Anne Dudley Bradstreet (c. 1612 – September 16, 1672) was New England's first published
poetA poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
. Her work met with a positive reception in both the
Old WorldThe Old World consists of those parts of the world known to classical antiquity and the European Middle Ages. It is used in the context of, and contrast with, the "New World" ....
and the New World.
Biography
Bradstreet was born
Anne Dudley in
NorthamptonNorthampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, 1612. She was the daughter of
Thomas DudleyThomas Dudley was a colonial magistrate who served several terms as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Dudley was the chief founder of Newtowne, later Cambridge, Massachusetts, and built the town's first home...
, a steward of the
Earl of LincolnEarl of Lincoln is a title that has been created eight times in the Peerage of England.-Earls of Lincoln, First Creation :*William d'Aubigny, 1st Earl of Lincoln and 1st Earl of Arundel Earl of Lincoln is a title that has been created eight times in the Peerage of England.-Earls of Lincoln, First...
, and Dorothy Yorke. Due to her family's position she grew up in cultured circumstances and was a well-educated woman for her time, being tutored in history, several languages and literature. At the age of sixteen she married
Simon BradstreetSimon Bradstreet was a colonial magistrate, businessman, diplomat, and the last governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Arriving in Massachusetts on the Winthrop Fleet in 1630, Bradstreet was almost constantly involved in the politics of the colony but became its governor only in 1679...
. Both Anne's father and husband were later to serve as governors of the
Massachusetts Bay ColonyThe Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, in New England, situated around the present-day cities of Salem and Boston. The territory administered by the colony included much of present-day central New England, including portions...
. Anne and Simon, along with Anne's parents, immigrated to America aboard the
ArbellaThe Arbella or Arabella was the flagship of the Winthrop Fleet on which, between April 8 and June 12, 1630, Governor John Winthrop, other members of the Company and Puritan emigrants transported themselves and the Charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company from England to Salem, thereby giving legal...
as part of the
Winthrop FleetThe Winthrop Fleet was a group of eleven sailing ships under the leadership of John Winthrop that carried approximately 700 Puritans plus livestock and provisions from England to New England over the summer of 1630.-Motivation:...
of Puritan emigrants in 1630.
Anne Bradstreet first touched American soil on June 14, 1630 at what is now Pioneer Village (Salem, Massachusetts) with Simon, her parents and other voyagers, part of the Migration to New England (1620-1640). Their stay was very brief due to the illness and starvation of Gov.
John EndecottJohn Endecott was an English colonial magistrate, soldier and the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. During all of his years in the colony but one, he held some form of civil, judicial, or military high office...
and other residents of the village. Most moved immediately south along the coast to
Charlestown, MassachusettsCharlestown is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and is located on a peninsula north of downtown Boston. Charlestown was originally a separate town and the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; it became a city in 1847 and was annexed by Boston on January 5, 1874...
for another short stay before moving south along the
Charles RiverThe Charles River is an long river that flows in an overall northeasterly direction in eastern Massachusetts, USA. From its source in Hopkinton, the river travels through 22 cities and towns until reaching the Atlantic Ocean at Boston...
to found "the City on the Hill," Boston, Massachusetts.
The Bradstreet family soon moved again, this time to what is now
Cambridge, MassachusettsCambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. In 1632, Anne had her first child, Samuel, in Newe Towne, as it was then called.
Both Anne's father and her husband were instrumental in the founding of Harvard
http://www.harvard.edu/ in 1636. Two of her sons were graduates, Samuel (Class of 1653) and Simon (Class of 1660). In October 1997, the Harvard community dedicated a gate in memory of her as America's first published poet (see last paragraph below). The Bradstreet Gate is located next to Canaday Hall, the newest dormitory in
Harvard YardHarvard Yard is a grassy area of about , adjacent to Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that constitutes the oldest part and the center of the campus of Harvard University...
.
Despite poor health, she had eight children and achieved a comfortable social standing. Having previously been afflicted with
smallpoxSmallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
, Anne would once again fall prey to illness as paralysis overtook her joints in later years.
In the early 1640s, Simon once again pressed his wife, pregnant with her sixth child, to move for the sixth time, from
IpswichIpswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...
to Andover Parish. North Andover is that original town founded in 1646 by the Stevens, Osgood, Johnson, Farnum, Barker and Bradstreet families among others. Anne and her family resided in the Old Center of North Andover
http://www.essexheritage.org/sites/north_andover_hist_soc.shtml. They never lived in what is now known as "Andover" to the south.
In 1650, Rev. John Woodbridge had
The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in AmericaThe Tenth Muse, lately Sprung up in America, or Several Poems Compiled with Great Variety of Wit and Learning, Full of Delight, Wherein especially is Contained a Complete Discourse and Description of the Four Elements, Constitutions, Ages of Man, Seasons of the Year, together with an exact Epitome...
composed by "A Gentlewoman from Those Parts"
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5766 published in
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, making Anne the first female poet ever published in both
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and the
New WorldThe New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
.
