Anne Bradstreet (March 20, 1612 – September 16, 1672) was the first writer in England’s North American colonies to be published. She was born to a wealthy Puritan family in Northampton, England. She was well-educated, reading widely and in several languages. After she was married, she migrated to North America with her husband and children. Much of her poetry centers on her life as a mother.
Here are a few poems by Bradstreet to enjoy. (These links go to the Poetry Foundation website, which is a fantastic place to find all sorts of poems for free.)
- The Author to Her Book
- Verses upon the Burning of our House, July 10, 1666
- In Reference to her Children, 23 June 1659
- By Night when Others Soundly Slept
- In Honour of that High and Mighty Princess, Queen Elizabeth
Resources
Books
- Anne Bradstreet by Faith Cook
- The Poems of Anne Bradstreet by Anne Bradstreet
- Poet, Pilgrim, Rebel: The Story of Anne Bradstreet, American’s First Published Poet by Katie Munday Williams
Videos
Portrait in Header By Edmund H. Garrett – http://commonplace.online/article/humble-assertions-the-true-story-of-anne-bradstreets-publication-of-the-tenth-muse/Frontispiece for An Account of Anne Bradstreet: The Puritan Poetess, and Kindred Topics, edited by Colonel Luther Caldwell (Boston, 1898). Courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=91796948