Anne Bradstreet The Prologue SS PDF

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Anne Bradstreet, ‘The Prologue’       

About the writer Summary and Critical Appreciation Themes Significance of the Title Feminist Perspective of Anne Bradstreet’s ‘The Prologue’ Reference to the context Probable Questions

About the writer Anne Bradstreet is regarded as the first Puritan figure in American literature. She is remembered for her large contribution in the field of poetry and personal writings. Born as Anne Dudley, Anne Bradstreet was the most prominent of early English poets of North America and first writer in England’s North American colonies to be published. Anne Bradstreet was born in March 20, 1612 at Northampton, England to a wealthy family. Married at the age of sixteenSimon Bradstreet, she had changed her name to Anne Bradstreet, and further their family had migrated in the year 1630 to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Bradstreet’s fame rest upon her first volume of poetry The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America (1650). Her other notable works are: Before the Birth of One of Her Children , A Dialogue between Old England and New , A letter to her Husband, Contemplations, The Prologue, Verses upon the Burning of our House, etc. It is her ‘homesick imagination’ that had spread all over her writings. She had discussed the themes of love, nature, Puritan religion, and community. By reading her poems, the readers are acquainted with the understanding of Puritan women’s lives and experiences. Anne Bradstreet alludes to the role of women and to women’s capabilities in many poems. The strength behind her poetry was her depth of knowledge as she had been educated in the field of history, politics, theology, medicine and philosophy. Bradstreet often used a sarcastic toe towards societal norms because she criticized the conservatives of her time, who kept women in bondage. Among all the poems that she wrote, the best poems are: “A letter to Her Husband”, “An Apology”, “As Spring the Winter Doth Succeed”, “The Flesh and Spirit”, “The Four seasons of the year”, “In Reference to her Children.”

Summary and Critical Appreciation Anne Bradstreet lived in the Puritan Age which did not favor equal rights to women. She wrote the poem, ‘The Prologue’ to express her opinions as a woman. The poem not only portrays the struggles of being a woman in a Puritan society but also advocates the cause of women. With this poem she acknowledges her role as a woman in society even if she doesn’t agree with it. The tone of the poem is light-hearted, but Bradstreet criticizes those who restrict women’s roles. The Prologue is one of Bradstreet’s most intellectually stimulating poems because she invokes a historical and global context. The poem contains allusions to the Greeks, Christianity, contemporary poetry, feminism and psychology. While many critics have assumed that this poem serves as an admission of Bradstreet’s ambivalence about her work, it can be understood as her bold assertion and her strong hold on composing verse in an era when feminism was far from becoming a political movement. Although she does not even claim the title of poet, her rhyme scheme and meter are perfect; she uses precise iambic pentameter, rhyming ABABCC. In the first stanza, the poet writes that she does not discuss the same topics as elite male poets, like kings, commonwealths, and cities. Her lines are more “obscure” than theirs and she focuses on more personal, intimate matters. Her “mean pen” is not for discussing about the “superior subjects.” According to the speaker, the lofty subject matters are for the “poets and Historians” , her “obscure lines” should not dim their worth. In the second stanza, Bradstreet compares her work to the great French historian and poet, Guillaume DuBartas, whose work was popular with Puritans because of its emphasis on Christian history. Bradstreet does not aspire to his equal, but rather, to be simple and true to her skill: “But when my wond’ring eyes and envious heart Great bartas’ sugar’d lines do but read o’er, …A bartas can do what a Bartas will But simple I according to my skill.” In stanza three, she evokes the Muses for the first time. She claims her muse to be a “foolish, broken, blemished” one who startsto sing.One critic notes a prescient statement of Freudian psychology when the poet compares herself to a schoolboy. He writes, “the imagery of this stanza suggests a profound envy for the more obvious parts of the male anatomy, without which

