scribbling women” who were ruining his chances for financial success.”(Lynn) Other authors used novels to draw their readers into critique of women’s status in society. In my opinion women of the nineteenth century were more fortune and should have published their own writings. Maybe more females would get inspired by their writings. Margaret Fuller, born 1810 in Cambridge, MA; was an American journalist, critic, and women’s rights advocate associated with the American transcendentalism movement. “She was taught to read and write by her father, offering her an education as rigorous as any boy’s at the time and forbade her from reading the typical feminine fare such as etiquette books and sentimental novels. At the same time her mother taught her household chores and sewing. (UAA) She became entwined with intellectuals around Massachusetts, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, who led the transcendentalist movement. “In 1840, she conducted her famous “Conversations,” discussion groups that attracted many prominent people from all around Boston from 1840 to 1844. Fuller joined Emerson and other to found the Dial, a journal devoted to transcendentalist views in 1840. She became a contributor from the first issue and its editor.”(Margaret Fuller Biography) She published her feminist classic, Woman in the Nineteenth Century, in 1845. “This article excited a good deal of sympathy, and still more interest. It is in compliance with wishes expressed from many quarters that it is prepared for publication in its present form.”(Margaret Fuller) “In 1837, Fuller visits the Emerson’s in Concord and attend a meeting of the Transcendental Club-the first time women are allowed as members in a “major male intellectual society.
Bradstreet was a Puritan and was therefore raised with a simplistic view of the world. This, combined with the fact that she was a woman, carried over into her way of writing. Her writing style was not eloquent but plain, humble, and pleasant to read. Her poems dealt with topics such as faith, family, and adversity and were easy to understand. Bradstreet had great faith which she gained through the experiences she encountered in life.
Although Anne Bradstreet appeared to be the ideal Puritanical housewife, she faced many hardships throughout her lifetime. She faced death often, either due to disease or childbirth. These hardships led Bradstreet
Anne Bradstreet, whom most critics consider America’s first “authentic poet”, was born and raised as a Puritan. Bradstreet married her husband Simon at the tender age of eighteen. She wrote her poems while rearing eight children and performing other domestic duties. In her poem “Upon The Burning Of Our House, July 10th, 1666”, Bradstreet tells of three valuable lessons she learned from the fire that destroyed her home.
Bradstreet’s poetry is fully religious. Being a pious woman, as everyone was at that time period, she wrote poems claiming high morals and religious motifs. Her writings were very popular among puritans who started colonizing America. His Puritan belief was the reason of her special attitude to her life, soul and sufferings. “She thought that God was so hard on her because her soul was too in love with the world. She also wrote some poems where she asked God to watch over her children and husband” (Gonzalez, 2000).
Despite her harsh views of herself and her skills as a writer, Bradstreet continued to write for an intimate audience which typically included her husband and her family. Bradstreet wrote many poems to her beloved husband which brought on criticism by fellow Puritans. In her poetry Bradstreet professes her love for her husband in ways that caused Puritans to question if Anne put her husband before her God. You can also see in some of her works Bradstreet questioning herself. Despite her sin of loving her husband so ardently, Bradstreet was a devout Puritan woman who worshipped and thanked God for all of his
Feminism today remains prominent because even while women’s rights are very strong, women are still fighting for equality every day. In the time of Anne Bradstreet, women had few rights and they were seen as inferior to men. Anne lived among the puritans whom ruled her everyday life. Although it was against the puritan code for women to receive an education, Bradstreet’s father, Thomas Dudley, loved his daughter dearly and made sure that she was well educated which shows in her works. Anne Bradstreet’s literature became well known only because her family published her works under a male name. This was done because writing poetry was a serious offense to the puritans since poetry was considered creative and the only creating that was done was by God. In the works of Anne Bradstreet, she conveys a feminist attitude, and could very well be one of the first American Feminists.
In the early nineteenth century, there was controversy over whether women should be granted certain privileges, such as voting in America. Her aforementioned poem speaks to what it was like to be a woman in the 20th century. It was written in 1923, only three years after the Nineteenth Amendment, granting
She was part of an influential family who encouraged her writing and circulated it in manuscript with pride. That kind of private support did much to offset the possibility of public disapproval. Bradstreet believed that women in her society were treated unfairly, and that gender should be insignificant. In her "Prologue" she addresses conflict and struggle, expressing her opinion toward women's rights, implying that gender is unimportant and male dominance is wrong. Bradstreet asserts the rights of women to learning and expression of thought, addressing broad and universal themes.
