A Major Poet.

Anne Bradstreet's poetry is recognized as one of the greatest literary achievements of seventeenth-century New England and a valuable source of information on the Puritan woman's perspectives on her society. Her work remains a tribute to the power of her intellect, the depth of her passion, and her capacity for self-expression.

Early Life.

Anne Dudley Bradstreet, like many early Puritans, sacrificed a comfortable life in England to settle in the wilderness of Massachusetts. She was born in Northampton, England, where her father, Thomas Dudley, was a clerk and a member of the gentry. When she was seven he became steward to Theophilus Clinton, Earl of Lincoln, and moved his family to the earl's estate at Sempringham. There she, her older brother, and four younger sisters grew up amid the amenities and refined social life of a great country manor. The...