It’s been suggested often that there are at least two voices in the work of Ann Bradstreet: one, whom we might call “Mistress Bradstreet” he speaks of religious doctrine, public duty and conventional belief, and another, “Anne” a woman who loves, grieves, fears, feels pride and experiences the full range of emotions and curiosities that the teachings of her faith was meant to suppress.
The darkening mood of the three elegies for her grandchildren seems to console less and less. Look carefully to answer the following. Give a detailed explanation for the question of who is speaking in these poems: “Mistress Bradstreet” or “Anne?”
The pastor of the Pilgrim colony, John Robinson, gave a powerful definition for Puritanism with the following suggestion on how to deal with children: “(They) must, in the first place, be broken and beaten down; that so the foundation of their education being laid in humility and tractableness, other virtues may, in their time, be built thereon.”
So, is Anne Bradstreet a true Puritan writer?
For writing The Wonders of the Invisible World, his history of the Salem Witch Trials, Cotton Mather is sometimes judged harshly for his militant enthusiasm for these inquests and executions. Yet Mather’s writing about the Trials seems extremely familiar. Compare Mather’s writing with how we view other public trials or scandals (George Zimmerman, Jon Benet Ramsey, Scott Peterson, etc).
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