American Literature A Look At Anne Bradstreet And...

Angela Rainey English 2131 Professor Gay 29 September 2015 Trailblazers of American Literature: A Look at Anne Bradstreet and Phyllis Wheatley Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) and Phyllis Wheatley (1753–1784), although over a century apart, were pioneers of women’s American literature. There are interesting similarities as well as differences between these two women, but the obstacles they would each face, and ultimately overcome would help to pave the road for women all over the world. Bradstreet, a well educated woman from a wealthy, puritan family, and Wheatley, a slave taught to read and write by her owner, would make history with their published poems. Anne was born in Northampton, England in1612. She was the daughter of Thomas Dudley, the manager of the country estate of the Puritan Earl of Lincoln, and Dorothy Yorke (Anne). Due to her family s position, she grew up in cultured circumstances and, because she was apple of her daddy’s eye, he took great care to see that she received an education superior to that of most women of the time. She was tutored in history, several languages and literature. Being brought up as a puritan, she had puritan religious beliefs and the greatest influences of her writings were religion and the love she had for her family which was exposed in her poems. (Baynm) Marriage played a large role in the lives of Puritan women. In Bradstreet s poem, To My Dear And Loving Husband, she reveals that she is one with her husband. If ever two