Anne Bradstreet and Her Feelings Toward Men Essays -- Bradstreet Poetr

Anne Bradstreet and Her Feelings Toward MenGrowing up in the early 1600s was a tough time for many people, especially wowork force. Women were very much discriminated against and made to finish the duties that were in the household and nothing else beyond that. Anne Bradstreet was a woman that grew up during this time as a Puritan. Puritans believed that humans could only achieve goodness if they worked hard, were self-disciplined, and evermore examining themselves to make sure that they were living their lives for God. Due to this way of looking at life, Anne Bradstreet had little time for writing her poetry. Being a mother of eight children and a devoted wife one would presuppose that Bradstreet wasnt carrying out her duties to her family and God if she was busy writing poetry. Therefore if people knew that she was writing this poetry she would not want them to think less of her so she would write it in a happy and family oriented sense showing how devoted she was to her family through her poetry. That is why Bradstreet writes how she does in the poem To My beloved and Loving husband. She writes as if to portray that she has a great relationship with her husband and God. Although from her other poem, Prologue, one can see that underneath she truly feels betrayed by the men in her life and by men in general.In the poem To My Dear and Loving Husband, Bradstreet is professing how wonderful her and her husbands marriage is.To My Dear and Loving HusbandIf ever two were one then surely we.If ever man were loved by wife, then theeIf ever wife was happy in a man,Compare with me, ye women, if you can.I prize thy love more than whole mines of goldOr all the riches that the East doth hold.My love is such that rivers can... ... in society. I dont think that she is necessarily fighting for equality here because that was unheard of back in the Puritan age, but she would appreciate a little respect and credit entry for her talents. Bradstreet is being viewed as a typ ical Puritan woman who would like to feel that she is useful for more then the average household woman status. whole caboodle Cited Bradstreet, Anne. Prologue. The Tenth Muse Lately sprung up in America. Ed. I. Lancashire. London Stephen Bowtell, 1650. 3-4.Bradstreet, Anne. To My Dear and Loving Husband. The Columbia Anthology of American meter. Ed. Jay Parini. New York Columbia UP, 1995. 28.Chapman, Wes. The Web of American Poetry Teaching Notes.Martin, Wendy. An American Triptych. The Norton Poetry Workshop. Ed. James F. Knapp. Online. Accessed 9/25/01. www.wwnorton.com/introlit/poetry/abrad/critWM.htm.