Bradstreet, Anne (1612?-1672), was the first important American poet. She is best known for The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, a collection of her poems. This work was the first volume of original poetry written in the American Colonies. It was published in London in 1650. Many of the poems in The Tenth Muse deal with science and with Bradstreet’s moral and religious ideas. However, her best poems describe home life in colonial New England. They include “Contemplations” and “On the Burning of Her House.” Bradstreet also wrote sensitive poetry to her husband and children, including “To My Dear and Loving Husband” and “Meditations Divine and Moral.”
Loading the player...The Author to Her Book by Anne Bradstreet
Bradstreet was born Anne Dudley, probably in Northampton, England. She married Simon Bradstreet when she was 16 years old. They settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630. Anne Bradstreet died on Sept. 16, 1672.
See also Colonial life in America (Literature).
