The lives of women and the attitudes toward them was a process of change in American literature from early America through the “American Literature in a Divided Nation”. In early America women had limitations and had very little rights. They were only used to produce children and maintain the household. They were not involved in politics, literature, or the government. Meanwhile women from the nineteenth century had more rights compared to those from early America, but still badly mutations to their freedom. By the nineteenth century more women went to school and had a better education, though they were still expected to do their duties. As you read poems and books of women from early America and women in the nineteenth century you can see …show more content…
Bradstreet was also the first female writer in the British North America colonies to be published. Although Bradstreet did not attend school, she received an excellent education from her father, “who was widely read- Cotton Mather described Thomas Dudley as a “devourer of books”.” (Anne Bradstreet) This benefitted Bradstreet for most women in Colonial America received very little formal education. Bradstreet has eight children between the years 1633 and 1652, which meant that her domestic responsibilities were extremely demanding, she wrote poetry which expressed her commitment to writing. “Her work reflects the religious and emotional conflicts she experienced as a woman writer and as a Puritan. Throughout her life Bradstreet was concerned with the issues of sin and redemption, physical and emotional frailty, death and immortality. Much of her work indicates that she had a difficult time resolving the conflict she experienced between the pleasures of sensory and familial experience and the promises of heaven. As a Puritan she struggled to subdue her attachment to the world, but as a woman she sometimes felt more strongly connected to her husband, children, and community than to God.”(Anne
Bradstreet was a Puritan and was therefore raised with a simplistic view of the world. This, combined with the fact that she was a woman, carried over into her way of writing. Her writing style was not eloquent but plain, humble, and pleasant to read. Her poems dealt with topics such as faith, family, and adversity and were easy to understand. Bradstreet had great faith which she gained through the experiences she encountered in life.
Although Anne Bradstreet appeared to be the ideal Puritanical housewife, she faced many hardships throughout her lifetime. She faced death often, either due to disease or childbirth. These hardships led Bradstreet
In the early nineteenth century, there was controversy over whether women should be granted certain privileges, such as voting in America. Her aforementioned poem speaks to what it was like to be a woman in the 20th century. It was written in 1923, only three years after the Nineteenth Amendment, granting
Anne Bradstreet was born in 1612 to Thomas and Dorothy Dudley in Northampton, England. Her father and a young man named Simon Bradstreet were chosen by the Earl of Lincoln as stewards to manage the Earl’s affairs. Anne, unlike many women of her time, was well educated and it is presumed that she had access to the Earl’s vast library during this time. The Earl’s residence was known for its romantic background and this proved true in 1628 when Anne and Simon married. She was only sixteen to his twenty-five years but they were known to have a happy marriage as evidenced in “To my Dear and Loving Husband” where Bradstreet laments, “If ever two were one, than surely we” (125). In 1630, the Dudley’s and the Bradstreet’s, along with other Puritans, sailed aboard the Arabella to settle the Massachusetts Bay Colony. These families journeyed to America as many Puritan settlers had before them, in the hopes of religious freedoms unattainable in England. In the colonies, Anne’s husband was frequently absent. Bradstreet still found time to write her poetry while raising her 8 children and carrying on the strenuous duties of colonial life.
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
She was part of an influential family who encouraged her writing and circulated it in manuscript with pride. That kind of private support did much to offset the possibility of public disapproval. Bradstreet believed that women in her society were treated unfairly, and that gender should be insignificant. In her "Prologue" she addresses conflict and struggle, expressing her opinion toward women's rights, implying that gender is unimportant and male dominance is wrong. Bradstreet asserts the rights of women to learning and expression of thought, addressing broad and universal themes.