the poet… feels inadequate for the task at hand…[and] no art can make up for this irreparable fact of nature.” In stanza four, the highly educated Bradstreet alludes to Demosthenes, the famed Greek orator who overcame a lisp to achieve great prestige. Bradstreet, however, admits that “Art can do much” but feels that it is difficult to overcome or cure “a weak or wounded brain.” “Art can do much, but this maxim’s most sure: A weak or wounded brain admits no cure.” In stanza five, Bradstreet stands up for her right to write poetry. She excoriates those who tell her that her hand is better suited for a needle than a “poet’s pen” and laments the fact that even if her poems do attain prominence, people will claim that she either stole them or chanced upon them by accident.Bradstreet condemns each and every voice that is represses women. She also addresses the fact that to create an identity of her own, women has to go through scorns and the women are always under the pressure of the society who points out them their conventional role. “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.” In stanza six, she returns to the topic of the Greeks. Bradstreet explains that the Muses, a group of nine females, occupy an exalted stratum in Greek mythology. Unfortunately, most Greek men were still not particularly open-minded about women's rights, and instead, “did naught but play the fools and lie.” In stanza seven, the speaker says that “Let Greeks be Greeks, and Women what they are” because there should not be war or competition between men and women as they hold their individual space strong enough. She admits that “men can do best, and Women know it well” because men had got all the privileges but she seeks appreciation of the little work they have done. She claims her right to have a voice, and upholds domesticity as a valuable source of verse. As is indicative of her time period, Bradstreet does not make claims of gender equality or suggest that patriarchy ought to be discarded, but argues that women are capable of producing worthy work, and that critics and readers alike should offer “some small acknowledgment” for a female poet's right to express herself.

In the last stanza, Bradstreet conveys that she believes her work is humble. Her poems are not “bays” but rather, they are “thyme or parsley wreath[s],” which is simple, unimpressive household plants. Jane Donahue Eberwein claims that Bradstreet’s witty and charming poem demonstrates that “masculine pretensions to intellectual superiority are fundamentally unnecessary, as the two sexes complement each other like the humors of the body and tend ideally toward that ‘perfect amity’ described by Phlegm” (see the "Quaternions" for more information). Critic Eileen Margerum considers "The Prologue" to be in the tradition of humility that was common in the poetry of Bradstreet’s time. Margerum refuted some critics’ claims that Bradstreet was unhappy with her own work and was too deferential to male poets and figures in her life, like her father. Instead, she elucidates that Bradstreet was actually writing within the traditions of the time. Humility and submissiveness towards the audience was common in Latin poetry, and that was a holdover from the Roman oratorical tradition. Bradstreet dedicated "The Quaternions" to her father, assigning him traditional roles of worthy patron and senior poet. In the classical tradition, a patron was usually a person of rank who supported a young poet, and protected him financially and politically. Bradstreet also makes sure to credit the poet DuBartas, because he has served as an inspiration to her. Many of Bradstreet’s word choices in "The Prologue" exemplify her position of humility: “mean” “foolish, broken, blemished," and “weak or wounded” are all part of the traditional selfdeprecating style. Bradstreet continues this theme throughout "The Quaternions" and “Dialogue Between Old England and New.” Overall, as Margerum notes, Bradstreet never “uses her sex as an excuse for writing poor poetry” and never offers apologies for writing poetry in the first place. She did not think it sinful or uncouth for her to write, but rather, her humble remarks “are creative applications of conventional and obligatory poetic formulae, and not as expressions of self-doubt or deprecations of her poetic abilities.”

Themes Female authorship

Probably the most important theme of Anne Bradstreet’s ‘The Prologue’ is the drive and passion of writing among women. Anne Bradstreet's poem, "The Prologue," portrays the struggles of being a woman in a Puritan society. She realized that in a Puritan society, women were not meant to speak their mind and have strong opinions. With this poem she acknowledges her role as a woman in society even if she doesn't agree with it. Anne Bradstreet shows her recognition of men's supposed superiority in that time period with this line: "Men can do best, and women know it well". Regardless of her acknowledgment of her role in society, she uses her poetry to convey her feelings and opinions about it through honesty and humor. "The Prologue" focuses on the trials of a female poet trying to make her voice heard in the world in the days before feminism. In a bigger sense, though, it's about men and women, and how they relate to each other. At times, it seems a little like a battle of the sexes (may the best poet win). For the most part, though, the speaker does a really amazing job of deferring to the men who might criticize her while also boldly and steadily insisting that she has a right to speak as both a woman and a poet. At large, ‘The Prologue’ advocates female authorship which was repressed during the Puritan times and even before that.

