Love and Loss How Anne Did Bare
Anne Bradstreet was born in 1612 in England. In 1630, she sailed to the New World with her father and rest of the family. Anne had been well tutored in literature and history. She also was well educated in many languages such as: Greek, Latin, French, Hebrew, and English. Growing up in a predominately male literary-era, she pursued to use her wit, charm, and intelligence throughout her years. Due to this, she often found herself ridiculed and sometimes hated by the other colony's powerful group leaders. Bradstreet had no intention to initially publish her poetry and especially was anxious to keep her more personal works private. Anne was a very intelligent woman, simply because her father strictly enforced education through her childhood. Women and men alike saw her as a threat, they were all jealous of her wits. She was smarter than most of the colonials, except the ministers. However, even the ministers felt intimidated. Although she was seen as scandalous and shameful to her community, she never slowed down her writing. This negative attitude from the colonies even spurred her on to write more poetry. Anne's poetry was more private and personal, a style and subject mater that
"I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold She reflects on the time she shared and protected her children. Also, she assures them and the reader of her growing cares and fears that are brewing within her. She then tells us of her sorrows, and how she weeps more than ever for her children since they are no longer able to be with her. Here she becomes particularly relatable because of the exactness of her feelings. Almost any women can relate simply because they have felt or know they will eventually feel the same for their own birds. "Taught what was good, and what was ill,/ What would save life, and what would kill" (144, 89-90), here we see that if she has done her job, if she has taught her children well, then they will be okay and follow the right path. Finally, she finishes the poem with "Farewell, my birds, farewell adieu, / I happy am, if well with you" (144, 93-94). It is here the reader realizes that she is willing to let go of her fears and worries. She trusts in herself and her children. She realizes she must let go, and is willing to take that chance because it is the only choice she has. And with my wings kept off all harm, My cares are more and fears than ever, My love is such that rivers cannot quench, We not only see Anne Bradstreet as a mother, but as a wife. Her poems tell us that she loved her husband deeply and missed him greatly when he left frequently on colony business to England and other settlements. Her love poetry falls into a group in which style and subject matter were completely unique and at this time taboo. While her poetry to her husband were simply love letters of yearning for him as he was not there most of the time, they were seen as much more. After the poems were published, she was looked upon as disgraceful because of the content she decided to use in them. People saw her as scandalous and shameful for what she wrote, because it was believed that feelings were meant for the private quarters, not the public. In her poem "To My Dear and Loving Husband," we see her unity and love she shared with her husband. "If ever two were one, then surely we," (141, 1) it is here that we learn her closeness with her husband. "Compare with me, ye women, if you can"(141 4) here Anne speaks of her love as being somewhat unique because she believes that there is no love greater then the one she shares with her hu
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1604
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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