In Honor To Anne Bradstreet And Her Father

In Honor to Anne Bradstreet and Her Father “To her father with some verses” is a poem written by Anne Bradstreet (Lauter 445). She was the first woman in the British Colonies to have been published and as such was a pioneer for women’s rights (437). She was a pioneer in the sense that during the puritan days an outspoken woman was harshly judged. A womans role in the puritan society was to take proper care of her family and household. A woman not taking care of her household would be scorned, as she couldn’t possibly be taking proper care of her household, if she was busy writing poetry. Her time would have been better spent knitting instead of writing poetry (438). When Anne was a child her father ensured that she was given an education from

Anne often expressed her feelings through her poetry and in this particular poem gave thanks to her father. After reading this poem for the first time, accepting it at it’s face value, leaves the reader with a sense of bewilderment, as if there may be a second meaning in her poem. From the first reading her poem holds a meaning that would be expected from a daughter writing a thank you note to her father. One of praise “Most truly honoured” and one of strong affection “and as truly dear (445).” However, in the fifth verse “The principal might yield a greater sum” she seems to give a financial analogy (445). In investing, a principal is an initial debt, paid by an investor, to assist a company in getting started or off the ground. In return for the assistance in getting started, the company will repay the debt with interest, or a settlement of a higher sum. The investor, in this case Anne’s father, assisted her early on in life by giving her a great education. The yield that he expected from his daughter, was that she would go forth into

The puritan beliefs would have permeated all aspects of Anne’s daily life. If she wasn’t talking just about her earthly father, than maybe she was talking about her heavenly father as well. Reading through Anne’s poem a second time keeping her religious beliefs in mind, gives the poem a different feel. In the beginning of the poem she states that she truly loves and has a genuine respect for her father. She hopes that her father feels that she is worthy as much as she feels that he is worthy. In the first verse “Most truly honoured, and as truly dear,” she chose words that hold a second meaning other than the meanings previously discussed (445). “Most truly honoured” and “truly dear” need to broken down separately to see the alternate meanings (445). She choose “Most” to mean to the highest degree, which follows with the puritan beliefs of holding God in the highest position of authority. Honored not only means worthy as mentioned before, but also as a position of high esteem as when speaking to a judge “your honor” or, as when speaking about ones heavenly father. So now to put the thought together, she genuinely loves her heavenly father and holds him in a position of highest esteem. In the second through the fourth lines she addresses her heavenly father somewhat directly. She asks her heavenly father that if he finds her worthy, that he should hold her up to her moral obligations, as he is the only one worthy of judging her, as