Anne Bradstreet and Her Time

Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) was born to a Puritan family of means in Northampton, England. With tutors in foreign languages, literature, and history, she was among the most-educated women of her day. At age sixteen, she married Simon Bradstreet. Two years later they sailed to the New World on the Arabella, along with her parents, as part of the Puritan migration to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Both Anne and her husband were prominent members of the new colony, assisting their fellow colonists in any way they could. Despite the arrival of eight children, Anne found time for the writing of poetry, eventually becoming the first published female poet. This story of her life gives a vivid picture of the first decades of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Also included are chapters on the theological tragedy involving Anne Hutchinson, colonial literary development in the seventeenth century, some phases of early colonial life, and village life in 1650.