Anne Bradstreet

  I loved reading Anne Bradstreet's poetry.  The way in which she is able to express her struggles and emotions throughout her poetry is extraordinary.  It is common knowledge that women had to struggle at the time however, Bradstreet is able to express the struggles in a way that fits her strengths and abilities.  I found this amazing because at the time she lived in a world that make it very difficult for a women to have opinions.  Though she has many points of contradiction  in "The Prologue" she is not afraid to say what she thinks.  At that time men would have looked down at her for doing thing, she recognizes this in lines 31-32, "But sure the antique Greeks were far more mild- Else of our sex, why feigned they those nine."  This is Bradstreet's way of telling men that Greek men were given their idea by women muses so it seems only natural that artists like Bradstreet would write beautiful and worthy poetry.  

   Bradstreet was not a literally strong women, she had many health problems.  However, the knowledge that she carried and expressed through her poetry was very strong.  She may not feel like she has the power to write epic poetry, but she does have the power to express the frustrations of her time and what she thinks should be done about that.  Maybe her poems are not pages and pages of battles and heroes, but she does tell little stories with very big meanings.  People listened to her poetry and even if she did not realize it at the time it did make an impact.