Anne Bradstreet

The Struggles and Fears of a Puritan Mother Being a Puritan woman, Anne Bradstreet had trouble writing poetry in a patriarchal, unimaginative world. Although Bradstreet grew up in affluence with the luxury of an excellent education, she was expected to behave as a normal Puritan woman. She was the wife and child of colonial governor, but her status could not save her from the maltreatment and contempt of a women stepping over the line. The …

…In the poem, “The Author to Her Child,” she likens her book to that of a child and tries to over come the struggles between pride and embarrassment. With her poem, “In Reference to Her Children, 23 June 1659,” Bradstreet also forms a metaphor with her children leaving the nest. Her fears of empty nest syndrome are over come by her Puritan beliefs that she will one day be able to reside over her children in heaven.