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Anne Bradstreet (ca. 1612 – September 16, 1672) was the first American female writer as well as the first American female poet to have her works published.

Bradstreet was born as Anne Dudley in Northampton, England. She was the daughter of Thomas Dudley and Dorothy Dudley, Earl of Lincoln, and she grew up in cultured circumstances. At the age of sixteen she married Simon Bradstreet. Both Anne's father and Anne's husband were later to serve as governors of the Massachusetts Bay Company. Anne and Simon, along with Anne's parents, immigrated to America aboard the Arbella during the "Great Migration" in 1630.^[1]

Bradstreet was an unusually well-educated woman for her time, which allowed her to express herself through writing. She wrote about politics, history, medicine, and theology. Her personal library of books was said to have numbered over 800, many of which were destroyed when her home burned down on July 10, 1666. This event itself inspired a poem entitled "Upon the Burning of Our House July 10th, 1666", wherein Bradstreet strives to reconcile her faith in an all-powerful God with the tragedy that has befallen her.

Much of Bradstreet's poetry is based on observation of the world around her, focusing heavily on domestic and religious themes. Long considered primarily of historical interest, she won critical acceptance in the 20th century as a writer of enduring verse, particularly for her sequence of religious poems "Contemplations", which was written for her family and not published until the mid-19th century.^[2] Bradstreet's work was deeply influenced by poet Guillaume du Bartas, who was favoured by 17th-century readers.

In 1647 Bradstreet's brother-in-law, Rev. John Woodbridge, sailed to England, carrying her manuscript of poetry (possibly without her knowledge). Anne's first work was published in London as "The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America".^[1] The purpose of the publication appears to have been an attempt by devout Puritan men (i.e. Thomas Dudley, Simon Bradstreet, John Woodbridge) to show that a godly and educated woman could elevate the position held by a wife and mother, without necessarily placing her in competition with men.

Most of the poems in the first edition are very long and based on the standard poetic conventions of the time, but the last two poems, "Of the Vanity of All Worldly Creatures" and "David's Lamentation for Saul and Jonathan", seem original in their recapitulation of her own feelings.

Her later poems, written for her family, show her spiritual growth as she came fully to accept the Puritan creed. She also wrote more personal poems of considerable beauty on her thoughts before childbirth and her response to the death of a grandchild. These shorter poems benefit from their lack of imitation and didacticism. Her prose works include "Meditations," a collection of succinct and pithy aphorisms.

In 1678 her self-revised "Several Poems Compiled with Great Variety of Wit and Learning" was posthumously published in America, including one of her most famous poems, To My Dear and Loving Husband^[3].

Bradstreet died in 1672, in Andover, Massachusetts. While the precise location of her grave is uncertain, she may have been buried next to her husband in "the Old Burying Point" in Salem, Massachusetts, or in "the Old Burying Ground" on Academy Road in North Andover, Massachusetts.

Descendants

Descendants of Simon Bradstreet and Anne, daughter of Thomas Dudley:

• Herbert Hoover^[4][5][5]
• Wendell Phillip^[4][5]
• Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.^[4][5]
• Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.^[4][5]
• William Ellery^[4][5]
• William Ellery Channing^[4][5]
• Francis Dana^[4][5]
• Richard Henry Dana, Sr.^[4][5]
• Richard Henry Dana, Jr.^[4][5]
• Elisha Williams^[4][5]
• John Kerry^[4][5]

Works

• Before the Birth of One of Her Children
• A Dialogue between Old England and New
• A Letter to Her Husband, Absent upon Public Employment
• Another
• Another (II)
• For Deliverance From A Fever
• In Honour of that High and Mighty Princess, Queen Elizabeth
• In Reference to her Children, 23 June 1659
• The Author to Her Book
• The Flesh and the Spirit
• The Four Ages of Man
• The Prologue
• To Her Father with Some Verses
• To My Dear and Loving Husband
• Upon a Fit of Sickness, Anno 1632 Aetatis Suae, 19
• Upon Some Distemper of Body
• Verses upon the Burning of our House, July 18th, 1666

References

1. ^ ^a b Woodlief, A. (n.d.). Biography of Anne Bradstreet. Retrieved September 1, 2006, from http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/Bradstreet/bradbio.htm
2. ^ n. a. (2000). Anne (Dudley) Bradstreet. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. Retrieved Septermber 1, 2006, from http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0808679.html
3. ^ Ellis, J.H. (1867). The Works of Anne Bradstreet in Prose and Verse.
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} William Addams Reitwiesner Genealogical Services. http://www.wargs.com/political/kerry.html
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} [http://www.Venture Football baby*Benjamin Wade<ref>William Addams Reitwiesner Genealogical Services. http://www.wargs.com/political/kerry.html</li></ol></ref>