Anne
Bradstreet was
born in Northampton, England in 1612.
Her father was Thomas Dudley, the chief
steward of Theophilus Clinton, the Earl of Lincoln. She married the
fellow Puritan,
Simon Bradstreet in 1628.
In 1630, Anne sailed for America with her husband and father on the
Arbella, joined the Puritans
who established the Massachusetts Bay Colony in America. John
Winthrop became the colony's first governor of Massachusetts
but later her father, Thomas Dudley,
and her husband, Simon Bradstreet,
held this office.
Bradstreet had eight children and lived at different times in Cambridge,
Ipswich and Andover. She began writing poetry and her brother-in-law
arranged for them to be published in England as The
Tenth Muse (1650). Bradstreet therefore became America's
first published poet. However, it was another 28 years before the
The Tenth Muse was published in
America. Another collection of poems, Great
Variety of Wit and Learning was published posthumously.
Anne Bradstreet died on 16th September, 1672.
(1)
Anne Bradstreet, The
Prologue (1650)
Let Greeks be Greeks, and
women what they are,
Men have precedency and still excel.
It is but vain unjustly to wage war,
Men can do best, and women know it well.
Preeminence in all and each is yours -
Yet grant some small acknowledgment of ours.
(2)
Anne Bradstreet, To
My Dear and Loving Husband (1678)
If ever two were one, then
surely we.
If ever man was loved by wife, than thee;
If ever with was happy in a man,
Compare with me ye women if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee, give recompense.
Thy love is such I can no way repay,
The heavens reward thee manifold I pray.
Then while we live, in love let's so preserve,
That when we live no more, we may live ever.
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