Week 13 Poets

This week we read poetry from Anne Bradstreet, Phyllis Wheately, and Henry Wadsworth longfellow.

Anne Bradstreet was born in Northampton, England, in the year 1612, daughter of Thomas Dudley and Dorothy Yorke;  Dudley, who had been a leader of volunteer soldiers in the English Reformation and Elizabethan Settlement, was then a steward to the Earl of Lincoln;  Dorothy was a gentlewoman of noble heritage and she was also well educated.
 
At the age of 16, Anne was married to Simon Bradstreet, a 25 year old assistant in the Massachusetts Bay Company and the son of a Puritan  minister, who had been in the care of the Dudleys since the death of his father.

Anne and her family emigrated to America in 1630 on the Arabella, one of the first ships to bring Puritans to New England in hopes of setting up plantation colonies. The journey was difficult; many perished during the three month journey, unable to cope with the harsh climate and poor living conditions, as sea squalls rocked the vessel, and scurvy brought on by malnutrition claimed their lives.  Anne, who was a well educated girl, tutored in history, several  languages and literature, was ill prepared for such rigorous travel, and would find the journey very difficult


Phyllis Wheately
In 1761 Phillis was purchased as a personal slave in Boston by Susannah Wheatley, wife of tailor John Wheatley. She was evidently around 7 years old at the time. Her only written memory of her birthplace was of her mother performing a ritual of pouring water before the sun as it rose; biographers conjecture she came from Senegal/Gambia and may have been a Fula, a Moslem people who read Arabic script. Very likely she was kidnapped into slavery; she was brought to Boston on a slaving vessel named "The Phillis."

She learned to speak and write English very quickly, taught by Mary Wheatley, the 18 year old daughter of her owner; within 16 months she could read difficult passages in the Bible. At 12 she began studying Latin and English literature, especially the poetry of Alexander Pope, soon translating Ovid into heroic couplets. These would have been remarkable accomplishments for an educated white male boy, and were virtually unheard of for white females. She may well have read Anne Bradstreet's poetry. The Wheatleys appreciated her talents, and showed her off to their friends; many came to visit with this "lively and brilliant conversationalist." She was thoroughly indoctrinated into the Calvinist theology of Congregationalism. 

Phillis's place was designated by her white world, and she was virtually cut off from her own people, but she was definitely still a slave, although a privileged one. Though superior to most in her intellectual and literary accomplishments, she was clearly never their social equal. Perhaps that accounts for her not adopting Pope's major literary characteristic--satire--although she did adopt his poetic forms and classical allusions.

Nevertheless, modern feminist critics have pointed out her subtle and hidden critical messages (which would have had to have been well hidden, so as not to offend the white benefactors upon whom she had to depend).
At the age of 20, the Wheatleys sent her to England for health (and exhibition?) reasons with her "young master," Nathaniel Wheatley, who was traveling on business. Her poem to Mrs. Wheatley suggests her affection for her: "Susannah mourns, not can I bear,/ To see the crystal shower, /Or mark the tender falling tear, /At sad departure's hour;"While there, her poetry, 'Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral" was published and dedicated to her English patron, Lady Huntingdon. She noted the hope that under her patronage "my feeble efforts will be shielded from the severe trials of uppity Criticism."

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Probably the best loved of American poets the world over is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Many of his lines are as familiar to us as rhymes from Mother Goose or the words of nursery songs learned in early childhood. Like these rhymes and melodies, they remain in the memory and accompany us through life.

There are two reasons for the popularity and significance of Longfellow's poetry. First, he had the gift of easy rhyme. He wrote poetry as a bird sings, with natural grace and melody. Read or heard once or twice, his rhyme and meters cling to the mind long after the sense may be forgotten.

Second, Longfellow wrote on obvious themes which appeal to all kinds of people. His poems are easily understood; they sing their way into the consciousness of those who read them. Above all, there is a joyousness in them, a spirit of optimism and faith in the goodness of life which evokes immediate response in the emotions of his readers.

Americans owe a great debt to Longfellow because he was among the first of American writers to use native themes. He wrote about the American scene and landscape, the American Indian ('Song of Hiawatha'), and American history and tradition ('The Courtship of Miles Standish', 'Evangeline'). At the beginning of the 19th century, America was a stumbling babe as far as a culture of its own was concerned. The people of America had spent their years and their energies in carving a habitation out of the wilderness and in fighting for independence. Literature, art, and music came mainly from Europe and especially from England. Nothing was considered worthy of attention unless it came from Europe.