ipl-logo

The Struggle For Freedom In Anne Bradstreet's Life

799 Words4 Pages

No immodest clothing, no disobeying God, no playing with toys, and no enslaving others. These were just some of the rules that Anne Bradstreet had to follow through the Puritan religion. The overpowering strength of the church made it hard for the citizens in the new world to be creative. Anne Bradstreet took the liberty of going away from the normal rules of the church and being an individual.
Anne Bradstreet did not live the normal life of a commoner in England. Born in 1612, Anne was born of Thomas Dudley and Dorothy Yorke. Her father worked for Queen Elizabeth and found Anne a husband through the work of the crown. Simon Bradstreet was a graduate from Cambridge University. Simon and Anne wed in 1628 at the ages of 25 and 16. They lived in England until 1630, then they proceeded to make the ambitious journey to the New World.
Upon coming to the new world, Anne grew more into the love of writing. She slowly made it so that she was making small rebellious differences in her writing from the norm. One could almost compare her rebellious moves to the ways Amy Schumer is now. The way women were supposed to speak back then was different than the way that Anne was speaking, and the way that Amy speaks now is the way that is …show more content…

Looking back into history, a Puritan woman had far more restrictions than modern day woman. Women who lived in the Puritan times were not allowed as many things as the men. The few things they were allowed to do was to get married, have children and take care of the house. Puritan women were not allowed to be as involved in the church as the men were. They were told to listen to their husband and to love them no matter what. This is shown in the poem “To My Dear and Loving Husband”. Normally in the Puritan religion, people wrote about their love for God, not their love for their husband. But that did not stop Anne from doing what she felt she did

Show More
Related

  • Upon The Burning Of Our House By Anne Bradstreet And Michael Wigglesworth

    638 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the poetry of the three authors, Anne Bradstreet, Michael Wigglesworth and Samuel Danforth, there are numerous expressions of conventional Christian sentiment throughout. One convention that is similar among all of the puritan poets is the quality of righteousness. Their preoccupation with interpreting god word and living by these standard can be seen in the writing of all three poets. Their reasons for living clean, moral life is because they believed that they would not only be judged for what they did in their mortal life, but also in the afterlife. Although they believed that god had predetermined who was going to heaven and who was going to hell, they thought that if you did not follow the word of god, it would lead to ultimate damnation.

    Read More

  • Essay On Chesapeake Women

    1071 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the seventeenth century Chesapeake women had different roles than other colonial women. Chesapeake women were expected to work in the house, raise their kids and work with their husbands in the “tedious care of tobacco plants.” (page 13) Unlike in the English society, they lacked a sense of “housewifery” due to the fact that they had the lack of spinning wheels and churns. (page 13) Since mortality rate was so high it was excepted of not just men but especially women to marry multiply time.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Anne Bradstreet And Jonathan Edwards And The Puritans

    1079 Words  | 5 Pages

    Puritans are a people with a very strong belief in both God and the power of God. When people see power, they interpret it in different ways. Some know of power through anger and impulse, while others see power through the goodness the powerful one shows. Although Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards are both puritan poets, their writings convey mainly different, though sometimes similar, views on God because they have different perceptions of His will and the use of His power. Anne Bradstreet listens to and accepts anything that God wishes, and that is shown through her poem Upon the Burning of my House.

    Read More

  • Summary Of Out Of Her Place By Cheryl Smith

    580 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ervin Beisch Cheryl C. Smith’s, “Out of Her Place: Anne Hutchinson and the Dislocation of Power in New World Politics,” is an attempt to explain the plight of women and their suffrage during colonial times and especially during the puritan era. This article goes on to explain and describe the trials and tribulations of Anne Hutchinson for speaking out against the ministers in the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638 (Smith). The author wrote about how the male dominated society of the Massachusetts Bay Colony viewed the place of women in their Society. The author describes how Anne Hutchinson brought fear to the men and leadership the colony when she started teaching and voicing her opinion about the local ministers preaching about saving grace from good works instead of saving and redeeming grace from the holy spirit (Smith).

    Read More

  • Anne Hutchinson Impact On Women In History

    1035 Words  | 5 Pages

    William Hutchinson was a successful merchant with whom Anne had fifteen children. As Anne held her own children, she more so refused to believe in the idea that every infant is born in Original Sin. When Anne and William were children, they were practically neighbors who had seen each other on a daily basis growing up. Anne and William’s marriage was a rare one where they both respected each other and actually took time to discuss things and talk to each other. After they got married, they moved back to Alford where they purchased a house and furnished it to be what was referred to as fabulous.

