"Anne Bradstreet wrote seven thousand lines of verse and most of it is derivative, unremarkable, sometimes even soporific, although her best is very good indeed; and her real achievements in poetry have not been duly recognized for almost three hundred years. But in greatness of spirit, generosity of outlook, love for learning as a path toward truth; in their quick responsive delight in the everyday wonder of the world and their deeply devout faith in the goodness of God, Anne Bradstreet and Juana Inés de la Cruz-the one a Puritan, the other a Roman Catholic-were very close akin. Remarking upon the brevity of human life, Anne Bradstreet wrote, "And though thus short, we shorten many ways, / Living so little while we are alive"; and Sor Juana said, "Angels are higher than men because they understand more.""
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Poets from the United StatesPoets from EnglandImmigrants to the United StatesWomen authors from EnglandFeminists from England
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Muna Lee (writer) "Two Seventeenth-Century Pen-Women: Anne Bradstreet of Massachusetts and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz of Mexico" address before the Biennial Convention of the National League of American Pen-Women, Pan American Union, Washington, D.C., April 10, 1954. Included in A Pan-American Life: Selected Poetry and Prose of Muna Lee edited by Jonathan Cohen (2004)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anne_Bradstreet
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Anne Bradstreet
Anne Bradstreet (March 20, 1612 – September 16, 1672) was the most prominent of early English poets of North America and first writer in England's North American colonies to be published. She is the first Puritan figure in American Literature and notable for her large corpus of poetry, as well as personal writings published posthumously.
14 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Anne Bradstreet →
Related Quotes
"If for thy Father askt, say, thou hadst none; And for thy Mother, she alas is poor, Which caus'd her thus to send the…"
"What to my Saviour shall I give Who freely hath done this for me? I'll serve him here whilst I shall live And Loue hi…"
"A Spring returns, and they more youthful made; But Man grows old, lies down, remains where once he's laid."
""Sister," quoth Flesh, "what liv'st thou on Nothing but Meditation?"
"Such cold mean flowers the spring puts forth betime, Before the sun hath thoroughly heat the clime."
"Leave not thy nest, thy dam and sire, Fly back and sing amidst this choir."
"If ever two were one, then surely we. If ever man were loved by wife, then thee; If ever wife was happy in a man, Com…"
"The principal might yield a greater sum, Yet handled ill, amounts but to this crumb;"
"Youth is the time of getting, middle age of improving, and old age of spending."
"Authority without wisdom is like a heavy axe without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish."