Who is Anne Bradstreet?

Having a love for poetry and writing, Anne Bradstreet has taken the title as being the first American woman poet. Born in the year 1612 in Northampton, England, she was the loving daughter of Thomas Dudley and Dorothy Yorke.  Being the tender age of 16 she married her father’s assistant Simon Bradstreet who was 25 years of age. http://www.annebradstreet.com/anne_bradstreet_bio_002.htm Within the next two years the two of them and her parents moved to America in 1630 with a Puritan group settling down in Ipswich, Massachusetts.  After settling down for a few years, Bradstreet and her husband brought in the world eight beautiful children that they cared for the deeply. The text mentions in the text she was considered a religious person and loved Christ with all her heart and that came to help her write some of her poetry.

As for Bradstreet’s writings, she never shared any of it publicly because they were near and dear to her heart. If she were to share them it would be with a close set of family and friends . As for close family and friends they went behind her back and published the work that she had done. Anne’s brother-in-law brought one of her poems called   "The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, By a Gentlewoman of Those Parts" to England and it was published in 1650. http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/428 It did well in England, but she was still unhappy that he had done that to  her.  This writing was considered the only writing that was published of her works while she was alive. 

Anne and her family moved to Andover, Massachusetts, until her death in 1672 at the age of 60. She was battling with tuberculosis, and when she caught the disease another tragedy happened with the death of her daughter Dorothy.  Anne was strong and believed that since her daughter was in a better place she would become even stronger fighting her disease to stay alive. Anne fought to the end until it was her turn to pass away and see her daughter. 

Nina Baym, ed. Anne Bradstreet. The Norton Anthology of American Literature: Seventh Edition:

       Volume A. New York: Norton, 2007. 187-188.