Anne Bradstreet Ap Prompt

788 Words2 Pages

Ashley Guffey
Engl 2110-K01
Professor Milburn
February 8th, 2015 “Purit-Anne” Perhaps one of the most prominent of early English poets, Anne Bradstreet is also a prominent Puritan figure in American Literature. Though the degree of her Puritan standing remains in question today. Through Bradstreet’s reflections of her own spiritual and metaphysical fears we are able to receive some insight into the true and private fears of the Puritan people. Born in England in 1612, Bradstreet was the daughter of a steward to the Earl and due to her families position grew up to be a well educated woman with the tools necessary to write. Anne married at the age of sixteen and two years later immigrated to America with her husband and her parents. In 1636 Anne’s husband and her father played …show more content…

Bradstreet did not write for fame nor fortune but instead used her pages as a safe place to express herself. While her work is highly regarded, Bradstreet found her words to be “unfit for life” but maintained that “Yet being mine own, at length affection would Thy blemishes amend, if so I could. I washed thy face, but more defects I saw, And rubbing off a spot still made a flaw.” Despite her harsh views of herself and her skills as a writer, Bradstreet continued to write for an intimate audience which typically included her husband and her family. Bradstreet wrote many poems to her beloved husband which brought on criticism by fellow Puritans. In her poetry Bradstreet professes her love for her husband in ways that caused Puritans to question if Anne put her husband before her God. You can also see in some of her works Bradstreet questioning herself. Despite her sin of loving her husband so ardently, Bradstreet was a devout Puritan woman who worshipped and thanked God for all of his

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