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In literary scholarship, Anne Bradstreets poetry is usually discussed from two perspectives: the Puritan views in her poems and the feminist views, as it is represented in the authors works. Thus, the uniqueness of scholars discussions is in their suggestions that Bradstreet can be viewed as both a Puritan and a feminist (Brandt 41; Stanford 374). This vision is rather controversial and even surprising in relation to the female poet of the Puritan era, when feminist ideas were rare, but this provocative feature makes the poetry of Bradstreet unique. However, in the case of Bradstreet, feminist ideas are not associated with sound social proclamations or any political declarations. In her poetry, Bradstreet was not focused on struggling for political rights, but she tried to accentuate the personal rights of a woman to be treated equally to men in terms of the right of knowledge and writing. The other feature of Bradstreets poetry that allows speaking about feminist ideas is the authors accentuation of her female nature in the works. Thus, Bradstreet emphasizes the awareness of her gender in the poems and declares the equality to men only in relation to the world of literature, without involving the political or social questions.
Contemplations is one of the most vivid examples of Anne Bradstreets Puritan poetry, in which the author presents her view of the relationship between the humanity, God, and the nature from her personal perspective of both a poet and a woman. The first edition of Anne Bradstreets The Tenth Muse was published in 1650. The publication attracted the publics attention because during that year, the English Puritan reverend Thomas Parker (1595-1677) criticized his sister because of her attempts to write literature. This critique drew the public attention. Thus, in 1650, Parker wrote in a letter to Elizabeth Avery: Your printing of a book, beyond the custom of your sex, doth rankly smell (Martin The Lives and Work of Anne Bradstreet 58).
This short phrase absorbed the general Puritan mens opinion regarding the womens experience in writing and literature and regarding the overall place of a woman in the Puritan society (Parrish 197). According to another famous Puritan man, Governor John Winthrop from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the focus of the Puritan women on reading and writing could even lead to becoming insane. Expressing his thoughts on the sickness of Governor Hopkinss wife, Governor Winthrop famously noted that the reason for the womans insanity was in reading and writing books (Morgan 44). Governor Winthrop also accentuated the idea that if Mistress Hopkins had performed her female duties in the family and focused on the place for her set by God, she could be spiritually healthy (Morgan 44). Therefore, it is possible to conclude while referring to these male positions that in the Puritan society, there were clear gender expectations regarding the place of a woman in the family and in the public life because this specific role for the woman was set by God.
It is necessary to state that Puritan thinking concerning gender was grounded on the Biblical myth that Eve was created from the rib of Adam (Morgan 54). As a result, the Puritans concluded that being created from the part of Adam, Eve and any other woman became subordinate to men while including all the feminine features in opposition to the strong masculine features of Adam (Morgan 55-68). From this point, the Puritans of New England followed the Biblical stories strictly, and their interpretation of the female position in the society was firmly based on the words from the Scripture. In this context, by trying to perform the roles that were typical for men, women violated the social stability and the harmony of the Puritan life. Only men could publish their works because all published pieces were discussed as socially important, and women were viewed as able only to prepare reading materials to educate children (Morgan 92). Therefore, the women who published their literary works were rare exceptions during that period. Mary Rowlandson was one of such few female authors, and Mitchell Robert Breitwieser described this womans life in the following terms:
Her life is remarkable by virtue of the narrative she brought into existence, not just because it is the only sustained prose work known to have been written by a woman in the seventeenth century New World, but also because it is among the more intense and unremitting representations of experience as a collision between cultural ideology and the real in American literature before Melville, whose writing often echoes hers. (4)
While criticizing the womens attempts and efforts in writing, the Puritan men tried to preserve the balance of their society based on the set religious traditions and the distinct distribution of duties (Martin The Lives and Work of Anne Bradstreet 58; Morgan 89). As a result, referring to the perceptions of Thomas Parker and John Winthrop, it is possible to state that if a woman tried to write and publish her works, she might be discussed as even insane because the Puritan men could not see women as equals to them in terms of intellectual development (Martin The Lives and Work of Anne Bradstreet 58-60; Stanford 375). Therefore, the bias against the female authors was significant, and their published or publicly spoken opinions rarely reached the ears of the Puritan males. From this point, it is important to note that the Puritan males believed that the real place set for women by God was the place subordinate to a man. The reason for the mens resistance to accepting the womens freedom in expressing their opinions was in the fact that women should have performed a certain set of duties.