On July 10, 1666, their North Andover family home burned (see "Works" below) in a fire that left the Bradstreets homeless and with few personal belongings. By then, Anne's health was slowly failing. She suffered from
tuberculosisTuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
and had to deal with the loss of cherished relatives. But her will remained strong and as a reflection of her religious devotion and knowledge of Biblical scriptures, she found peace in the firm belief that her daughter-in-law Mercy and her grandchildren were in heaven.
Anne Bradstreet died on September 16, 1672 in
North Andover, MassachusettsNorth Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. North Andover is the home of Merrimack College, a private, Catholic four-year institution ....
at the age of 60. The precise location of her grave is uncertain but many historians believe her body is in the Old Burying Ground at Academy Road and Osgood Street in North Andover.
This area of the
Merrimack ValleyThe Merrimack Valley is a bi-state region along the Merrimack River in the states of New Hampshire and Massachusetts, United States. The Merrimack is one of the larger waterways in the New England region and has helped define the livelihood and culture of those living along it since native...
is now described as the
Valley of the PoetsValley of the Poets is one description used for the Merrimack River Valley of Massachusetts.Stretching from Amesbury, North Andover and Lawrence in the north to Newburyport at the mouth of the Merrimack, this area of Essex County has spawned and supported some of the most beloved and famous of...
.
A marker in the North Andover cemetery commemorates the 350th anniversary (2000) of the publishing of "The Tenth Muse" in
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1650. That site and the Bradstreet Gate at Harvard may be the only two places in America honoring her memory.
Four years after the death of Anne in 1672, Simon Bradstreet married for a second time to a lady also named Anne. In 1697 Simon died and was buried in Salem.
Works
Bradstreet's education gave her advantages to write with authority about politics, history, medicine, and theology. Her personal library of books was said to have numbered over 800, before many were destroyed when her home burned down. This event itself inspired a poem entitled "Upon the Burning of Our House July 10th, 1666". She rejects the anger and grief that this worldly tragedy has caused her and instead looks toward God and the assurance of heaven as consolation, saying:
- "And when I could no longer look,
- I blest His grace that gave and took,
- That laid my goods now in the dust.
- Yea, so it was, and so 'twas just.
- It was his own; it was not mine.
- Far be it that I should repine."
As a younger poet Bradstreet wrote five quaternions,epic poems of four parts each (see works below) that explore the diverse yet complementary natures of their subject. Much of Bradstreet's poetry is based on observation of the world around her, focusing heavily on domestic and religious themes, and was considered by
Cotton MatherCotton Mather, FRS was a socially and politically influential New England Puritan minister, prolific author and pamphleteer; he is often remembered for his role in the Salem witch trials...
a momument to her memory beyond the statliest marble. Long considered primarily of historical interest, she won critical acceptance in the 20th century as a writer of enduring verse, particularly for her sequence of religious poems "Contemplations", which was written for her family and not published until the mid-19th century. Bradstreet's work was deeply influenced by the poet
Guillaume de Salluste Du BartasGuillaume de Salluste Du Bartas was a French poet. A Huguenot, he served under Henry of Navarre. He is known as an epic poet. La Sepmaine; ou, Creation du monde was a hugely influential hexameral work, relating the creation of the world and the history of man...
, who was favored by 17th-century readers.
Nearly a century later,
Martha Wadsworth BrewsterMartha Wadsworth Brewster was an 18th-century American poet and writer. She is one of only four colonial women who published volumes of their verse before the American Revolution and was the first American-born woman to publish under her own name.-Early life:She was born on April 1, 1710 in...
, a notable 18th-century American poet and writer, in her principal work,
Poems on Diverse Subjects, was influenced and pays homage to Bradstreet's verse.
Despite the traditional attitude toward women of the time, she clearly valued knowledge and intellect; she was a
free thinkerFreethought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that opinions should be formed on the basis of science, logic, and reason, and should not be influenced by authority, tradition, or other dogmas...
and some consider her an early
feministFeminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
; unlike the more radical
Anne HutchinsonAnne Hutchinson was one of the most prominent women in colonial America, noted for her strong religious convictions, and for her stand against the staunch religious orthodoxy of 17th century Massachusetts...
, however, Bradstreet's feminism does not reflect heterodox, antinomian views. Based on her poems, Bradstreet could also be considered to be a complementarian.
In 1647 Bradstreet's brother-in-law, Rev.
John WoodbridgeJohn Woodbridge VI was an English nonconformist, who emigrated to New England. He had positions on both sides of the Atlantic, until 1663, when he settled permanently in New England.-Life:...