Anne Bradstreet starts off her letter with a short poem that presents insight as to what to expect in “To My Dear Children” when she says “here you may find/ what was in your living mother’s mind” (Bradstreet 161). This is the first sign she gives that her letter contains not just a mere retelling of adolescent events, but an introspection of her own life. She writes this at a very turbulent point in history for a devout Puritan. She lived during the migration of Puritans to America to escape the persecution of the Catholic Church and also through the fragmentation of the Puritans into different sects when people began to question the Puritan faith.
Throughout history, women have undeniably played a vital role in society. Although, at the same time, the role has been ever changing. This means that various cultures throughout various times have given women different roles. Meanwhile, today the role of a woman is often debated or criticized due equality between sexes slowly becoming as close to a reality as it can be. This topic has been represented in as long as art has existed. However, after the civil war of the United States in the nineteenth century, American literature approaches this topic in a new and interesting way. In a time when the country was divided, traumatized, and confused, artist began to analyze everyone's role in society in order to piece things together. Prolific authors
Up until the early 17th century, American literature was chiefly about politics, religion, and recorded events. These writings were very dry and lacked insight into the everyday lives of the authors. To put into writing any individual spiritual reflections that strayed away from the religion of the colony could be dangerous at that time; possibly resulting in banishment from the colony or worse. Likewise, any writing that did not serve at least one of the purposes listed above was considered to be a waste of time that would be better spent praising God. Anne Bradstreet defied the rules of her time by writing about whatever she wanted including personal thoughts, reflections, emotions, and events. Bradstreet was the first to write about personal matters, which is her greatest literary contribution in early American literature.
Anne Bradstreet was born in England in 1612 and was raised with an Elizabethan education combine with Puritan values—both of which are reflected in her works. She remained a devout Puritan throughout her life and came to Massachusetts on the Arabella with her husband Simon Bradstreet, who later became a prominent leader in the society of the settlements (a situation which took him often from home). A book of her poems, entitled The Tenth Muse, was published in England in 1647 without her permission—an event which inspired some of her poems and caused her to write revisions. She thus became the first English speaking poet in North America. Her poems focused on many puritan ideas such as vanity of world things and the need to submit to the divine will of God. However, the poems also reflected themes and forms common to poets of her Elizabethan education and presented feelings that are raw and real. The puritan themes fade away at times in place of feelings of doubt or in poems entirely dedicated to her love of her husband –things one might not expect from puritan poetry. It is also speculated that she defied gender roles in writing her poetry, setting her apart from many women of her time. Her poems are
Anne had been already once sick from smallpox and then the illness came back and she became paralyzed in her joints. In 1620s when Anne was pregnant with her sixth child, Simon forced her to move from Ipswich to Andover Parish. Anne Bradstreet was the first woman poet in England's North American colonies to be published. She was described as 'an educated English woman, a loving wife, devoted mother, a questing Puritan and a sensitive poet. Bradstreet shows how society made accomplishments of women seem less important. The puritan's popular belief was that women should be doing things like sewing rather than poetry. Anne challenged the puritan beliefs by announcing her complete and total love with her husband Simon. In Puritan society it was improper to glorify romantic love. In “To My Dear and Loving Husband” she confessed her undying love to her husband saying “Thy love is such I can no way repay, the heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.” her deep passion can be found again in “A Letter to Her Husband, Absent upon Public Employment.” Anne's affections towards Simon help readers understand Anne's confidence.
Although not all of these works were written by women or necessarily about them, they do all apply to the life that women live in America’s society. Whether it is women’s strength, their need for protection, their growth, or their exposure to double standards, there is one thing they all have in common; they are American Woman who are just like me and any other girl in high school. We, as women, are strong and must show the American society that we will unite, and overcome any or all obstacles that come our
As women, we have always been taught by society to participate in gender binding roles. Up until recently in history women were always expected to be housewives, stay home, raise children, submit to their husbands and the list goes on. This was especially prominent in the late 1800’s, when women were expected to do more and restricted to less. Women of this era were basically chained to their expected duties and limited to amount of ambition they could have. Literature was a form of communication that enlightened women to open their mind to possibilities never thought of before. Few women tested and pushed the boundaries already set by society, but the ones who dared have shaped and paved the way for the opportunities women