Anne Bradstreet was a prominent English poet and one of the first female writers to be recognized in the New World. She was a Puritan, born in Northampton England. She migrated with her parents to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. Her writing focuses on her struggles with life, her family, and her faith.
Anne Bradstreet’s ‘The Four Ages of Man’ contemplates life’s fleeting stages, evoking nostalgia, ambition, introspection, and acceptance, revealing universal truths about existence.
Lo now! four other acts upon the stage,
Childhood, and Youth, the Manly, and Old-age.
The first: son unto Phlegm, grand-child to water,
Unstable, supple, moist, and cold’s his Nature.
Anne Bradstreet’s ‘The Four Elements’ depicts elemental conflict, resolution through mediation, and the importance of natural balance.
Listen: there was a goat’s head hanging by ropes in a tree.
All night it hung there and sang. And those who heard it
Felt a hurt in their hearts and thought they were hearing
The song of a night bird. They sat up in their beds, and then
‘To My Dear and Loving Husband’ by Anne Bradstreet is like a breath of fresh air. Her deep and genuine love for her husband is clear and evident in this poem.
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.
‘Before the Birth of One of Her Children’ by Anne Bradstreet is a moving poem about a woman’s opinion on death. Inspired by her pregnancy, the speaker pens this epistolary to her husband.
All things within this fading world hath end,
Adversity doth still our joyes attend;
No ties so strong, no friends so dear and sweet,
But with death’s parting blow is sure to meet.
Written forty years after the death of Queen Elizabeth I, Anne Bradstreet’s ode to the Queen is filled with praise and gushing appreciation for the near-legendary ruler as her achievements are considered, as well as the love that her people had for her.
Although great Queen, thou now in silence lie,
Yet thy loud Herald Fame, doth to the sky
Thy wondrous worth proclaim, in every clime,
And so has vow’d, whilst there is world or time.
‘A Letter to her Husband, absent upon Publick employment’ blends longing for her distant husband with the cold of her illness.
My head, my heart, mine Eyes, my life, nay more,
My joy, my Magazine of earthly store,
If two be one, as surely thou and I,
How stayest thou there, whilst I at Ipswich lye?
‘The Author to Her Book’ likens her book to a flawed child, expressing a mix of disappointment and protective affection in her efforts.
Thou ill-form’d offspring of my feeble brain,
Who after birth didst by my side remain,
Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,
Who thee abroad, expos’d to publick view,
Bradstreet’s ‘The Prologue’ subtly challenges 17th-century gender norms, asserting her poetic voice amidst societal constraints.
To sing of Wars, of Captains, and of Kings,
Of Cities founded, Common-wealths begun,
For my mean Pen are too superior things;
Or how they all, or each their dates have run,
‘To Her Father with Some Verses’ by Anne Bradstreet expresses the poet’s admiration for her father and desire to pay him back for his support.
Most truly honoured, and as truly dear,
If worth in me or ought I do appear,
Who can of right better demand the same
Than may your worthy self from whom it came?
‘Verses upon the Burning of our House, July 10th, 1666’ moves from the loss of her home to fire to finding solace in faith and God’s plan.
In silent night when rest I took,
For sorrow near I did not look,
I wakened was with thund’ring noise
And piteous shrieks of dreadful voice.
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