Anne Bradstreet Plain Style and Ornate Style

Plain Style Simple words in clear order Most Puritan’s wrote in plain style because, as they saw it, God’s word could not be improved by human decoration Wished to make divine words so everyone could understand it Homely and raw “from the wilderness”

The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America 1st volume of poems published by an American One of the 1st volumes of poetry in English written by a woman Anne Bradstreet

Bradstreet’s poetry Some longer poems written in learned style on subjects such as medicine, history, and qualities of fire (in 1st published edition of poetry) 2nd edition (28yrs later) contains shorter poems written in a simpler style, about children, husband, and home Recurring theme: Puritan belief that one must not become too attached to things of the world

To be a woman Bradstreet, as other Puritan women, believed that men were superior to women She felt it improper for a woman to appear in print Too bad for her beliefs…she is considered the 1st American poet.

Ornate Style Meaning can be simple but clouded by the ornate style References to ideas/works people may not know Odd sentence structure parallelism

Literary Terms Diction---kinds of words chosen by an author (long, short, common, uncommon, etc…) Bradstreet’s diction is of the plain style---short and conversational Iambic couplet Iambic refers to rhythmical pattern of unaccented syllable followed by accented Couplet refers to two successive lines that rhyme Both of Bradstreet’s poems are iambic couplets

Lyric Poetry---brief poems that express the writer’s personal feelings and thoughts.