The Prologue Anne Bradstreet Analysis

#Puritan#firstfeminist#sarcasm#wecannotallsucceedwhenhalfofusareheldback

Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan woman who could possibly be the first feminist. “The Prologue” was written to introduce her other works but she also used this opportunity to express her feelings of oppression by men and the Puritan beliefs. She uses sarcasm and a critical tone to make her points. Though many have supposed that this poem was a confession that Bradstreet felt the same way about her poetry, in reality it was a slap in the face to the men of the time as she claimed her right to use her skills and knowledge to write poetry in a time when women were expected to hold a needle and not a pen. The major theme of this work was that women were just as capable of producing great works of poetry and men should be willing to acknowledge and respect their work and take women poets seriously. Throughout the poem, Bradstreet displays her vast knowledge and education showing she was well educated for the time. In stanza four, “Nor can I, like that fluent sweet tongued Greek”, Bradstreet shows her vast knowledge by referring to Demosthenes, the famous Greek speaker who surmounted a lisp to achieve
She feels that even if she did write something amazing, men would say she copied it and didn’t produce it herself or that it was just dumb luck. Bradstreet is well aware of what her expected role in society is and how a Puritan woman is expected to behave; however, she battled the desire to use her talents to produce great works that would be appreciated and acknowledged. Bradstreet seeks to defend the roles of women and show that women can do what men can do and do it well and that women can think for themselves and have an identity apart from their