Memory and the Past In the second stanza of the poem, it is Bradstreet who compares her work to the great French historian and poet, Guillaume DuBartas, whose work was popular with Puritans because of its emphasis on Christian history. Bradstreet does not aspire to his equal, but rather, to be simple and true to her skill. Bradstreet alludes to Demosthenes, the famed Greek orator who overcame a lisp to achieve great prestige. The way Bradstreet mentions the Greeks and regards them as of high position holders proves that she refers to the past and the great works of the Greek in order to seek references. Bradstreet mentions, “Nor can I, like that fluent sweet-tongued Greek/ Who lisp’d at first, in future times speak plain.” To her, the Greeks may have better ideas on the superior topics of her time. Although according to her, “the antique Greeks were far more mild” and their place is on high pedestal because the Greeks were the one who “mongst the rest they placed the Arts divine” but the poet is seen to be more interested to initiate a line of writing exclusively by the women. Thus, the theme of memory and past turns out to be more explicit with the Greeks’ prominent role in the poem. The poem may be treated as the window to the memory and past during Bradstreet’s and even before her period.

Gender Discrimination Anne Bradstreet can be regarded as the first American Feminist whose works probably have laid the foundation for the feminism as a literary, cultural and political movement. Anne Bradstreet’s "The Prologue" aims to voice the trials and tribulations of female poets who are trying to make her voice heard before the world. Feminism today remains prominent because even while women’s rights are very strong, women are still fighting for equality every day. It is because of the ladies like Anne Bradstreet who were ahead of their times, took up the pen to voice women’s opinions.As Bradstreet belonged to the Puritan age, women had few rights and they were seen as inferior to men. Perhaps, because Bradstreet had belonged to a wealthy and cultured family, she could take up education and the role of executing her rebel thoughts for the betterment of the status of women in the Puritan society. The primary roles of women in a Puritan society were to be wives and mothers, and provide the family with their everyday needs. Women were expected to make the clothing for the family, cook the meals, keep the household clean, and teach the children how to live a Puritan lifestyle. Although Anne Bradstreet supported the female authorship which was scorned during Puritan times but she never demeaned the Puritan values. Various works of Bradstreet are dedicated to her children. In works such as "Before the Birth of One of Her Children"and "In Reference to Her Children",Bradstreet shows the love that she has for her children, both unborn and born. In Puritan society, marriage and children were also gifts from God, and she loved and cared for all of her children just as she loved and cared for her husband. Since ages, gender discrimination has been always a prominent issue which has been explicitly articulated by Anne Bradstreet but in subtle tone. She utilizes the reverse psychology procedure to demonstrate the purpose of her conviction of out of line and unequal treatment of women within her community. Bradstreet is “obnoxious to each carping tongue/ Who says my (her) hand a needle better fits.” To Bradstreet, “Let Greeks be Greeks, and Women what they are” and she already knows that, “Men have precedency and still excel” but it is “vain unjustly to wage war”. Thus, Bradstreet, by raising concerns about gender discrimination asks the patriarchal society to “Yet grant some small acknowledgement of ours (the women).”

