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Anne Bradstreet and Phillis Wheatley: The Lives and Legacies of Colonial America’s Most Prominent Poets
One of the greatest dangers of any generation is to see those who came before as one-dimensional characters with little to nothing to offer in the way of understanding of modern life. For instance, it is assumed by many that the Puritans who founded Massachusetts were a grim, dour lot devoted to spreading their strict, religious views across society. To some extent, this is true, but of course, not all Puritans were the same; there were outliers who made their own way within their culture and yet remained true to their own sense of self.
Anne Bradstreet and her husband, Simon, were two of these people. Anne Bradstreet was born into an unusual family that, in the early years of the 17th century, believed in educating daughters as well as sons. She then moved to the American wilderness as a young bride and proceeded to produce children and poetry at nearly equal speed in the years that followed. Historian Theodore Stanton observed, “The most of her poems were produced between 1630 and 1642, that is, before she was thirty years old; and during these years she had neither leisure, nor elegant surroundings, nor freedom from anxious thoughts, nor even abounding health. Somehow, during her busy lifetime, she contrived to put upon record compositions numerous enough to fill a royal octavo volume of 400 pages, — compositions which entice and reward our reading of them, two hundred years after she lived.”
Anne also had the dubious honor of being the daughter of one governor of Massachusetts colony, the wife of another, and the sister of a third. This repeatedly put her in a unique position to shape, no matter how subtly, the culture of the early colony, and New England’s early openness to at least basic education stems in part from her influence. On top of all this, she was the first published poet from the North American colonies, beating out the men who would follow her by a number of years.
Phillis Wheatley has always been a difficult figure for people to wrap their minds around, both during her life and centuries after it. Indeed, she fits no easy stereotypes that historians or contemporaries liked to use to classify their subjects. Even her name is complicated, with her first name being spelled at times “Phyllis,” and her surname being given without the extra “e” in the final syllable. Like so much of her life, her name was not the one given to her by her parents but instead by the people who first enslaved her. In the same vein, she was married, but for such a short time that her husband’s surname never fully attached to her own.
Then there was the matter of her “career,” which has always escaped definition. In the 18th century, enslaved people were not supposed to have been educated, certainly not to the level that Wheatley was, nor were they supposed to have creative abilities beyond those taught to them by their masters. In a time and place where slaves were rarely taught to read, they were obviously not expected to write better poetry than the vast majority of their peers.
But if Wheatley refused to be placed in a box and labeled during her life, that has been even more the case after her death. Given that she was a child who was transported from Africa and raised in slavery, her poetry contains none of the sorrow or angst that modern readers would anticipate seeing.
In the end, Wheatley’s freedom and abilities failed to yield the benefits that she no doubt desired. Her genius stifled under the pressure to make her own way in the world, and she ultimately died a pauper, but she remains one of the most unique and celebrated figures of the 13 colonies.
Anne Bradstreet and her husband, Simon, were two of these people. Anne Bradstreet was born into an unusual family that, in the early years of the 17th century, believed in educating daughters as well as sons. She then moved to the American wilderness as a young bride and proceeded to produce children and poetry at nearly equal speed in the years that followed. Historian Theodore Stanton observed, “The most of her poems were produced between 1630 and 1642, that is, before she was thirty years old; and during these years she had neither leisure, nor elegant surroundings, nor freedom from anxious thoughts, nor even abounding health. Somehow, during her busy lifetime, she contrived to put upon record compositions numerous enough to fill a royal octavo volume of 400 pages, — compositions which entice and reward our reading of them, two hundred years after she lived.”
Anne also had the dubious honor of being the daughter of one governor of Massachusetts colony, the wife of another, and the sister of a third. This repeatedly put her in a unique position to shape, no matter how subtly, the culture of the early colony, and New England’s early openness to at least basic education stems in part from her influence. On top of all this, she was the first published poet from the North American colonies, beating out the men who would follow her by a number of years.
Phillis Wheatley has always been a difficult figure for people to wrap their minds around, both during her life and centuries after it. Indeed, she fits no easy stereotypes that historians or contemporaries liked to use to classify their subjects. Even her name is complicated, with her first name being spelled at times “Phyllis,” and her surname being given without the extra “e” in the final syllable. Like so much of her life, her name was not the one given to her by her parents but instead by the people who first enslaved her. In the same vein, she was married, but for such a short time that her husband’s surname never fully attached to her own.
Then there was the matter of her “career,” which has always escaped definition. In the 18th century, enslaved people were not supposed to have been educated, certainly not to the level that Wheatley was, nor were they supposed to have creative abilities beyond those taught to them by their masters. In a time and place where slaves were rarely taught to read, they were obviously not expected to write better poetry than the vast majority of their peers.
But if Wheatley refused to be placed in a box and labeled during her life, that has been even more the case after her death. Given that she was a child who was transported from Africa and raised in slavery, her poetry contains none of the sorrow or angst that modern readers would anticipate seeing.
In the end, Wheatley’s freedom and abilities failed to yield the benefits that she no doubt desired. Her genius stifled under the pressure to make her own way in the world, and she ultimately died a pauper, but she remains one of the most unique and celebrated figures of the 13 colonies.
- GenresBiography
105 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 21, 2022
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6 people want to read
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December 27, 2023
This was an interesting book about one of the first female poets in the Americas and the first African American female poet who was a slave and then later freed. Neither had an easy life nor great health, but both were amazing poets, accomplishing many firsts in the area of New England. This book gave a small sampling of their works, making me want to read more of their poetry.
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