The main responsibilities of a woman in the Puritan family were to perform households and to raise and educate children in order to contribute to their spiritual growth according to the principles of Puritanism (Morgan 38). However, the necessity to educate children stimulated the Puritan women to educate themselves. The Puritan wives and mothers not only read the Scripture, but they also comprehended the Holy Word and developed their own religious vision (Martin Anne Bradstreets Poetry 16; Martin The Lives and Work of Anne Bradstreet 58-60; Morgan 80). In this context, there was a slight difference between a Puritan woman thinking over the religious principles and educating her children according to the norms of Puritanism and a Puritan woman who wanted to share her vision with the public. However, the paradox was in the male perception of the womens daily routines. If the females meditating experiences were positively perceived by the Puritan men as contributing to the womens spiritual growth, their attempts to share their visions on the nature, world order, or religion were discussed as unbecoming (Martin Anne Bradstreets Poetry 17; Martin The Lives and Work of Anne Bradstreet 60). From this point, women were restricted in their opportunities to move beyond their everyday family responsibilities. Moreover, these restrictions were associated with the specific Puritan values.
Puritanism set standards for the ideal behavior of a Christian who should follow the divine rules presented in the Scripture strictly. The Puritans accepted all events in the life as Gods mercy, gifts, or divine lessons. These gifts and lessons could contribute to an individuals spiritual growth (Parrish 198). Therefore, the Puritans spent much time meditating and perceived their bodies as only a jug for the soul. Illnesses of bodies made the Puritans focus on remedies for their souls (Morgan 168). In this context, women were expected to be modest and prudent, focused on the welfare of their family, but not active and inquiring and not making efforts in writing and speaking publicly. Focusing on the social restrictions for a Puritan woman living in the patriarchal community, Martin states that her role as wife and mother was carefully limited by Puritan custom, which defined marriage as a partnership for producing young Christians in which responsibilities were made explicit (Martin Anne Bradstreets Poetry 25). Still, being a Puritan and being a woman, females needed to share their views on the world. In order to avoid being condemned by the public and by the Puritan men in particular, women often chose to print their works anonymously (Martin Anne Bradstreets Poetry 26). Anne Bradstreet was also among such female authors who had courage to publish her works, but the first poems were printed anonymously because being a devout Puritan, Bradstreet could not violate the norms associated with the female modesty in the Puritan society.
Nevertheless, the willingness to represent her visions and ideas in the poetic form was obvious, and Bradstreet, being a Puritan woman, chose poetry as a semi-public space, in which a female can perform as not only a woman but also as an individual. Women wanted to be published because of their intentions to be heard. On the contrary, to find her listeners was not a goal for Bradstreet because she did not need the appreciation. In the case of Bradstreet, poetry was a specific zone for her self-expression as a woman, an individual, and a Puritan. As a result, having an opportunity to write and perform in this semi-public space, Bradstreet tried herself as both a private and public author. However, it is important to note, that she achieved significant results in combining her roles of a woman, a public poet, and a Puritan without leaving her zone of comfort in poetry. With participating in political debates, Bradstreet had an opportunity to accentuate her social role as a poet. Nevertheless, Bradstreets responses to all social affairs can be discussed as written in a Puritan and womans manner.
When other female poets tried to emphasize their social position, Bradstreet seemed to find the balance between her multiple roles in that space that poetry provided for her. It is possible to assume that she chose to write poems as a way to perform her roles of a woman and a Puritan simultaneously. The reason is that Bradstreet could express her private ideas while accentuating her duties of a Puritan, and she could demonstrate her vision of the social world while emphasizing her role of a woman in that world, but all those roles were not performed independently. In spite of the fact that a woman wrote poems about her personal life and feelings, these poems were still about her faith, and all the womans emotions were presented with references to the framework of Puritanism.
