Anne Bradstreet

We May Live Together

"If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee.
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that Rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompetence.
Thy love is such I can no way repay.
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let's so persever
That when we live no more, we may live ever. "

Bradstreet Anne <http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/Bradstreet/bradstreet.html#wemay>

Upon Some Distemper of Body

"In anguish of my heart replete with woes, And wasting pains, which best my body knows, In tossing slumbers on my wakeful bed, Bedrenched with tears that flowed from mournful head, Till nature had exhausted all her store, Then eyes lay dry, disabled to weep more; And looking up unto his throne on high, Who sendeth help to those in misery; He chased away those clouds and let me see My anchor cast i' th' vale with safety. He eased my soul of woe, my flesh of pain, and brought me to the shore from troubled main. "

Bradstreet Anne <http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/Bradstreet/bradstreet.html#wemay>

In Thankful Remembrance for My Dear Husband's Safe Arrival Sept 3, 1662

" What shall I render to Thy name Or how Thy praises speak? My thanks how shall I testify? O Lord, Thou know'st I'm weak. I owe so much, so little can Return unto Thy name, Confusion seizes on my soul, And I am filled with shame. O Thou that hearest prayers, Lord, To Thee shall come all flesh Thou hast me heard and answered, My plaints have had access. What did I ask for but Thou gav'st? What could I more desire? But thankfulness even all my days I humbly this require. Thy mercies, Lord, have been so great In number numberless, Impossible for to recount Or any way express. O help Thy saints that sought Thy face T' return unto Thee praise And walk before Thee as they ought, In strict and upright ways. "

Bradstreet Anne <http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/Bradstreet/bradstreet.html#wemay>

Dear Diary,

I look to poetry of love for the hope of John and I. One day we will be. We will have a relationship like Anne Bradstreet and her husband. I will love my man as she loves her's. They are the epitomy of what love truly is. Eternity, forever, after life, always. Of course my first husband; my Lord my Savior will always come first but closly after there John will have a embedded into my heart. I was sick a few weeks ago, there has been a cough going around on the ships. No one is quiet sure what exactly it is, but people are slowly leaving us one by one from this awful thing. There is a demon on this ship somewhere, we will soon find where. Mrs.Bradstreet described perfectly what is going on in our barracks.

Signed,

Elizabeth McGlaughlin

Essential Question: So what happens when one does not receive similar opportunities? What is the effect on individuals and on community when all are not able to realize their dream? Anne does not know she doesn't have to love her husband, she feels as if it is a duty of a women to love a man. She feels it is the "American" way to provide and care for her husband. She was not given the oppotunities along with many other women to get a full education, to be independent, and in some cases even choose who they are to spend the rest of their life with. Community was stable at time periods of such, but what if one single women would have branched out and decided to not be a house wife. What are the possibilities, imagine all the things that could have been different in our history to now.

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^ POETRY CHARTS!!!