Anne Bradstreet's Biography

     

    Anne Bradstreet was born in 1612 to a nonconformist former soldier of Queen Elizabeth, Thomas Dudley, who managed the affairs of the Earl of Lincoln. In 1630 he sailed with his family for America with the Massachusetts Bay Company. Also sailing was his associate and son-in-law, Simon Bradstreet. At 25, he had married Anne Dudley, 16, his childhood sweetheart. Anne had been well tutored in literature and history in Greek, Latin, French, Hebrew, as well as English. 

Historically, Anne's identity is primarily linked to her prominent father and husband, both governors of Massachusetts who left portraits and numerous records. Though she appreciated their love and protection, "any woman who sought to use her wit, charm, or intelligence in the community at large found herself ridiculed, banished, or executed by the Colony's powerful group of male leaders."Her domain was to be domestic, separated from the linked affairs of church and state, even "deriving her ideas of God from the contemplations of her husband's excellencies," according to one document. 

Bradstreet wrote epitaphs for both her mother and father which not only show her love for them but shows them as models of male and female behavior in the Puritan culture.

Anne seems to have written poetry primarily for herself, her family, and her friends, many of whom were very well educated. Her early, more imitative poetry, taken to England by her brother-in-law (possibly without her permission), appeared as     The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America in 1650 when she was 38 and sold well in England. Her later works, not published in her lifetime although shared with friends and family, were more private and personal--and far more original-- than those published in The Tenth Muse. Her love poetry, of course, falls in this group which in style and subject matter was unique for her time, strikingly different from the poetry written by male contemporaries, even those in Massachusetts such as Edward Taylor and Michael Wigglesworth.here follow Several Occasional meditation "I sought Him whom my soul did love" (Deliverance) from another sure fit "In my distress I sought the Lord" Deliverance from a Fit of Fainting  "Worthy art Thou, O Lord, of praise" Meditation When My Soul hath been Refreshed "Lord, why should I doubt any more when Thou hast given me such assured pledges of Thy love?" Meditation july 8^th, 1656 "What God is like to Him I serve?" Meditation (no date) "My soul, rejoice thou in thy God" Meditation May 13, 1657 "My sun's returned with healing wings" Meditation May 11, 1661 " My thankful heart with glorying tongue// Shall celebrate Thy name" Upon My Dear and Loving Husband his going into England "Lord, let my eyes see once again// Him whom Thou gavest me" In My Solitary Hours in My Dear Husband his Absence "O Lord, Thou hear'st my daily moan// And see'st my dropping tears" In Thankful Remembrance for My Dear Husband’s Safe Arrival "O Thou that hearest prayers, Lord,// To Thee shall come all flesh" Before the Birth of One of Her Children "All things within this fading world hath end" On the Burning of my House "Here stood that Trunk, and there that chest; "There lay that store I counted best: "My pleasant things in ashes lye, "And them behold no more shall I."