She wrote boldly of things that many other women of her time did not dare to write about, but she did so seemingly with a sense of proud defiance. To be outspoken for things that contradicted with the general flow of public opinion was a trait that caused one to be labeled a radical, but it is clear that Anne Bradstreet would not have cared if she ever had been labeled as such. At the same time, she also took a very Puritan stance on issues in her writing, which is perhaps what made her works acceptable. Two of her poems, “Prologue” and “To My Dear and Loving Husband” are such examples of her talent in poetry, although they may be translated to have a different meaning than the other.
The first of these two poems, Bradstreet's “Prologue” speaks of the conformity in which the people of her time found themselves, and that they accepted it no matter how moral it was, because unfortunately it was deemed socially correct at the time period. She speaks of the social restraints placed upon women, as she states in stanza 5 lines 29-30 “If what I do prove well, it won't advance, they'll say it stol'n, or else it was by chance.” She speaks of the fact that no matter how brilliant a woman may be, her genius will never be recognized and she will always be looked down upon by the men of her society. She states the realization of this fact in stanza 7 lines 39-40 “It is but vain unjustly to wage war; men can do best, and women know it well.” She realizes that even if she fights as strongly as she humanly can, her efforts will do her no credit, because nothing will be gained in the end by it. In the final stanza of “Prologue” she uses a handful of concrete, meaningful similes and metaphors, using the “ye high flown quills” image to draw out the importance of men's writings, as well as “if e'er you deign these lowly lines your eyes” asking that if by chance the higher form of humankind, men should glance upon her poems, and finally “this mean and unrefined ore of mine will make your glist'ring gold but more to shine”. This final statement is intended to mean that men will probably steal her work because she is a woman to make themselves look better.
Her second work to be analyzed, “To My Dear and Loving Husband” is much shorter but conveys a similar quantity of meaning in it. This particular poem speaks out of the importance of intimate relationships, most likely marriage, given that the writer is in fact a Puritan. She speaks of the importance of love, “more than whole mines of gold”(Line 5), as well as “all the riches that the East doth hold”(Line 6) most likely meaning the riches of the Orient, as it sometimes portrayed itself to be a mystical and rich region at the time of Anne Bradstreet. She also states that while she and her lover live, the love will persevere with them, and when they die in that love they will live for eternity. Bradstreet's use of a rhyme scheme in this poem makes the poem flow in the mind a little more easily, and provides a rhythm when read aloud. Such examples would be we with thee, gold with hold, repay with pray, and so on. The endings of each line practically always rhyme with an adjacent line, with the exception of recompense and quench, and persevere and ever, unless ever is pronounced “evere” for the sake of the poem.
Anne Bradstreet shared the Puritan beliefs of her father, which was revealed in her writings, and was among the settlers who embarked with the Massachusetts Bay Company in John Winthrop's fleet. Her writing is usually in support of Puritan ideals, speaking of the Greeks, which the Puritans mimicked in government in a way with the Mayflower Compact, as well as the mentioning of the schoolboy reminding us of the importance the Puritans had in education, creating the first public school system in the “New World”. Also her Puritan views of the importance of everlasting relationships are present in “To My Dear and Loving Husband”, as she speaks of the worth of love, and speaks of its strength and perseverance. She also, as earlier discussed, she speaks out against several ideals, the most important one being the insignificance of women in her present time, which is displayed by the Mayflower Compact giving only the vote to white males, numbering about forty, a definite minority.
It is clear that by judging Anne Bradstreet's writing, it would be safe to say that her masterful work and her keen eye at social injustice would have been more appreciated in the modern world, as well as more commonly accepted. Nevertheless, her work has survived the tests of time, and is now being recognized as the work of a powerful female writer from the time when such a thing was thought to not exist. This fact fortunately does Anne Bradstreet some justice, but does not fully make up for the struggle she no doubt had to go through.