However, the Puritan social and religious tradition limited the roles of women while describing their position in the world and family strictly. In this context, Bradstreets attempts to combine her private and Puritan visions in the context of the semi-public poetry can be perceived as provocative because the woman tries to expand the frames of her roles and challenge the existing obvious and hidden limits. While discussing the public world and social affairs in poetry from the perspective of a woman, a female poet challenges the norms of the Puritan society in spite of demonstrating the faith and worship. However, for Bradstreet poetry is seen as a space where she can perform as both a woman focused on the family and a speaker focused on the religious and social affairs. The authors attempts to combine these roles in the female poetry, as well as in the context of Puritanism, make the readers draw their attention to this authors works.
In spite of the obvious sexism of the Puritan theology and visions regarding peoples social roles, responsibilities, and relationships with God, Puritanism can be viewed as a reflection of the liberal individualism, accentuating the free consent of an individual soul. In her book The Gender of Freedom, Elizabeth Dillon presents as surprising claim that Puritanism reflects liberal ideals in a way because liberalism creates and reserves a discrete position for women within its structure (Dillon 3). Puritanism becomes the ideological reflection of both conservatism and liberalism to determine clear duties for males and females. As a consequence, the equality of all people before God does not mean the equality of Puritan men and women in their social life because of various performed roles (Morgan 89). Still, the Puritan intricate view of gender was both conservative and radical, as men tried to apply this vision to all areas of the persons life to pursue the Puritan ideals without any obstacles. In this context, in spite of the fact that liberalism influenced Puritans in terms of providing the pattern for individualism and free consent, the realization of this pattern was rather conservative in its nature.
According the ideas of Puritanism, women are prepared for the private life in a family, and men are perfect for the key roles in the public sphere. Dillon explains this view stating that the position marked out for women & within liberalism is private and familial , therefore, yet rather than simply standing as external to liberalism, this private position and indeed, the entire notion of privacy and private property must be seen as crucial to the structure and meaning of liberalism (Dillon 3). In this context, the word private can mean something related to the family, rather than related to inner emotions and feelings of a woman. However, barriers for women in expressing themselves publicly were overcome with the help of making private diaries.
During that period of time, literate women who were responsible for teaching their children had diaries in which they fixed their thoughts on daily routines and family affairs. In most cases, such diaries presented only short notes, but religious contemplations were also often represented in those diaries. Still, all these ideas and thoughtful meditations or contemplations were spiritual, and they lacked the sensual element. Such meditations needed to remain private in terms of being accessible only to women who had written them (Martin Anne Bradstreets Poetry 22). The aspects of the Puritan womens inner world or private life could not become revealed publicly even if these notes included only thoughts on religious texts. This attitude to Puritan womens meditations provoked much controversy because the elements of the private life or womens thoughts could not become the public affair while being published in such forms as poetry or a literary diary.
The aspect of gender was important to discuss the nature of meditations because all Puritans were extremely religious, but women needed to pay more attention to developing their spirituality. From this point, genders could be discussed as equal before God, but Puritans believed that the sensual nature of women might cause much harm, and females, who had the weaker will than men, needed to understand their position within the society to prevent them from temptations of the public life that women could not resist. Suspicions regarding the female sensual nature were typical for Puritanism, and they were based on the story of Eve and Adam (Martin The Lives and Work of Anne Bradstreet 25). In this context, the Puritan woman needed to prove and demonstrate her spirituality while performing tasks for females and meditating according to standards reflected in religious tests. The task of Puritanism was to make women more virtuous and as moral and honest as men. From this perspective, any female exercises directed to exploring the world needed to be regulated according to the principles of Puritan morality.
