Anne Bradstreet

Poet

1612-03-20 – 1672-09-16

Anne Bradstreet was an early English and colonial American poet and one of the first published poets in the American colonies.

Books by Anne Bradstreet

The United States in Literature [with three long stories] -- Seventh Edition
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Prentice Hall Literature--Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes--The American Experience
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Tenth muse lately sprung up in America
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Quotes by Anne Bradstreet

Now say, have women worth, or have they none? Or had they some, but with our Queen is't gone? Nay Masculines, you have thus tax'd us long, But she, though dead, will vindicate our wrong. Let such as say our sex is void of reason Know —tis a slander now, but once was tre
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The Author To Her BookThou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain,Who after birth did'st by my side remain,Till snatcht from thence by friends, less wise than true,Who thee abroad exposed to public view,Made thee in rags, halting to th' press to trudge,Where errors were not lessened (all may judge).At thy return my blushing was not small,My rambling brat (in print) should mother call.I cast thee by as one unfit for light,The visage was so irksome in my sight,Yet being mine own, at length affection wouldThy blemishes amend, if so I could.I washed thy face, but more defects I saw,And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.I stretcht thy joints to make thee even feet,Yet still thou run'st more hobbling than is meet.In better dress to trim thee was my mind,But nought save home-spun cloth, i' th' house I find.In this array, 'mongst vulgars may'st thou roam.In critic's hands, beware thou dost not come,And take thy way where yet thou art not known.If for thy father askt, say, thou hadst none;And for thy mother, she alas is poor,Which caused her thus to send thee out of door.
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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;/ If what I do prove well, it won't advance,/ They'll say it's stolen, or else, it was by chance.
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Wisdom with an inheritance is good, but wisdom without an inheritance is better than an inheritance without wisdom.
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If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.]
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The Author To Her BookThou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain,Who after birth did'st by my side remain,Till snatcht from thence by friends, less wise than true,Who thee abroad exposed to public view,Made thee in rags, halting to th' press to trudge,Where errors were not lessened (all may judge).At thy return my blushing was not small,My rambling brat (in print) should mother call.I cast thee by as one unfit for light,The visage was so irksome in my sight,Yet being mine own, at length affection wouldThy blemishes amend, if so I could.I washed thy face, but more defects I saw,And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.I stretcht thy joints to make thee even feet,Yet still thou run'st more hobbling than is meet.In better dress to trim thee was my mind,But nought save home-spun cloth, i' th' house I find.In this array, 'mongst vulgars may'st thou roam.In critic's hands, beware thou dost not come,And take thy way where yet thou art not known.If for thy father askt, say, thou hadst none;And for thy mother, she alas is poor,Which caused her thus to send thee out of door.
Read quote
Now say, have women worth, or have they none? Or had they some, but with our Queen is't gone? Nay Masculines, you have thus tax'd us long, But she, though dead, will vindicate our wrong. Let such as say our sex is void of reason Know —tis a slander now, but once was tre
Read quote
If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.]
Read quote
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;/ If what I do prove well, it won't advance,/ They'll say it's stolen, or else, it was by chance.
Read quote
Wisdom with an inheritance is good, but wisdom without an inheritance is better than an inheritance without wisdom.
Read quote
If what I do prove well, it won't advance. They'll say it's stolen, or else it was by chance.
Read quote
Iron till it be thoroughly heated is incapable to be wrought; so God sees good to cast some men into the furnace of affliction, and then beats them on his anvil into what frame he pleases.
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The world no longer lets me love, My hope and treasure are above.
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Authority without wisdom is like a heavy axe without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish.
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