Entry B: Anne Bradstreet

4. POEM & ANALYSIS:
'In Reference to Her Children'
http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/215.html

Anne Bradstreet's poem 'In Reference to Her Children' leaves a lasting impression on the reader owing to the long and complex conceit as well as rhymining couplets. In her poem, she compares her children to a flock of birds and follows their growth from the nest and up the tree which resembles their path of life. In the Puritan time, it was a unique way of portraying her children that ultimately helped distinguish Anne Bradstreet's unique style.

I enjoyed this poem because I felt it gave Anne Bradstreet the opportunity to talk freely about her feelings for her children, their lives, and her thoughts about her own future. Literature during the Puritan times was very restricted owing to the strict faith society put in God, therefore it was difficult for Anne Bradstreet to write any poetry that showed a different opinion of her true 'human' feelings. Many of Anne Bradstreet's poems have little clues in them that hint towards her true feelings about the afterlife, love, material items, and God. This, for me, is what makes her poems the most interesting.


5. DIARY ENTRY:

Dear Diary,

I have suddenly had the chance to view the future world through the eyes of an American woman in the year 2009. The future holds many things in store for us-- moving boxes of metal, stacks of glass boxes, and slates of moving pictures. Not only this, but I caught a glimpse of the plight of women in the future. What changes!

We have come a long way, but we still have a ways to go. I saw women struggling to maintain a household and multiple jobs. Is this what they call freedom? Where their husbands can tell themselves that the women are strong enough to handle the work of 3men? I beleive that we should have the same opportunities, not the weight and responsibilty of the world. Yet I also saw increasingly amazing changes. Women were going to schools and universities, becoming lawyers and doctors, and excelling at academics. If only my dear Simon could see the world in the future! He would not approve of female lawyers in his practice, I know it. I also saw women proving themselves every day by showing up to work more consistently than men, and working just as hard if not harder. Women are now authors of books, poetry, biographies, and any kind of literature you can imagine.

The future world, however, values their posessions very deeply. When I saw the lengths people would go to to obtain various objects, I was astonished. And no longer is everyone Puritan! There are even those who do not beleive in God-- how has this come about? Does God no longer love and instill His faith in the future? How would I survive?
~~~~~Anne



EXTENSION:



Women are given opportunity to succeed in climbing the corporate ladder as equals to men, but this is only in appearance, for reality proves otherwise. In this political cartoon, there is a man climbing a ladder with woman several steps below him. This illustrates how women often exist underneath the shadows of their husbands or local men in society. Likewise, Anne Bradstreet faces this problem as she endeavors to balance her children, faith, marraige, and poetry in a society dominated by men. Also in the cartoon, the man is collecting the ladder rungs beneath him, leaving the woman with nothing to climb. This demonstrates the lack of support men give women (although they try to make it appear otherwise) and the reality of the impossible struggle women are forced to face. This is similar to Anne Bradstreet's conflict in that men did not support her poetry and added to her overall challenge. Women in today's society face struggles as they try to climb the corporate ladder, hindered by opposition from men.