Introduction
Anne Bradstreet, is a big name in the world of poetry, she received a lot of attention with the kind of work that she had produced during the later half of the seventeenth century. Bradstreet’s most of the poems are lyrical, and the presence of craft in them is exquisite, she ensures that in all her poems she immerses herself into the glory of life and lives it to the fullest. In this paper we will look at few works from Bradstreet and our focus will be to analyze them from the various perspectives to deduce that the basic themes in her poetry come from the very simple lessons that she learned from her life. (Laughlin)
Bradstreet has shown a fantastic use of figurative language in most of her works, though it was much into practice during that time, she is one of the pioneers to use it so well. There has been a constant and smart use of images and metaphors in her poems, there are few poems that have analogy and personification as the key structure however she doesn’t miss out on the use of similes, paradoxes and allusions as well. (Laughlin)
“Upon a Fit of Sickness” is one of the earliest poems that she wrote around 1632, and that time she was nineteen, since then she had started writing about the concerns of the Puritan she writes in this poem
“O whil'st I live, this grace me give,
I doing good may be,
Then death's arrest I shall count best,
because it's thy decree.”
And she carefully handles the subject of comparing the earthly experience against the idea of execution according to God’s will which reflects her matured sense of handling the themes related to life. (Richardson)There is another poem “Contemplations” where she has very nicely talked about the love related to this world and she says that
Then higher on the glistering Sun I gaz'd
Whose beams was shaded by the leavie Tree,
The more I look'd, the more I grew amaz'd
And softly said, what glory's like to thee?
Once again there is a beautiful figurative expression with deep meaning embedded and a clear hint of love contained in her heart for this world. In this poem we also notice that she makes the world understand that its her desire to love the world and is much happy to experience the earthly joys. (Campbell)
Its not that Bradstreet continued to revolve around the theme of happiness and joy, she also represented life’s oppression and disgust, a good example of this is seen in the poem where she writes that
What gripes of wind my infancy did pain,
What tortures I in breeding teeth sustain?
What crudityes my stomach cold has bred,
Whence vomits, flux, and worms have issued?
There are other common issues of life that she picks up, like the role of women in the society and the poem “The prologue”, shows a hypothetical conversation with the queen where she places comparison of women with the men and she says that
Who was so good, so just, so learned so wise,
From all the Kings on earth she won the prize.
Nor say I more then duly is her due,
Millions will testify that this is true.
She very clearly brought this thought up that, women are no less than Men and can really attract success with firm determination. (Laughlin) Therefore we see that Bradstreet has been sensible in bringing forward the various important aspects of life, lets give a closer look to her few poems.
“Before the birth of one of her children”
The above formed a perfect example to explain the kind of feelings Bradstreet kept while handling the close issues of life, In this poem she leaves a question mark on the issue of “dying in childbirths” which was really feared in seventeenth century. She expresses that she is really afraid of dying in childbirth and also presents the mental condition of a mother going though such a pain. She requests for good care to be taken of her children and also to spare them from the cruelties of a stepmother. (Laughlin) She mentions that
And when thou feel'st no grief, as I no harms,
Yet love thy dead, who long lay in thine arms:
And when thy loss shall be repaid with gains
Look to my little babes my dear remains.
And if thou love thy self, or love'st me
These O protect from step Dames injury.
It is good to see here that despite the handling of such a serious subject, in the above poetry, Bradstreet successfully uses imagery and analogy to create an everlasting effect on the reader.
“To My Dear and Loving Husband”
Love has a close association with the poetry written by Bradstreet, and it becomes the central theme in the above poetry, she starts with the lines:
If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
So the introduction very much says that she is pointing towards the lovely relation she shared with her husband. The words like “Lov’d” and “Ever” are beautifully used to stress on the emotion embedded between the lines. She uses figurative language later, to express the joy she experiences due to the love that she gets from her husband. (Richardson) She says
I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
Love is super existent and this thought is strongly promoted by the poet as we progress, and in the next paragraph she writes that
Thy love is such I can no way repay,
The heavens reward thee manifold I pray.
These lines from the last paragraph summarize the effect of love and make it everlasting and ecstatic, once again we see that “love”, an important aspect of life is closely, strongly and beautifully highlighted and that too with a close example of her own relationship with her husband. (Richardson)
“The author to her book”
Now considering the diversity of subjects handled by Bradstreet, we must say that in this book she has shown some fantastic use of imagery and figurative language. The combination of metaphors and the use of perfect diction, irony and imagery have converted this work of art into a masterpiece. Her relation and commitment to her work and the concept of birth are well interlinked but still the subject is handled so vividly. (Campbell) She mentions , "Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain" to reveal how close she feels the ties are between . . . ”
There is a very smart way of making comparisons, we see that the metaphorical child is continuously used in the poem to make the reader understand the issues and challenged faced by her during her work and this is one more reason to say that another important aspect of life which is “work” is covered by her.
“Prologue”
Prologue is a very important work from Bradstreet to understand the role she played in the start of social upliftment of women during the seventeenth century, she has very carefully outlined the struggle of a woman in a Puritan Society and she has displayed and highlighted the idea of women not expressing their minds and opinions publicly. There is an honest commentary on the position of women during that time in the society. (Laughlin) She writes
Let Greeks be Greeks, and women what they are
Men have precedency and still excell,
It is but vain unjustly to wage warre;
Men can do best, and women know it well
Preheminence in all and each is yours;
Yet grant some small acknowledgement of ours
She did not oppose the traditional picture of women during those times but certainly highlighted the importance of knowledge and intellect, which is a possession that cannot be taken away from someone. Finally we can say that this was one of the initial attempts to start encouraging women for a better social status and also can be considered as another initiative to highlight the effects and experiences of her life.
Conclusion
Looking at the various examples from her works we may deduce that the basic themes in her poetry come from the very simple lessons that she learned from her life and despite the simplicity all the poems have a very strong and touchy impact on the readers.
Works Cited
Campbell, Helen. Anne Bradstreet and Her Time. Boston: Lothrop , 1891.
Laughlin, Rosemary M. "Anne Bradstreet: Poet in Search of Form." Early American Literature (1970): 1-17.
Richardson, Robert. "The Puritan Poetry of Anne Bradstreet." Texas Studies in Literature and Language (1967): 317-331.
