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Anne Bradstreet

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Poet

The Resume

    (circa 1612-September 16, 1672)
    Born in Northampton, United Kingdom
    Puritan background
    Daughter of Thomas Dudley, steward of the Earl of Lincoln, and Dorothy Yorke
    Married to Simon Bradstreet (1928)
    Moved to Massachusetts Bay Colony with her husband, father ,and mother on board of the Arbella at the age of 18 (1631)
    Wrote a collection of poems titled 'The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, By a Gentleman of Those Parts', which featured the poems 'A Dialogue between Old England and New,' ' A Letter to Her Husband,' 'A Letter to Her Husband, Absent upon Public Employment,' 'A Love Letter to Her Husband,' 'Another,' 'Another (II),' 'Before the Birth of One of Her Children,' 'By Night when Others Soundly Slept,' 'Contemplations,' 'Deliverance from a Fit of Fainting,' 'Deliverance from Another Sore Fit,' 'Epitaphs,' 'Here Follow Several Occasional Meditations,' 'Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House,' 'In Honour of that High and Mighty Princess, Queen Elizabeth,' 'In My Solitary Hours in My Dear Husband his Absence,' 'In Reference to Her Children,' 'In Reference to her Children, 23 June 1659,' ' In Thankful Remembrance for My Dear Husband's Safe Arrival,' 'In Thankful Remembrance for My Dear Husband's Safe Arrival Sept 3, 1662,' 'Meditations Divine and Moral,' 'Of the Four Ages of Man,' 'Prologue,' 'The Author to her Book,' 'The Flesh and the Spirit,' 'The Four Ages of Man,' 'The Prologue,' 'The Vanity of All Worldly Things,' 'To Her Father with Some Verses,' 'To my Dear and Loving Husband,' 'Upon a Fit of Sickness,' 'Upon a Fit of Sickness, Anno 1632 Aetatis Suae, 19,' 'Upon My Dear and Loving Husband his Going into England Jan. 16, 1661,' 'Upon Some Distemper of Body,' 'Verses upon the Burning of our House, July 18th, 1666,' and ‘We May Live Together’ (published 1650)
    Later poems are more personal
    Died in Andover, Massachusetts, United States

Why she might be annoying:

    Her mother was of noble blood.
    She had eight children.
    She got married at the age of 16.
    Her collection of poems was published by her brother-in-law, John Woodbridge, without her knowledge and permission.

Why she might not be annoying:

    Her poems display the Puritans' knowledge of the Bible, their concern for the connection between life in heaven and on earth, her turbulent life and her faithfulness to her husband.
    Her family immigrated to the New World because they were persecuted for their Puritan faith.
    She was a loving mother to her children.
    She survived smallpox.
    Her joints were infected by paralysis.
    Thanks to her family's wealth, she received a substantial amount of education at a time when girls received little or no education.
    Her house in Massachusetts got burned down (July 10, 1666).
    Her poems also act like an autobiography.
    She got TB (tuberculosis).
    The poet John Berryman wrote 'Homage to Mistress Bradstreet' as a tribute to her (1956).
    She educated her children well regardless of gender.
    She was considered one of America's greatest literary figures of her time.

Credit: Big Lenny


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 87.50% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 7 Votes: 71.43% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 22 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 10 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 15 Votes: 46.67% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 26 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 12 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 8 Votes: 37.50% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 12 Votes: 83.33% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 34 Votes: 44.12% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 7 Votes: 42.86% Annoying