Puritanism/
Colonialism
Notes
Double Bondage…Puritan/Woman
Part I: Read and respond to the following comments about women in colonial America. Answers must be at least three complete sentences.
- “Even as highly respected a man as Governor John Winthrop believed women could not bear intellectual rigor without irreparable harm.”
Comment:
- “The few women who sought to expand their intellectual and creative talents beyond the confines of their homes found themselves in the center of an oppressive atmosphere.”
Comment:
- “Women simply did not do what Bradstreet did in the seventeenth century--unless there was something ‘wrong’ with them.”
Comment:
- “Bradstreet questioned, though through her problems, came to her own conclusions, and asserted herself. She was not the docile, dour, resigned automation that figures so centrally in the twentieth-century mythology of Puritanism. The same is true of her as a woman: she did not expend all of her energies as a proper daughter, mother, wife; and thus she does not correspond to our present concept of seventeenth-century womanhood.”
Comment:
- “Writing poetry must have been her outlet for her discontent.”
Comment:
Part II: Read the following poems by Anne Bradstreet and answer the questions.
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The Prologue
To sing of Wars, of Captains, and of Kings,
Of Cities founded, Common-wealths begun,
For my mean Pen are too superior things;
Or how they all, or each their dates have run,
Let Poets and Historians set these forth.
My obscure lines shall not so dim their worth.
But when my wond'ring eyes and envious heart
Great Bartas' sugar'd lines do but read o'er,
Fool, I do grudge the Muses did not part
'Twixt him and me that over-fluent store.
A Bartas can do what a Bartas will
But simple I according to my skill.
From School-boy's tongue no Rhet'ric we expect,
Nor yet a sweet Consort from broken strings,
Nor perfect beauty where's a main defect.
My foolish, broken, blemished Muse so sings,
And this to mend, alas, no Art is able,
'Cause Nature made it so irreparable.
Nor can I, like that fluent sweet-tongued Greek
Who lisp'd at first, in future times speak plain.
By Art he gladly found what he did seek,
A full requital of his striving pain.
Art can do much, but this maxim's most sure:
A weak or wounded brain admits no cure.
I am obnoxious to each carping tongue
Who says my hand a needle better fits.
A Poet's Pen all scorn I should thus wrong,
For such despite they cast on female wits.
If what I do prove well, it won't advance,
They'll say it'sstol'n, or else it was by chance.
But sure the antique Greeks were far more mild,
Else of our Sex, why feigned they those nine
And poesy made Calliope's own child?
So 'mongst the rest they placed the Arts divine,
But this weak knot they will full soon untie.
The Greeks did nought but play the fools and lie.
Let Greeks be Greeks, and Women what they are.
Men have precedency and still excel;
It is but vain unjustly to wage war.
Men can do best, and Women know it well.
Preeminence in all and each is yours;
Yet grant some small acknowledgement of ours.
And oh ye high flown quills that soar the skies,
And ever with your prey still catch your praise,
If e'er you deign these lowly lines your eyes,
Give thyme or Parsley wreath, I ask no Bays.
This mean and unrefined ore of mine
Will make your glist'ring gold but more
To My Dear and Loving Husband
If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee.
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that Rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompetence.
Thy love is such I can no way repay.
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let's so persever
That when we live no more, we may live ever.
The Author to Her Book
Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain,
Who after birth didst by my side remain,
Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,
Who thee abroad, exposed to public view,
Made thee in rags, halting to th' press to trudge,
Where errors were not lessened (all may judge).
At thy return my blushing was not small,
My rambling brat (in print) should mother call,
I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
The visage was so irksome in my sight;
Yet being mine own, at length affection would
Thy blemishes amend, if so I could.
I washed thy face, but more defects I saw,
And rubbing off a spot still made a flaw.
I stretched thy joints to make thee even feet,
Yet still thou run'st more hobbling than is meet;
In better dress to trim thee was my mind,
But nought save homespun cloth i' th' house I find.
In this array 'mongstvulgarsmay'st thou roam.
In critic's hands beware thou dost not come,
And take thy way where yet thou art not known;
If for thy father asked, say thou hadst none;
And for thy mother, she alas is poor,
Which caused her thus to send thee out of door.
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Questions
Answer the following questions in complete sentences.
- Although Anne Bradstreet chooses to write poetry, she seems to see herself as unworthy to do so. Underline several phrases which imply this.
- Anne Bradstreet was the mother of eight children. Comment on her attitude in “The Author to Her Book,” considering it her ninth child.
- What is different in the tone of “To My Dear and Loving Husband”? How can you account for this?
- What phrases from “Prologue” attest to Anne’s educational background?
- Explain lines 3-5 in “The Author of Her Book.”
The Bondage of Slavery
Read the following poems and complete the Venn diagram of two slave poets, Phillis Wheatley and George Moses Horton.
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On Being Brought from Africa to America
byPhillis Wheatley
'Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,
Taught my benighted soul to understand
That there's a God, that there's a Saviour too:
Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.
Some view our sable race with scornful eye,
"Their colour is a diabolic die."
Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,
May be refin'd and join th'angelic train.
Love
by George Moses Horton
While tracing thy visage I sing in emotion
For no other damsel so wondrous I see;
Thy looks are so pleasing, thy charms so amazing,
I think of no other, my true-love, but thee.
With heart-burning rapture I gaze on thy beauty
And fly like a bird to the boughs of a tree;
Thy looks are so pleasing, thy charms so amazing,
I fancy no other, my true-love, but thee.
Thus oft in the valley I think and I wonder:
Why cannot a maid and her lover agree?
Thy looks are so pleasing, thy charms so amazing,
I pine for no other, my true-love, but thee.
I’d fly from thy frowns with a heart full of sorrow—
Return, pretty damsel, and smile thou on me.
By every endeavor, I’ll try thee forever
And languish until I am fancied by thee.
Thoughts on the Works of Providence
byPhillis Wheatley
Arise, my soul: on wings enraptured, rise,
To praise the Monarch of the earth and skies,
Whose goodness and beneficence appear,
As round its centre moves the rolling year…
Adored forever be the God unseen,
Which round the sun revolves this vast machine…
Almighty, in these wondrous works of thine,
What Power, what Wisdom, and what Goodness shine!
And are thy wonders, Lord, by men explored,
And yet creating glory unadorned?
The Crossing of the Red Sea
by George Moses Horton
Sing, O ye ransomed, shout and tell
What God has done for ye;
The horses and their riders fell
And perished in the sea.
Look back, the vain Egyptian dies
Whilst plunging from the shore;
He groans, he sinks, but not to rise;
King Pharaoh is no more.
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Poor Richard’s Almanack
Read pages 148-150 of your textbook
Define ‘aphorism.’
What is something that Franklin greatly values?
Do any of the aphorisms hold true today?
Create three categories (i.e. friendship, love, nature, knowledge, common sense, etc.) and place three
different aphorisms from the reading in each category.
Pick three aphorisms and create your own that mean the same thing.
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