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All things within this fading world hath end,
Adversity doth still our joys attend;
No ties so strong, no friends so dear and sweet,
But with death's parting blow is sure to meet.
The sentence past is most irrevocable,
A common thing, yet oh, inevitable.
Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) was the America's first published poet. She was also the first female poet ever published in both England and the New World. She was a well read scholar and prolific poet. Her poems focused on her role as a wife and mother of eight children, her Puritan faith, and her struggle with suffering in her life (smallpox, partial paralysis, a housefire that left her family homeless and devoid of all personal belongings, death of her family members, etc).
At that period of time, reading and writing was considered unacceptable to women. Anne couldn't acknowledge her plan of publication nor show confidence of her works. Otherwise, she would have faced criticism for being "unwomanly". Due to her medical problem, she was keenly aware of her mortality. In this poem, she expressed her realistic fear of death by childbirth, love of her children, and implored her husband to protect her children.
Biography of Anne Bradstreet
Adversity doth still our joys attend;
No ties so strong, no friends so dear and sweet,
But with death's parting blow is sure to meet.
The sentence past is most irrevocable,
A common thing, yet oh, inevitable.
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Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) was the America's first published poet. She was also the first female poet ever published in both England and the New World. She was a well read scholar and prolific poet. Her poems focused on her role as a wife and mother of eight children, her Puritan faith, and her struggle with suffering in her life (smallpox, partial paralysis, a housefire that left her family homeless and devoid of all personal belongings, death of her family members, etc).
At that period of time, reading and writing was considered unacceptable to women. Anne couldn't acknowledge her plan of publication nor show confidence of her works. Otherwise, she would have faced criticism for being "unwomanly". Due to her medical problem, she was keenly aware of her mortality. In this poem, she expressed her realistic fear of death by childbirth, love of her children, and implored her husband to protect her children.
Biography of Anne Bradstreet
