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by: Anne Bradstreet
List Price: $27.00Amazon.com's Price: $24.30 You Save: $2.70 (10%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 811.1
EAN: 9780674959996
ISBN: 067495999X
Label: Belknap Press
Manufacturer: Belknap Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 368
Publication Date: January 03, 2007
Publisher: Belknap Press
Sales Rank: 290328
Studio: Belknap Press
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Product Description:
Anne Bradstreet, the first true poet in the American colonies, wrote at a time and in a place where any literary creation was rare and difficult and that of a woman more unusual still. Born in England and brought up in the household of the Earl of Lincoln where her father, Thomas Dudley, was steward, Anne Bradstreet sailed to Massachusetts Bay in 1630, shortly after her marriage at sixteen to Simon Bradstreet. For the next forty years she lived in the New England wilderness, raising a family of eight, combating sickness and hardship, and writing the verse that made her, as the poet Adrienne Rich says in her Foreword to this edition, 'the first non-didactic American poet, the first to give an embodiment to American nature, the first in whom personal intention appears to precede Puritan dogma as an impulse to verse.'
All Anne Bradstreet's extant poetry and prose is published here with modernized spelling and punctuation. This volume reproduces the second edition of Several Poems, brought out in Boston in 1678, as well as the contents of a manuscript first printed in 1857. Adrienne Rich's Foreword offers a sensitive and illuminating critique of Anne Bradstreet both as a person and as a writer, and the Introduction, scholarly notes, and appendices by Jeannine Hensley make this an authoritative edition.
Adrienne Rich observes, 'Intellectual intensity among women gave cause for uneasiness' at this period--a fact borne out by the lines in the Prologue to the early poems: 'I am obnoxious to each carping tongue/ Who says my hand a needle better fits.' The broad scope of Anne Bradstreet's own learning and reading is most evident in the literary and historical allusions of The Tenth Muse, the first edition of her poems, published in London in 1650. Her later verse and her prose meditations strike a more personal note, however, and reveal both a passionate religious sense and a depth of feeling for her husband, her children, the fears and disappointments she constantly faced, and the consoling power of nature. Imbued with a Puritan striving to turn all events to the glory of God, these writings bear the mark of a woman of strong spirit, charm, delicacy, and wit: in their intimate and meditative quality Anne Bradstreet is established as a poet of sensibility and permanent stature.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - Bradstreet's Complete Works are Worth Reading
Anne Bradstreet, perhaps America's earliest poet, lived in an uncertain time in the new world. She grew up a Puritan and lived in a Puritan society in the New World. However, I believe Bradstreet should be considered as more than just a Puritan poet. I just finished a paper for my Masters class debating whether or not Bradstreet is a Puritan poet, and I concluded that she is in fact much more. Every quote I used in my project came from Hensley's book, since it is one of the few that actually ... Read More
Rating: - My family
I started reading Anne Bradstreet because I'm directly descended from her, but I kept reading because of her intelligent and unique voice.
Rating: - America's first great poet
How many people know that America's first great poet was a woman? Reading this collection of her works leaves one in little doubt about her greatness. The consummate artistry with which she expresses her inmost feelings pulls her to us, across the divide of three and a half centuries. Bradstreet's poetry shows that those Puritans, with their funny clothes, intolerant religion, and witch hunts experienced love, longing, and loss with much the same emotions that we do. Very highly recommended.
Rating: - Anne Bradstreet's voice reaches across the centuries.
Three hundred and fifty years later, Anne Bradstreet still touches the heart and soul of her readers. On the Burning of My House still reminds us of where our priorities need to be, and on the importance of family. As a 10th great granddaughter, I realize that her works were written not only for herself and for her peers, but for the thousands of descendants in the world today. That is what makes truly great literature.
Rating: - Anne Bradstreet helps us remember our country's roots
As an English major, I studied Anne Bradstreet in college and enjoyed her. I was thrilled to find out several years later she is my 9th great-grandmother! I love the spirituality and honesty of her writings. My favorite is "As Weary Pilgrim," as it captures the fatigue we sometimes feel in battling the adversities of life, and the hope of rest in a glorious afterlife. I love the cadence of the poem; it gives me a restful feeling. Reading colonial writings such as these, I'm remined ... Read More
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