The allowable meditation did not include exercises involving the work of imagination in both men and women. If religious meditations were considered as similar to praying, exercises in poetry were regarded as more sensual in their nature because of involving womans imagination. In short, the poetic imagination was dangerous according to puritans. In The New England Mind, Miller states that imagination could not only give significance to images handed up from the common sense, judge them and conserve them, but also do what the common sense and memory could not do, combine sense-images into synthetic phantasms that correspond to nothing in nature (Miller 246). Such exercises could have the negative effect on the Puritan women and their morality because of provoking many tempting images. The imagination with its unlimited possibility for creating images could lead to seduction, and intentions to write poetry could be discussed as the signs of the evil nature of women. In this case, the problem was not in the opposition of private and public, but in the most important fight of the evil and good in human nature.
The Puritans believed that women are too weak to resist temptation, and they needed to be limited in their opportunities to develop their sensual nature. In spite of the fact that the ignoring of the humans sensual nature was a typical idea of Puritanism regardless the gender, women were considered as being at more risk than men (Morgan 54). Therefore, the Puritan view of gender was also based on the idea of the female nature. Puritans focused on developing the complex idea of a gender, and they referred to it in particular cases when it was necessary to contrast duties and rights of women and men in the Puritan society in order to preserve its stability and prudence, and poetry was one of such cases because poetry was viewed as stimulating the imagination.
Anne Bradstreets Puritan and Feminist Views
In order to concentrate on Anne Bradstreets specific female views that are associated today with both Puritanism and Feminism, it is necessary to discuss some details connected with the female poets interpretation of the world. Bradstreet received much support from her husband and male relatives who were not chauvinists and did not regard her poetic experiences as threatening to the Puritanism. Thus, John Woodbridge, Bradstreets brother-in-law, said about her works in the preface to the second edition of The Tenth Muse: It is the work of a woman, honored and esteemed where she lives, for her gracious demeanor, her eminent parts, her pious conversation, her courteous disposition, her exact diligence in her place, and discreet managing of her family occasions (Hensley xv). Still, Anne Bradstreet suffered from many internal conflicts caused by her unique vision of the womans place in the Puritan society (Boschman 252; Martin Anne Bradstreets Poetry 29).
Bradstreet was concerned regarding the conflict between her role of a Puritan wife and mother and being a devout Christian (Martin Anne Bradstreets Poetry 26). Focusing on these Bradstreets views, Martin states that her poems reveal that she struggled with the conflict between her love for her children and husband and her devotion to God; & she reminds herself of her duty as wife and mother to assist her family in the service of God (Martin Anne Bradstreets Poetry 25). The poet needed to harmonize these roles in her inner world. On the other hand, Bradstreet suffered from the conflict of being a woman, a Puritan, and a poet. If a woman is a Puritan, she is a good wife and a loving and caring mother. If a woman is a poet, she needs to act as a public person while influencing the other peoples thoughts and ideas (Requa 7). However, Bradstreet did not intend to be only a Puritan woman or only a Puritan poet. As a result, Bradstreets poetry should be considered as the unique representation of the revolutionary female vision that combines the discussion of the religious aspects and a womans place in the world.
Bradstreet chose to step beyond her domestic confines through literature by reading or writing , and as a result, she became perceived as dangerous to the patriarchal society of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (Martin Anne Bradstreets Poetry 26). In order to respond to the critics of the female active position in the Puritan society, Bradstreet enlisted the support of her family, and she published her first poems with the help of her family members and friends (Martin Anne Bradstreets Poetry 28; Stanford 380). Such support of the relatives was unique for that period of time because the males in families were usually against the womens literary efforts and experiences. However, Bradstreet discussed herself as having the reason to express her opinion in the male world because she was educated in the Elizabethan tradition, which valued the educated and artistic woman (Martin Anne Bradstreets Poetry 26).
