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The Poetry of Anne Bradstreet. About Anne Bradtreet A softer side of Puritans. The first notable American poet This fact is remarkable considering that Puritan women were not encouraged to improve their minds.
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About Anne BradtreetA softer side of Puritans • The first notable American poet • This fact is remarkable considering that Puritan women were not encouraged to improve their minds. • Her poetry focuses on the realities of her life; her husband, children, harsh conditions of the American wilderness. • Through her poetry, the reader is privileged to view a less severe side of Puritan life, one that is defined by love for family and for one’s God.
Academic Vocabulary • Metaphor- a figure of speech that directly compares two unlike things without using “like” or “as.” • Extended Metaphor-one that draws the comparison out and compares the two things at length and in many ways. • Personification- a figure of speech in which an object, animal, or idea is given human characteristics. • Hyperbole- a figure of speech in which the truth is exaggerated for emphasis. • Inverted Syntax- a sentence structure in which the expected order of words is revisited. • Archaic Language- words that were once common but are now considered old fashioned. • Idiom- an expression whose overall meaning is different from the individual words.
Basic Poetry Terms • External Rhyme Scheme: The combination of rhyming words at the end of a line of poetry. • Stanza- a grouping of lines of poetry
To My Dear and Loving Husband • The focus of the poem is Bradstreet’s enduring love for her husband, which she believes is more than any other woman ever loved their husband. • Note the hyperbole in lines 5-7 • Lines 11-12, show a relationship between earthly love and eternal life, that one’s love can be so profound that it can cause them to remembered by their peers.
Upon the Burning of Our House • The poem focuses on Bradstreet’s devotion and reliance on God. • “Blest His name that gave and took”- is a Biblical allusion to Job “The Lord giveth. The Lord taketh away.” • “Adieu, adieu, all is vanity” is an allusion to Solomon’s book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible. • The reoccurring allusion in the poem is that of “dust” referring to that which man was man and will return, emphasizing the temporal nature of material possessions. • Bradstreet believes that burning of her house is just since all her possessions belonged to God in the first place.
Assignment • Using the same rhyme scheme is Anne Bradstreet, write a six line poem about your life on the note card provided. You only have six lines, so included only that which is most important to you and choose your words carefully. Put your name on the back and your initials in the bottom right corner.