Essays on Anne Bradstreet

(Teacher)

“Authority without wisdom is like a heavy ax without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish.” Anne Bradstreet. ("Anne Bradstreet") Anne Bradstreet was a puritan and a poet whose father and husband were part of the local government in the early year of the Massachusetts Colony. Her quote is a direct result of her experiences with politics during that time period of early American Colonial Puritan life. Her perspective on the most important factors involved in how politics worked is also reflected in a few of her poems. However, the statement above shows her perspective and understanding of ...

Slide 2: Introduction

- The changing social and cultural aspects influence the development of themes. - Literary works suit the culture of time and place where they were written. - The short story “Editha” by William Dean Howells "Editha" explores the theme of love in a war context by disapproving war and calling for peace and love. - Amy Lowell "patterns" poem argues against societal rule and expectations urging people to be more “human”. - Claude McKay devotes his poem "America" to the country that has shown him love. - In the poems, “The bird understander” and “To ...

Most of the poems of Phillis Wheatley and Anne Bradstreet address the themes of religion, slavery, gender and race. In my work, I will pay close attention to the themes of gender and race. The theme of gender and race brings out the inequality and unfairness of the society. From the poems of both writers, men consider themselves superior beings and say that women must show respect and remain submissive always. The place of women in the society is undermined, and their roles not clearly defined. On issues of race, the white Englishmen claim to be the masters of ...

Organization

Abstract The world of literature encompasses numerous feelings and emotions in its wide array of literary works. As readers, we are not unknown to use of centralized themes in the works of literature which vary according to many factors, like the type of work, the author and the plot of the work. In this paper we will compare a few renowned works of literature based on their usage of the central theme of love. This paper will be an analysis of the concept of theme which can be found in both prose and poetry. For our reference, we have ...

Anne Bradstreet and James Baldwin express their concern about the American society and their literary works critique and comment on the societal conditions of the land. Anne Bradstreet was the first woman poet of America and her literary works voiced her disapproval of the societal view of the women folk of the land. She refuted the stereotypical notion of the Puritan society of the 1600s that the female was inferior to the male. The American patriarchal society expected the women folk to embrace passivity and immanence finding solace in the constrictions of the household. In the poem, The ...

Anne Bradstreet, the poet of In Honour of that High and Mighty Princess, Queen Elizabeth, was the first female poet of America who poured her heart out in her literary pursuits echoing the perfect mesh of Puritan thoughts and feminine emotions. Her poems provide an insight into the exuberant feminine self who longs to be free of the imposed passivity and take a flight of freedom and glory. She defied the normative of the age and penned her poems which explore the inner spirit providing it apt expression through her rich vocabulary and panache. This poem in particular is typical ...

Anne Bradstreet and Emily Dickinson are certainly among the first group of women poets to emerge in America. Before their emergence, poetry was a male-dominated affair attracting little attention from women. As a result, it is not a mystery that both poets (Bradstreet and Dickinson) share some striking resemblance in the themes that they tackle, and incorporate heavy symbolism in their poems. However, each poet conveys her experiences within her historical context. For example, Anne Bradstreet inclines her poems towards puritanism while Emily Dickinson inclines her poems towards romanticism. Although Anne Bradstreet and Emily Dickinson share similar views on the role of ...

The Puritans of the 17th century remained an extremely patriarchal people; their primary goals were to glorify God and place their earthly passions behind them, all the while placing men in positions of authority, leaving women little choices for activities and positions (Bremer, 1976). According to Edmund Morgan, "the central Puritan dilemma was the problem of doing right in a world that does wrong." If this is to be believed, then the works of many important Puritan authors would express this dilemma through prose - their feeble attempts to make right this flawed world that they lived in. In this ...

The Puritans of the 17th century remained an extremely patriarchal people; their primary goals were to glorify God and place their earthly passions behind them, all the while placing men in positions of authority, leaving women little choices for activities and positions (Bremer, 1976). The works of Anne Bradstreet, a Puritan author and poet of the 17th century, are extremely indicative of these themes, particularly the poem "The Prologue." In this essay, the poem will be analyzed in depth in relation to its historical setting, themes, concepts and ideas/images. In "The Prologue," Anne Bradstreet attempts to exemplify feminist concepts of ...

According to Edmund Morgan, "the central Puritan dilemma was the problem of doing right in a world that does wrong." If this is to be believed, then the works of many important Puritan authors would express this dilemma through prose - their feeble attempts to make right this flawed world that they lived in. In this essay, the concept of right versus wrong will be explored in the works of William Bradford, John Winthrop, Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor.

William Bradford's book Of Plymouth Plantation was the perfect example of this dilemma; the Puritans themselves went to Plymouth in order ...

Introduction

Anne Bradstreet, is a big name in the world of poetry, she received a lot of attention with the kind of work that she had produced during the later half of the seventeenth century. Bradstreet’s most of the poems are lyrical, and the presence of craft in them is exquisite, she ensures that in all her poems she immerses herself into the glory of life and lives it to the fullest. In this paper we will look at few works from Bradstreet and our focus will be to analyze them from the various perspectives to deduce that the basic themes ...