Bradstreets first feminist ideals began to develop along with her focus on the personality of Queen Elizabeth. Thus, in response to the male domination in the Puritan society and in honor of Queen Elizabeth, Bradstreet wrote in her elegy, Nay Masculines, you have thus taxt us long / But she, though dead, will vindicate our wrong. / Let such as say our Sex is void of Reason, / Know tis a Slander now, but once was Treason (Martin Anne Bradstreets Poetry 19). Referring to the ideals of the Elizabethan era, Bradstreet considered herself as strong enough in order to oppose the male domination in literature as well because she was an intelligent and articulate person (Martin Anne Bradstreets Poetry 26). As a result, she focused on determining her literary voice as a poet and as a woman.
First, it is important to note that Bradstreet focused on her ability to share her opinions and thoughts with the public like a poet. She saw a role of a poet as a commentator on public as well as private concerns (Requa 3). However, in the male-dominated Puritan community, the roles of historians or poets were not for the Puritan housewife (Requa 3). From this perspective, in order to exceed the expectations of the Puritan society, Bradstreet began to follow the models of the male poets in her writing (Hildebrand 120). In her early poems, while attempting to focus on the public poetry, Bradstreet tried to imitate the subjects, forms, and styles of the other male poets. According to Requa, her attempts were not always successful (Requa 4).
Moreover, such exercises in imitating the famous male writers could not result in resolving Bradstreets inner conflict based on her vision of herself as not only a poet but also as a woman who is also an intellectual (Brandt 43). Therefore, analyzing Bradstreets successes in being a public poet and being a female poet, Requa states that her public voice is imitative, the private voice is original (Requa 4). From this point, Bradstreet is as an author whose individuality as a female poet is expressed more clearly than her individuality as a public poet. Requa claims that Bradstreets inability to comfortably fulfill these chosen public roles is evident in the self-consciousness she shows in the poems (Requa 3). Requas claim is rather provocative because it diminishes the public value of such Bradstreets poem as Contemplations that contains not only personal reflection but also philosophical thoughts on the topic of immortality. Moreover, it is almost impossible to agree with Requa that Bradstreets public voice is non-unique because it is typical of the female poet to manipulate tones and perspectives to produce certain effects on the reader.
Gender and Bradstreets Female Voice in Her Works
Anne Bradstreets female voice revealed in her poems is one of the particular features of the womans poetry. In this context, The Prologue published in 1650 became one of the most remarkable Bradstreets works because the female poet took risks to claim her right for writing as a woman in the mens world full of hostility against the willed females. Thus, the fight of genders in the context of literary activities is one of the main topics in The Prologue . It is possible to assume that Bradstreet fights a battle of sexes by means of her the ironic tone of the female author that becomes even sarcastic in the eighth stanza of the poem. Each stanza seems to be one more move in the battle. In the first stanza, Bradstreet acknowledges the males victory only in one aspect, and she states that it is a right of men to write about wars and kings: To sing of Wars, of Captains, and of Kings, / Of Cities founded, Common-wealths begun, / For my mean Pen are too superior things (1-3). The female poet distinguishes the obviously male activities in the world of poetry, thus protecting the areas in which female poets can also succeed.
Evidently rejecting the idea that males can be better than women because of social dominance, Bradstreet masterly manipulates her female voice, and in the third stanza of the poem she ironically admits the female imperfectness, and it is possible to assume that Bradstreets gender is her main defect (3). However, in the first line of this third stanza, the Bradstreet notes that From School-boys tongue no Rhetric we expect , and the reader can assume that this scholarly area is the strong side of not an educated male, but of an educated female (1). Then, having played with the double meaning of the phrase, the female poet continues ironically admitting her imperfectness: My foolish, broken, blemished Muse so sings, / And this to mend, alas, no Art is able, / Cause Nature made it so irreparable (4-6). Accentuating her incompetence as a poet, the woman demonstrates that she understands the rules of playing in this social world.
