1. 1612 - 1672 Some Key Features Of Her Writing
Anne Bradstreet
Some Key Features Of Her Writing

2. Early Writing Classical Poetical Devices and Form
Iambic pentameter
Quatrains
References and allusions to classical cultures
Intentional variation to signify rhetorical effect or emphasis
in rhythms
syntax,
End rhymes
Extended metaphor and metaphysical conceits
In the tradition of English Metaphysical Poets Andrew Marvell and John Donne
A sophisticated use of wit and irony to explore complex spiritual paradoxes

3. Subtext
Use of traditional poetical devices belies a non-traditional view of the role of women in Puritan society
Alternatives to the Bible for sources of authority
Literature and mythology
Mythic and historic heroines
The maternal domestic role
The use of irony to allow her to say what she could not otherwise say openly
Self-effacing apologies
A subdued confidence in her own ability to instruct and to experience life

4. Early Influences Dangers of living in Puritan society
Anne Hutchinson, a contemporary
Other Puritan women who did not receive her level of education
Puritan male audiences who were reading the work of a Puritan woman
An educated and literary background
European audiences who were reading the experiences of a colonist
Self-consciousness about the creation of a divergent literary tradition in the Colonies

5. Later Influence Life Experience Spirituality Love and Sex
Motherhood and infant mortality
Loss and disaster
Political change
Spirituality
Crisis and reconciliation of faith
Puritan role of “mother”
The increasing importance of Puritan life over her “career” as a writer (from feminist to traditionalist)