Significance of the Title

A prominent title of a poem immediately creates the required curiosity and generates interest among the readers. It is essential to have a good and apt title for any literary piece of work as it forms the basic idea of the content. Anne Bradstreet’s ‘The Prologue’ inliteral terms acts as the ‘prologue’ and a potential literary framework to support the gender rights and voice. An intellectually stimulating poem, ‘The Prologue’ contains allusions to the Greeks, Christianity, contemporary poetry, feminism, and psychology. While many critics have assumed that this poem serves as an admission of Bradstreet's ambivalence about her work, it is actually a bold assertion of the poet’s skill and her right to compose verse in an era when feminism was far from becoming a political movement. Anne Bradstreet shows her recognition of men's supposed superiority in that time period with this line: "Men can do best, and women know it well" (40). Regardless of her acknowledgment of her role in society, she uses her poetry to convey her feelings and opinions about it through honesty and humor. Anne Bradstreet lived in a time where women were meant to keep quiet and tend to the children and home. Bradstreet criticizes such societies which assume that women are not equal to men in terms of intelligence. In other words, those who make assumptions such as women are less intelligent than men. She makes it clear that she presents no threat as competition to a male writer of any sort, for even if her poetry was some of the best in the New World, people would not believe she was a brilliant poet. Her readers would be in such disbelief that a woman is capable of writing anything intelligent that they would assume that either she had stolen her work or had gotten lucky writing it. The irony in this stanza is that she reiterates the fact that her writing is no match against the other male literary figures of her era, but rather than belittling herself she is instead finding fault with the society she lives in. Building upon this argument is another line in “The Prologue,” “A Bartas can do what a Bartas will/ But simple I according to my skill,” (11-12). The literal interpretation of this line is that as a woman, Anne is incapable of doing any work with much purpose, for “according to my skill” refers quite plainly to the skill of a woman versus a man. However, the point is also made that Bradstreet would not be expected to write because she is undereducated. After all, how could any sensible person expect decent poetry from an uneducated person with so little exposure to the world beyond her and her husband?.Thus Bradstreet raises the point that perhaps women are less capable because they are given less opportunity than men. Bradstreet notes that historically a precedent has been set that men tend to

occupy positions of power. Indeed, men are beings of war, and women bear children. But as she states, “It is but vain unjustly to wage war/Men can do best, and Women know it well \ Preeminence in all and each is yours/ Yet grant some small acknowledgement of ours,” (The Prologue, 39-42) both genders have their differences, but does not necessarily make one superior to the other. Under the circumstances which she lived in, Anne’s incorporation of feminism into her writing was bold and avantgarde. Bradstreet's "The Prologue," reflects the hardships and sufferings of being a woman in a Puritan society. In the Puritan society, women didn’t have the freedom to speak. They weren't allowed to speak their minds or have their own opinions. With this poem, Bradstreet acknowledges her role as a woman in society even if she doesn't agree with it. "Men can do best, and women know it well." Regardless of her acknowledgment of her role in society, she uses her poetry to convey her feelings and opinions about it through honesty and satire. In this way, she uses satire to confuse the gender issue, and ultimately to gain some ground for her cause. The title of the poem is appropriate because ‘The Prologue’ has been the actual prologue to mark the advent of feminism and individualism.

Feminist Perspective of Anne Bradstreet’s ‘The Prologue’ Born as Anne Dudley, Anne Bradstreet was the most prominent of early English poets of North America and first writer in England’s North American colonies to be published. In her Prologue to her first collection of poems, Anne Bradstreet spoke, “I am obnoxious to each carping tongue/ That says my hand a needle better fit.” With its publication, Anne became the first published woman poet writing in the English language. Also, as she had emigrated to America with her family at the age of eighteen, she became America’s first published poet, of either gender. Anne correctly foresaw that many would argue that poetry was not a fit occupation for a woman, and had prepared herself in advance to stand up to the critics. In the poem, Bradstreet has manifested her feminist voice and approach in an unprecedented intellectual way. Bradstreet has employed maneuvering, ironic, and sarcastic verses in her poems to assuage the troubles of women, and to emancipate them.‘The Prologue’ is the drive and passion of writing among women. Anne Bradstreet's poem, "The Prologue," portrays the struggles of being a woman in a Puritan society. She realized that in a Puritan society, women were not meant to speak

their mind and have strong opinions. With this poem she acknowledges her role as a woman in society even if she doesn't agree with it. Anne Bradstreet shows her recognition of men's supposed superiority in that time period with this line: "Men can do best, and women know it well". Regardless of her acknowledgment of her role in society, she uses her poetry to convey her feelings and opinions about it through honesty and humor. "The Prologue" focuses on the trials of a female poet trying to make her voice heard in the world in the days before feminism. Undoubtedly, women had been composing poetry from time immemorial, but with no thought of publication. Many works of genius must have been lost without trace, never read by anyone, except perhaps the author’s family and a few close friends. The publication in 1650 of Anne’s collection of poems,...