Anne Bradstreet

Anne Bradstreet was an English-born Puritan poet in colonial New England. Her 1650 collection, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, was the first published book of poetry by an English colonist in North America.

Puritanism: A Protestant movement that sought to reform the Church of England and shaped religious life in early New England. Its theology informed Bradstreet’s reflections on providence, sin, and salvation.
Upon the Burning of Our House: A poem by Bradstreet about the destruction of her home by fire in 1666. It makes a household disaster the occasion for surrendering earthly possessions to divine providence.
Simon Bradstreet: An English Puritan who became a colonial governor of Massachusetts and Anne Bradstreet’s husband. His public career placed the family within the colony’s governing elite.
Early American literature: Literature produced in English-speaking North America during the colonial and early national periods. Bradstreet’s work is among the earliest books of poetry published by an English colonist there.
Massachusetts Bay Colony: An English colony established in New England in 1630 under Puritan leadership. Bradstreet lived and wrote within the colony’s political and religious world.
To My Dear and Loving Husband: A lyric poem by Bradstreet expressing profound marital love and hope for lasting union. It presents marriage as intimate affection as well as a bond framed by Christian eternity.
Thomas Dudley: An English Puritan leader who served as governor of Massachusetts Bay and was Anne Bradstreet’s father. His political and religious standing connected Bradstreet’s family to the colony’s founders.
Women’s writing in early modern England: Literature written by women in England from the sixteenth through the seventeenth centuries. Bradstreet’s career belongs to a period when women’s authorship faced strong social constraints.
Seventeenth-century English poetry: Poetry written in English during the seventeenth century, spanning metaphysical, religious, and political traditions. Bradstreet adapted English poetic forms and conventions to colonial subjects.
The Prologue: A poem in which Bradstreet reflects on poetic ambition and the limits imposed on women writers. It answers expectations that women should not claim authority in public literary culture.

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