Anne Bradstreet Poems

Taylor Cole
9-3-09
AP-English
Anne Bradstreet was a very bold woman in my eyes. She was Puritan women who wrote poems expressing her feelings and views. Puritans didn’t really elaborate on feelings unless they were about God and surely a woman wouldn’t be expressing any feelings. In fact they weren’t shown much respect or dignity at all during those times. So as you can see this was a huge deal for women commit such acts.
Her first poem was explaining how she had published her first book. She talked about how she came up with brilliant ideas but her non-trustworthy friends were trying to still them. She used pathos by expressing feelings in such ways that I could relate. I could feel every ounce of pain and joy during this poem. She walked us thru how she thought everything was so perfect but indeed it was not. She tried sugar coating it without totally fixing it but all the critics did was tear it apart.
I felt her embarrassment as people began to know more about her work that she thought could have been better. Though she thought her dressing up her book would make it better, it only made it worse. As things began to spiral out of control she finally informs us that the reason why she could no longer take care of this book and claim it is because she’s poor. All along she really couldn’t afford these great ideas. I particularly enjoyed this poem because she walked us thru as if we were her, then kind of confused us, and then led us to some sort of closure at the end.
The other poem she wrote called To My Dear and Loving Husband was also enjoyable. This poem was very deep and passionate. This brings me back to my first point of the Puritan woman being very brave. Puritan women were supposed to “love” their husbands to a certain degree but they weren’t supposed to really love their husbands. Most Puritans women probably passed like ships in the night with their significant others but she told of an unconditional love she had for her husband. This was the kind of love that you can’t live eat, sleep, or breathe without. Some love that I personally have never experienced but this love she was explaining was beautiful.
She also used the pathos technique in this poem. She explained how if man could become one with women then she would become one with her husband. She cherished this man more than any riches in the world. She wouldn’t give him up for the world. In fact she knows that they love each other so much that even in death they’d still love each other.
I really enjoy her poems because they aren’t just straight to the point. They are very detailed, yet they make you think and question yourself too. I like how she didn’t refrain from telling all her feelings no matter if it was acceptable or not. She most likely motivated other Puritan women to go beyond the ordinary.