Throughout history, women have undeniably played a vital role in society. Although, at the same time, the role has been ever changing. This means that various cultures throughout various times have given women different roles. Meanwhile, today the role of a woman is often debated or criticized due equality between sexes slowly becoming as close to a reality as it can be. This topic has been represented in as long as art has existed. However, after the civil war of the United States in the nineteenth century, American literature approaches this topic in a new and interesting way. In a time when the country was divided, traumatized, and confused, artist began to analyze everyone's role in society in order to piece things together. Prolific authors
Anne Bradstreet was born in England in 1612 and was raised with an Elizabethan education combine with Puritan values—both of which are reflected in her works. She remained a devout Puritan throughout her life and came to Massachusetts on the Arabella with her husband Simon Bradstreet, who later became a prominent leader in the society of the settlements (a situation which took him often from home). A book of her poems, entitled The Tenth Muse, was published in England in 1647 without her permission—an event which inspired some of her poems and caused her to write revisions. She thus became the first English speaking poet in North America. Her poems focused on many puritan ideas such as vanity of world things and the need to submit to the divine will of God. However, the poems also reflected themes and forms common to poets of her Elizabethan education and presented feelings that are raw and real. The puritan themes fade away at times in place of feelings of doubt or in poems entirely dedicated to her love of her husband –things one might not expect from puritan poetry. It is also speculated that she defied gender roles in writing her poetry, setting her apart from many women of her time. Her poems are
Up until the early 17th century, American literature was chiefly about politics, religion, and recorded events. These writings were very dry and lacked insight into the everyday lives of the authors. To put into writing any individual spiritual reflections that strayed away from the religion of the colony could be dangerous at that time; possibly resulting in banishment from the colony or worse. Likewise, any writing that did not serve at least one of the purposes listed above was considered to be a waste of time that would be better spent praising God. Anne Bradstreet defied the rules of her time by writing about whatever she wanted including personal thoughts, reflections, emotions, and events. Bradstreet was the first to write about personal matters, which is her greatest literary contribution in early American literature.
Feminism today remains prominent because even while women’s rights are very strong, women are still fighting for equality every day. In the time of Anne Bradstreet, women had few rights and they were seen as inferior to men. Anne lived among the puritans whom ruled her everyday life. Although it was against the puritan code for women to receive an education, Bradstreet’s father, Thomas Dudley, loved his daughter dearly and made sure that she was well educated which shows in her works. Anne Bradstreet’s literature became well known only because her family published her works under a male name. This was done because writing poetry was a serious offense to the puritans since poetry was considered creative and the only creating that was done was by God. In the works of Anne Bradstreet, she conveys a feminist attitude, and could very well be one of the first American Feminists.
In American Literature there isn’t a “large scale” of female writers for writing has always been portrayed as a masculine exertion. It is ironic how the first published author on American soil was a female. Throughout Anne Bradstreet’s poems, we can experience a female presence. Living in a male-dominate society, she chooses to embrace it but questions the role of women in her community. Her feminism held her in check by her Puritan values. However, a conflict arose between her writing of the Puritan society and her views as a female. Anne Bradstreet lived in an era where a patriarchal family structure took place and women were to give no opinion but do as they were told and doing domestic duties. In the poems “Prologue,” “Verses upon the Burning
Although not all of these works were written by women or necessarily about them, they do all apply to the life that women live in America’s society. Whether it is women’s strength, their need for protection, their growth, or their exposure to double standards, there is one thing they all have in common; they are American Woman who are just like me and any other girl in high school. We, as women, are strong and must show the American society that we will unite, and overcome any or all obstacles that come our
Throughout American Literature, women have been depicted in many different ways. The portrayal of women in American Literature is often influenced by an author's personal experience or a frequent societal stereotype of women and their position. Often times, male authors interpret society’s views of women in a completely different nature than a female author would. While F. Scott Fitzgerald may represent his main female character as a victim in the 1920’s, Zora Neale Hurston portrays hers as a strong, free-spirited, and independent woman only a decade later in the 1930’s.
Anne had been already once sick from smallpox and then the illness came back and she became paralyzed in her joints. In 1620s when Anne was pregnant with her sixth child, Simon forced her to move from Ipswich to Andover Parish. Anne Bradstreet was the first woman poet in England's North American colonies to be published. She was described as 'an educated English woman, a loving wife, devoted mother, a questing Puritan and a sensitive poet. Bradstreet shows how society made accomplishments of women seem less important. The puritan's popular belief was that women should be doing things like sewing rather than poetry. Anne challenged the puritan beliefs by announcing her complete and total love with her husband Simon. In Puritan society it was improper to glorify romantic love. In “To My Dear and Loving Husband” she confessed her undying love to her husband saying “Thy love is such I can no way repay, the heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.” her deep passion can be found again in “A Letter to Her Husband, Absent upon Public Employment.” Anne's affections towards Simon help readers understand Anne's confidence.
As women, we have always been taught by society to participate in gender binding roles. Up until recently in history women were always expected to be housewives, stay home, raise children, submit to their husbands and the list goes on. This was especially prominent in the late 1800’s, when women were expected to do more and restricted to less. Women of this era were basically chained to their expected duties and limited to amount of ambition they could have. Literature was a form of communication that enlightened women to open their mind to possibilities never thought of before. Few women tested and pushed the boundaries already set by society, but the ones who dared have shaped and paved the way for the opportunities women