Bradstreet is rather creative in developing the topic of the fight of the sexes while accentuating the realities of the social order and criticizing the mens positions. Still, the criticism is rather hidden under the mask of obedience, submission, and sarcasm, as it is in the fourth stanza when the poet notes that she is not as perfect as the fluent sweet-tongued Greek , and that such a weak or wounded brain admits no cure (1-6). The sarcasm in these lines seems to be rather provocative, as Bradstreet admits the female imperfectness. In the fifth stanza, she continues: I am obnoxious to each carping tongue / Who says my hand a needle better fits (1-2). Saying these sarcastic words, Bradstreet defends her right for the poetic activities in the society where women are associated only with the needlework. The poets words in the last lines of this fifth stanza seem to be both sarcastic and bitter as Bradstreet strives to prove her talent and prominence as a poet: If what I do prove well, it wont advance, / Theyll say its stoln, or else it was by chance (5-6). Bradstreet sounds chagrined because women are perceived only with references to their gender.
From this point, Bradstreet is ready to lose the war, but she does not accept the idea that men can be better than women in spite of the fact that she sarcastically states in the seventh stanza of the poem: Men have precedency and still excel; / It is but vain unjustly to wage war , and then, Men can do best, and Women know it well ( The Prologue 16). Thus, men are usually viewed as superior within the society: Preeminence in all and each is yours; / Yet grant some small acknowledgement of ours (5-6). Asking for small acknowledgement of ours , the author does not diminish the role of women, especially in the area of literary activities, but she ironically points at one aspect that men can leave for women while being dominating in all other spheres ( The Prologue 16). The whole poem is full of the sad irony demonstrated by the female who tries to defend her position of a poet.
In this context, Bradstreet does not defend women openly she uses each opportunity to represent the domination of men, but Bradstreets sarcasm in the eighth stanza is rather expressive. Thus, the poet meaningfully asks for only parsley instead of bays for being a poet in the final stanza of The Prologue :
And oh ye high flown quills that soar the skies,
And ever with your prey still catch your praise,
If eer you deign these lowly lines your eyes,
Give thyme or Parsley wreath, I ask no Bays.
This mean and unrefined ore of mine
Will make your glistring gold but more to shine. (1-6)
Writing these ironical words, Bradstreet admits the fact that she has lost this fight with men this time, but it does not mean that she cannot fight for her personal rights with even more passion. In these words, the woman proves that she has a talent for writing as a man, and she should be listened to as a poet, but she is wise enough not to ask more.
The contrasting approach to discussing a woman as a loving and sensitive creature is demonstrated in Bradstreets poem To My Dear and Loving Husband (1678). Being a Puritan female, Bradstreet concentrated on the welfare of her family and idealized the relations between a man and a woman according to the Puritan tradition. From this point, Bradstreet can be discussed as a typical Puritan woman (Laughlin 6). Moreover, in spite of the developed stereotypical visions of the Puritan sensibility, it is important to note that Bradstreet did not restrict herself in demonstrating her gender and her female nature while writing her personal poetic works. Thus, Bradstreet demonstrated her female nature through her numerous love poems dedicated to her husband Simon (Martin, Anne Bradstreets Poetry 15). Although being a Puritan woman, Bradstreet paid much attention to describing and expressing her feelings and devotion to the husband in the literary works. In her poem To My Dear and Loving Husband (1678), Bradstreet reveals her vision of a wife and husband, and their ideal relations and attitudes are discussed from the perspective of a Puritan wife ( To My Dear and Loving Husband 225). In this context, the gender of the author of the poem is accentuated, and her female voice is most sound.
Puritans define marriage as a partnership for producing young Christians; on the other hand, Bradstreet is trying to emphasize in her poem To My Dear and Loving Husband that marriage should establish on love, respect, and equality. She handles the issue of gender in an organized and neutral manner. Both genders have the responsibility of treating each other with equality. For instance, Bradstreet talks of loving each other without any limit. She says, If ever two were one, then surely we ( To My Dear and Loving Husband 225). Love, therefore, is something that should be enjoyed by the two parties involved. In this context, Bradstreet seems to expand the traditional vision of the Puritan marriage based on companionship (Luhmann 123). The poet accentuates the role of partnership to become we in a marriage, but she also insists on identify
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