During the 17th century, the united New England colonies designed a fundamental Puritan commonwealth. The entire social and political system they founded was built on the Puritan faith. It was a man’s world inside this so called Puritan commonwealth. Women did not participate in town meetings or had no authority to make decisions within the church. Puritan women were to be seen, but not heard. Rather than challenging their rights and protesting against authority, women had their ways of being heard and sharing of their personal experiences. Anne Bradstreet chose to write about her experiences as a Puritan woman through poetry, whereas some Puritan women wrote about their lives before, during, and after their captivity by the Native Americans such as the case with Mary Rowlandson and Hannah Duston.
Anne Bradstreet was a dedicated Puritan, and her poems nearly always …show more content…
In many of her poems, she often describes nature directly or characterizes her family members as animals. Her poems are influenced by her Puritan beliefs as well as her own reflections on the wilderness in colonial America. In several of her poems, she accepts that men and women have diverse roles in society, because she believes that is what God had intended. However, she does make the argument that women are capable of achievement. Bradstreet understood that women could be educated and creative without jeopardizing the patriarchal system. At the same time though, she cast a critical eye upon her own work. This could have been due to the fear of surpassing her gendered bounds. By reading Bradstreet’s works, one can get an idea of how life was for Puritan women, because the role of women was a common subject for her. Women were expected to spend all their time cooking, cleaning, taking care of children and tending to their husbands. In the “Prologue,” Bradstreet says,
“I am obnoxious to each carping tongue
Who says my hand a needle better
Anne Bradstreet was a dedicated Puritan, and her poems nearly always …show more content…
In many of her poems, she often describes nature directly or characterizes her family members as animals. Her poems are influenced by her Puritan beliefs as well as her own reflections on the wilderness in colonial America. In several of her poems, she accepts that men and women have diverse roles in society, because she believes that is what God had intended. However, she does make the argument that women are capable of achievement. Bradstreet understood that women could be educated and creative without jeopardizing the patriarchal system. At the same time though, she cast a critical eye upon her own work. This could have been due to the fear of surpassing her gendered bounds. By reading Bradstreet’s works, one can get an idea of how life was for Puritan women, because the role of women was a common subject for her. Women were expected to spend all their time cooking, cleaning, taking care of children and tending to their husbands. In the “Prologue,” Bradstreet says,
“I am obnoxious to each carping tongue
Who says my hand a needle better