Question

In at least 100 words, explain the importance of Bradstreet, including her confirmation of her belief in the afterlife in her poetry.

Answer 1

Step-by-step explanation:

Anne Bradstreet was an American poet born in England. However, she was the first poet to be published in English territories in North America. Many of her works were published after she died and she is known by her very extensive work on different fields of literature. Due to her education, she wrote about several topics, like history, medicine and theology, among many others.

Her importance in American literature began since she was the first writer to be published in the so called New World. It is also very important to remark the roles women used to play by that time, and writing was not among them. We can see these roles in Bradstreet poetry, and how she talks and discusses them. Also, because of her education, theology and everything around it was very important and often discussed specially in her poetry. This is the gate to her belief of the afterlife in her poetry. Her most famous poem, Contemplations, speaks about God's creations and how nature is the most beautiful one; there, she also discuss about life and death, and how the physical world -this one- is an obstacle for spiritual world -maybe the afterlife- where humans can see God's beautiful creations without any bad feelings.

Answer 2

Anne Bradstreet was a prominent New England poet, and the first writer on the colonies to be published. This makes her an important figure both in terms of American authors as in terms of female authors. Moreover, she is also significant as a Puritan author.

Bradstreet's poetry is extremely personal. She discusses her duties as a mother and as a wife at length. However, her approach is extremely revolutionary. She talks about the sensual love that she has for her husband, a topic that was not considered appropriate for a woman at that time. She also talks about her Puritan faith. She believes in God, and she considers herself a religious woman, while still doubting some elements of the dogma that surrounds Christianity.