The Humble Poets: Anne Bradstreet and William Cullen Bryant
From the settling of America to its Civil War, literature changed rapidly and gave future readers an idea of the struggles throughout that time period. Poets, in particular, were excellent at capturing the emotional tone of the time and discovering new meanings around and within themselves. Anne Bradstreet—a Puritan poet that came to America with John Winthrop—and William Cullen Bryant—a Romantic poet writing in post-Revolutionary America—represent well that literary shift in style and context. Further illustration of the changing literature throughout time is found by comparing Bradstreet and Taylor’s similar upbringing, an aversion to publicity, similar choice in topics, differing styles, and differing periods—Romantic and Puritan. Bradstreet and Bryant grew up in and were surrounded by religious and supportive family members. Raised as a Puritan by parents …show more content…
Bradstreet’s “Another” uses animals to characterize her and her husband’s love when she writes, “As loving hind that (hartless) wants her deer...Her dearest deer, might answer ear or eye” (1, 4). Again, in the poem, “In Reference to Her Children,” Bradstreet writes, “I had eight birds hatched in one nest,/Four cocks there were, and hens the rest” (1-2). Here, she compares her children to birds leaving the nest, further exemplifying nature’s prevalence in writing during this time of the Puritans. Bryant writes using nature-rich poetry as shown in “The Prairies,” “To a Waterfowl,” and “Sonnet -- To an American Painter Departing for Europe.” For example, in his poem “To a Waterfowl,” Bryant finds comfort in determining a divine order from a seemingly random flight of a
From the settling of America to its Civil War, literature changed rapidly and gave future readers an idea of the struggles throughout that time period. Poets, in particular, were excellent at capturing the emotional tone of the time and discovering new meanings around and within themselves. Anne Bradstreet—a Puritan poet that came to America with John Winthrop—and William Cullen Bryant—a Romantic poet writing in post-Revolutionary America—represent well that literary shift in style and context. Further illustration of the changing literature throughout time is found by comparing Bradstreet and Taylor’s similar upbringing, an aversion to publicity, similar choice in topics, differing styles, and differing periods—Romantic and Puritan. Bradstreet and Bryant grew up in and were surrounded by religious and supportive family members. Raised as a Puritan by parents …show more content…
Bradstreet’s “Another” uses animals to characterize her and her husband’s love when she writes, “As loving hind that (hartless) wants her deer...Her dearest deer, might answer ear or eye” (1, 4). Again, in the poem, “In Reference to Her Children,” Bradstreet writes, “I had eight birds hatched in one nest,/Four cocks there were, and hens the rest” (1-2). Here, she compares her children to birds leaving the nest, further exemplifying nature’s prevalence in writing during this time of the Puritans. Bryant writes using nature-rich poetry as shown in “The Prairies,” “To a Waterfowl,” and “Sonnet -- To an American Painter Departing for Europe.” For example, in his poem “To a Waterfowl,” Bryant finds comfort in determining a divine order from a seemingly random flight of a