    Read More

  • Essay On Puritan Religion

    469 Words  | 2 Pages

    In exasperation of the Angelica church, not following the scriptures, early puritans came to America to escape persecution. Puritans believed that God had formed a unique covenant, or agreement with them. They believed in a new sect in which God’s law was held supreme. They believed that the bible and its message were above man’s law, and therefore that , it was the key to salvation. Most of the dissenters settled in New England, and it was in these new colonies that they establish a close-knit community governed by absolute religious faith and strict discipline.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In Puritan Society

    571 Words  | 3 Pages

    If they do not obey the specific rules they are severely punished, or sometimes killed. The women who do not obey the rules are seen as dangerous. The government is scared that the women who do not agree may act out and change the regulated roles. Punishment is a vital part of the Puritan society. The government contemplates in order to get people to follow the rules, extreme punishment needs to be enforced.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In The Salem Witch Trials

    893 Words  | 4 Pages

    Men and women also had different takes on sin. Women were more likely to read their sins as a pact with the devil no matter how severe the sin was whereas men paid close attention to the sin as an individual moment of weakness in which they would be able to return to their relationship with God. Believing that they could turn to the devil themselves, women were more likely to then accept that other women could be equally demonized.

    Read More

  • Anne Bradstreet's To My Dear And Loving Husband

    751 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Thy love is such I can no way repay. The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray” (226). Lines 9 and 10 show a Feminist criticism point of view, these verses make the suggestion that the wife may be inferior to her husband, implying the husband’s superiority. Line 3, “If ever wife was happy in a man” (226), in which the word wife is used but man rather than husband is employed. The word wife in the line means belonging and dependency while man represents strength and independence.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Anne Bradstreet And Mary Rowlandson

    547 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the colonial period many settlers came to the New World to escape persecution for their Puritan beliefs. Writers such as William Bradford, John Winthrop, Anne Bradstreet, and Mary Rowlandson all shared their experiences and religious devotion throughout their literature that ultimately inspired and influenced settlers to follow. This essay will discuss the similarities in Anne Bradstreet and Mary Rowlandson’s work as they both describe their experiences as signs from God. Anne Bradstreet came to the New World as a devoted Puritan as she repeatedly talked about it in her poetry. In her poems she discusses many tragedies that happened in her life such as; the burning of her house and the death of her two grandchildren all of which she thinks were signs from God.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast: The Diary Of Anne Frank

    565 Words  | 3 Pages

    Anne Frank Compare and Contrast The Diary of Anne Frank takes place Amsterdam, Netherlands. In the book Anne and her family are Jews in World War II. Because of the oppression of the Jews, Anne and her family are forced to go into hiding. Anne, her mom Edith, her dad Otto, her sister Margot, Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan, Peter Van Daan, and Mr. Dussel.

    Read More

  • Anne Bradstreet's Verses Upon The Burning Of Our House

    1138 Words  | 5 Pages

    In this essay, I will analyze the poem Verses Upon the Burning of Our House (July 10th, 1666) by Anne Bradstreet, a puritan who most critics consider to be America’s first “authentic poet. The poem is based on a true story as Anne’s house really did burn down and illustrates her meditations on this event, the pain she felt after losing her home and the effect it had on her faith. The main theme is Anne’s struggle to not become attached to material things. I will begin by explaining the rhyme, style, and tone of the poem, continue by explaining which literary devices and interesting features we can find and the effect they have on the reader, then I will analyze the poem and finally I will give a brief conclusion. Verses Upon the Burning of Our House is a poem written in couplets in iambic tetrameter scheme which makes the story flow nicely.

    Read More

  • Similarities Between Anne Bradstreet And Mary Rowlandson

    395 Words  | 2 Pages

    Anne Bradstreet mostly wrote about everyday life while making it seem remarkable. Being a Puritan woman, Anne Bradstreet had trouble writing poetry in colonial society. She was expected to behave as a normal Puritan woman who should stay at home and be a housewife. However, she did

    Read More

  • Women In The Colonial Era

    1538 Words  | 7 Pages

    The Puritans practiced strictness in their religion, lifestyle and conduct and women were expected to abide with these rules. Women did not participate in town meetings and were excluded from making decisions in churches. They treated harshly in the Puritan commonwealth. Women had to dress in a certain ways covering their hair and arms. If a Puritan women was dress immodest, and was guilty of it could be stripped to the waist and whipped until their back were bloody.

    Read More

  • Anne Bradstreet's Feminist Analysis

    1121 Words  | 5 Pages

    Anne Bradstreet (1612 – 1672) has been a long-lasting leading figure in the American literature who embodied a myriad of identities; she was a Puritan, poet, feminist, woman, wife, and mother. Bradstreet’s poetry was a presence of an erudite voice that animadverted the patriarchal constraints on women in the seventeenth century. In a society where women were deprived of their voices, Bradstreet tried to search for their identities. When the new settlers came to America, they struggled considerably in defining their identities. However, the women’s struggles were twice than of these new settlers; because they wanted to ascertain their identities in a new environment, and in a masculine society.

    Read More

More about The Struggle For Freedom In Anne Bradstreet's Life

Open Document