Anne Bradstreet

Categories: Poetry

Who Was She?

Anne Bradstreet was born in 1612 in England, but moved to America with her family as part of the Winthrop Puritan group around 1630. Her first book of poetry, and the only one published during her lifetime, "The Tenth Muse, Lately Sprung Up in America," was originally published in England by her brother-in-law, allegedly without her knowledge. Her posthumous volumes of poetry include "Several Poems Compiled with Great Wit and Learning" (an expanded version of "The Tenth Muse"), and Contemplations. Today, she is widely recognized as the first American poet.

What Did She Write About?

Religion, Personal Musings, Love & Marriage

Where Can I Find Her Work?

“I am obnoxious to each carping tongue/Who says my hand a needle better fits./A Poet’s Pen all scorn I should thus wrong,/For such despite they cast on female wits./If what I do prove well, it won’t advance,/They’ll say it’s stol’n, or else it was by chance.”

- Anne Bradstreet, The Prologue