Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) was a prominent poet of the English colonies of North America. She was also the first Puritan figure in American literature, and one of the earliest female authors of the United States.
She wrote about various topics, in particular, her Puritan religion, her role as a woman and mother, and her love for her husband. In her writings, Bradstreet examined her Puritan beliefs, and many of the principles that guided Puritan communities. She also questioned the popular idea at the time of women being inferior to men. With her love poems, Bradstreet challenged Puritan ideals of love. She writes of her deep love and infatuation with her husband, Simon Bradstreet. This was clearly against Puritan ideals of moderate love. Puritans believed that intense love for someone else could lead someone away from God.
Bradstreet was an avowed Puritan, and her poems almost always evoke God, her faith, and/or her desire for eternal life. Her marriage fulfilled the Puritan ideal of a loving, respectful partnership, and she embraced the traditional feminine role of motherhood. However, through her poems, Bradstreet demonstrates her fortitude through the vicissitudes of life and shares her contemplations on God’s grace and might.
