Topic > Anne Bradstreet: a rebel, resentful of her gender

Is Anne Bradstreet a rebel, resentful of her gender? This is possible, but it must be noted that Anne Bradstreet was exploring concepts and ideas from a Puritan context. Misunderstanding of Puritan ideas and values ​​can also lead to misunderstanding Bradstreet's intentions in his writings. Its poetic nature can make it difficult to come to a crystal clear conclusion to this question. Throughout this critical analysis, components of her poems and other literary works will be considered and analyzed to answer the question of whether Anne Bradstreet was truly resentful of her gender. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay New England Puritan Anne Bradstreet is prominent among generations of women in literature. Bradstreet's written poetry was published in The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America in 1650, and after his death, poems and papers were printed. Historians are effectively silent about her voice and the voices of women on both sides of the Atlantic thanks to a widespread appropriation of Bradstreet's "state of mind." English Puritanism was a literate movement. It attracted readers and writers of all stripes from its origins among academic reformers, and while its primary supporters and opponents fought each other through the law, literature was often their tool of choice. Writers from the Puritan communities are active in many respects. Anne Bradstreet wrote in 1642: 'A Dialogue between Old England and New' concerning their present troubles, 'in which she extolled the leaders of the Puritan Parliament and encouraged piety as a solution to bloodshed. Through her 1999 monograph, Women through Early American Religion 1600-1850, Marilyn Westerkamp partially answers the question posed above. She states, “women have been praised for their submissive spiritual role.” (Wester Camp). She argues that Puritanism ennobled and granted spiritual status to women as wives and mothers in their communities. He recognizes Bradstreet's active voice but in his later verses indicates an unconscious revolt. Recognizing this, classifying Bradstreet's perspective as “feminist” here would be a misunderstanding. His works show a strong devotion to Puritan religion and culture and identifies with historical, theological and Elizabethan authorship. However, for this cause, her perspective on gender issues may be more significant: she is a strong feminist author, energized by her Puritan heritage that stands in stark contrast to twenty-first century constructs. Puritanism, in Bradstreet's view, presents his narrative with a perfectly legitimate meaning. Bradstreet wrote extensively about faith, as did most Puritan authors. But what makes her different (besides being feminist) is the way she talks about the role of women in society. While her discussion of gender roles in her prose could be read as a simple expression of the realities of the world she worked in, without any feminist agenda. However, her poem “In Memory of the High and Mighty Goddess, Queen Elizabeth” reinforces Bradstreet as a woman. In this poem, Bradstreet praises Queen Elizabeth to the highest degree. As a monarch, she looks back on her successes thus remembering that she was a very successful dictator. In one stanza he states: "There can be no thoughts, no numbers, the nine Olympiads of his happy reign, which was so sweet, so fair, so clever, so wise, won the prize of all the kings of the earth." Literally, it states that Queen Elizabeth is greater than any male monarch. This jobreflects a patriarchal environment. She doesn't just recognize and respect another woman who has challenged sexual roles, as she has (Queen Elizabeth as a monarch and Bradstreet as a writer, who was published), but suggests that this revolt will proceed with the traditional principles of genre.roles. She argues that Queen Elizabeth was simply a feminist heroine who changed the way the world saw women, and that she published this notion for the whole world to see in a time so close to gender issues. My dear and loving husband” this highlights another aspect of Anne Bradstreet's opinion towards gender roles in relation to marriage. He begins the poem with a proclamation: “If ever two were one, then surely we.” She demonstrates her deep love for her husband by saying that if any two people in her marital past were ever bonded together as if they were one entity, then she and her husband would certainly be bonded together in this deep and intimate way. In the second line, Bradstreet reassures her husband of her love and commitment to him by claiming that she loves him far more than any woman has ever loved a man. This is a wonderful statement, for there are infinite lovers in the world. In the third and fourth lines she reassures her husband that she wants to be with him. She compares herself to other women and exclaims that she herself is the happiest of all girls because she is married to him. In the fifth and sixth lines she declares to her husband that his love is worth more to her than any amount of money. He claims to appreciate her love and even more than "all the riches that the East possesses". This indicates that he values ​​the human feeling of affection in connection and dedication with another person or woman in a much greater way than any amount of material wealth should ever pay. In the seventh line, she shows that even though she is happier, she does not consider herself satisfied at all, because the nature of her love for him is such that she feels she can never have enough. That's why he says. “My love is such that rivers cannot quench it.” She concludes To My Dear and Loving Husband by saying that they may persevere in love to the end. Bradstreet has no doubt that she and her husband will live married and in love until we move on from this life to the next. We discover this when he says: “So while we live, let us persevere so much in love”. She apparently now did not personally feel the oppression that many women must have felt in her time. This poem especially shows that, as it seems, Anne was in a loving and true marriage where her husband no longer oppressed her, no matter how much he loved and valued her. This poem also explores the gender-related idea that it is perfectly okay to have puritanical views on perspectives like this and still be a good wife. The female role is to love one's husband and this should in no way be looked down upon. It may be misunderstood to mean that you will be submissive to your husband and will only be there to love him and nothing more, but Bradstreet's point is that you can be a strong and loving woman at the same time. Please note: this is just a sample. Get a custom article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay While there aren't many "important" female writers in American literature, and writing, traditionally, has usually been seen as a male activity. Indeed, Bradstreet's poems are full of female presence. However, I also feel that Bradstreet's feminism is kept in check by her Puritan values, and there is a war created through her writings between this Puritan patriarchal society she lived in and her identification as a woman. Bradstreet's poems focus on pleasures.