, sailed to England, carrying her manuscript of poetry. Although Anne later said that she did not know Woodbridge was going to publish her manuscript in her self-deprecatory poem, ""The Author to Her Book"", she wrote Woodbridge a letter while he was in London, indicating her knowledge of the publication plan. Anne had little choice, however— as a woman poet, it was important for her to downplay her ambitions as an author. Otherwise, she would have faced criticism for being "unwomanly."
Anne's first work was published in London as "
The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, by a Gentlewoman of those PartsThe Tenth Muse, lately Sprung up in America, or Several Poems Compiled with Great Variety of Wit and Learning, Full of Delight, Wherein especially is Contained a Complete Discourse and Description of the Four Elements, Constitutions, Ages of Man, Seasons of the Year, together with an exact Epitome...
"
The purpose of the publication appears to have been an attempt by devout Puritan men (i.e. Thomas Dudley, Simon Bradstreet, John Woodbridge) to show that a godly and educated woman could elevate the position held by a wife and mother, without necessarily placing her in competition with men. Very few men of that time agreed with that belief. Mistress Bradstreet endured and ignored much gender bias during her life in the
New WorldThe New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
.
In 1678 her self-revised "Several Poems Compiled with Great Variety of Wit and Learning" was posthumously published in America, and included one of her most famous poems, "To My Dear and Loving Husband".
This volume is owned by the Stevens Memorial Library
http://www.stevensmemlib.org/ of North Andover and resides in the Houghton Library
http://search.harvard.edu:8765/query.html?col=cait&col=dce&col=fas&col=gsd&col=gse&col=hbs&col=hds&col=hms&col=hsdm&col=hsph&col=ksg&col=law&col=lib&col=rad&qt=Anne+Bradstreet%2C+Houghton+Library&charset=iso-8859-1 vault at Harvard.
A quotation from Bradstreet can be found on a plaque at the Bradstreet Gate in
Harvard YardHarvard Yard is a grassy area of about , adjacent to Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that constitutes the oldest part and the center of the campus of Harvard University...
: "I came into this Country, where I found a new World and new manners at which my heart rose." Unfortunately the plaque seems to be based on a misinterpretation; the following sentence is "But after I was convinced it was the way of God, I submitted to it and joined to the church at Boston." This suggests that her heart rose up in protest rather than in joy.
Descendants
Descendants of
Simon BradstreetSimon Bradstreet was a colonial magistrate, businessman, diplomat, and the last governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Arriving in Massachusetts on the Winthrop Fleet in 1630, Bradstreet was almost constantly involved in the politics of the colony but became its governor only in 1679...
and Anne, daughter of
Thomas DudleyThomas Dudley was a colonial magistrate who served several terms as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Dudley was the chief founder of Newtowne, later Cambridge, Massachusetts, and built the town's first home...
:
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- Richard Henry Dana, Sr.
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List of works
- Before the Birth of One of Her Children
- A Dialogue between Old England and New
- A Letter to Her Husband, Absent upon Public Employment
- Another
- Another (II)
- For Deliverance From A Fever
- Deliverance from Another Sore Fit
- Contemplations
- In Honour of that High and Mighty Princess, Queen Elizabeth
- In Reference to her Children, 23 June 1659
- The Author to Her Book
- The Flesh and the Spirit
- The Four Ages of Man (quaternion)
- Four Seasons of the Year (quaternion)
- Four Elements (quaternion)
- Of The Four Ages of Man (quaternion)
- The Four Monarchies (quaternion)
- The Prologue
- To Her Father with Some Verses
- To My Dear and Loving Husband
- Upon a Fit of Sickness, Anno 1632 Aetatis Suae, 19
- Upon My Son Samuel His Going For England, November 6, 1657
- Upon Some Distemper of Body
- Verses upon the Burning of our House
Verses upon the Burning of our House is a poem by Anne Bradstreet. She wrote it to memorialize the traumatic loss of her home and most of her possessions....
- The Tenth Muse, Lately Sprung Up in America (1650) and, from the Manuscripts. Meditations Divine and Morall, Letters, and Occasional Poems, Facsimile ed., 1965, Scholars' Facsimiles & Reprints, ISBN 978-0-8201-1006-6.
- An Exact Epitome of the Three First Monarchies (1650) (a.k.a. Exact Epitome of the Four Monarchies)
Further reading
- Cook, Faith,Anne Bradstreet Pilgrim and Poet,EP Books,Darlington 2010 ISBN 978-0-85234-714-0
- Gordon, Charlotte
Charlotte Gordon is an American writer and assistant professor of English at Endicott College. She was born in St.Louis, Missouri in 1962, received her B.A in English and American Literature from Harvard College...
, Mistress Bradstreet: The Untold Life of America's First Poet, Little, Brown, New York 2005 ISBN 0-316-16904-8
- Nichol, Heidi,Anne Bradstreet,A Guided Tour of the Life and Thought of a Puritan Poet,P&R Publishing,New Jersey 2006
External links