For people who enjoy writing and even for those who do not, writing can often be used as a means of expressing oneself. Some of history’s greatest poems came about as a result of bottled-up emotions that found their way to the page after being hidden away inside the author. Many people find that writing offers an escape from the real world, and a way to channel their emotions when it is hard to find the words to say. The first thing I noticed about Anne Bradstreet’s poems were how raw and personal they were. Because these writings, excluding the letter to her children, were never supposed to be read by others, there is an honesty to them that one might not find if Bradstreet had been writing for a specific audience.
When people are not writing to entertain or inform others, they are writing for their own personal benefit. This caused me to wonder what was going on in Bradstreet’s daily life that made her want to write. Was there something from which she was trying to “escape”? Is it possible that daily life was difficult for her, and she needed a way to express her feelings?
In her letter to her children, she admits that she was not entirely fond of the New World upon her arrival. I was interested to find out about her daily life, and if there was some aspect of it that caused her to do a great deal of introspection, expressing her feelings only to her pen and paper. I found that this is somewhat true. To begin, the journey to the New World itself was harsh and unpleasant. Lack of food and cases of scurvy caused many of the people on their voyage to perish before arrival. In fact, conditions were so harsh that many who survived the journey died shortly after making it to land. (http://www.annebradstreet.com/anne_bradstreet_bio_001.htm)
After the horrible journey, Bradstreet was quite disappointed when she arrived at the New World. After having to leave the Earl’s manor for this foreign place, she discovered sickness, living conditions that were less than satisfactory, and a shortage of food. This place had few similarities with the place she had called home. Despite the bad taste the New World left in her mouth, she decided to stay there with her family and do the best with what she had, even though she spent large amounts of time alone with the children because of her husband’s demanding job. (http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/16071783/lit/bradstre.htm)
Not only was she disappointed by her living conditions, but she was living in a time where women were not treated as equals. Women were considered to be inferior to men intellectually, and Bradstreet knew she was not. She had received an education from tutors and from her father, and she knew she was just as capable as any man. We can assume this was very frustrating for her, because gender roles were key in the religion on which she based her life. Though she was a very learned woman, she was tied down to more traditional roles in her home.
Bradstreet also had a history of sickness beginning in childhood. In her letter to her children, she speaks of the numerous times that she was sick and how she found God during those trying times. By reading her works, one could tell how much her spirituality meant. In her worst and most difficult times, God was her refuge. This is evidenced in the majority of her works. Here is a video that gives some interesting information about Puritan religion:
It is obvious how strongly she held to her religion through the tribulations of moving to a new land, and her religion is what she wrote about most. Bradstreet used God and writing about her beliefs and feelings as a way to cope with the changes in her life. Luckily, we have her works to paint a picture for us of what life was like during her time.
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