A collection of poetry and prose by early feminist author Anne Bradstreet, written in the seventeenth century after her arrival in the American colonies.

Anne Bradstreet (1612-1669) was America's first published poet. She lived in England and the Colonies during a remarkable historic period marked by civil and religious strife and political upheaval. Bradstreet's life and work challenge stereotypes of Puritans, revealing her vibrant intellectualism and her outspoken love for her husband. -- From publisher's description.

Though her work is a staple of anthologies of American poetry, Anne Bradstreet has never before been the subject of an accessible, full-scale biography for a general audience. Anne Bradstreet is known for her poem, To My Dear and Loving Husband, among others, and through John Berryman's Homage to Mistress Bradstreet. With her first collection, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, she became the first published poet, male or female, of the New World. Many New England towns were founded and settled by Anne Bradstreet's family or their close associates -- characters who appear in these pages.

This charming picture book biography tells the inspiring story of Anne Bradstreet, a gifted Puritan writer who overcame barriers to become America's first published poet.

""I wist not what to wish, yet sure thought I, If so much excellence abide below, How excellent is he that dwells on high? Whose power and beauty by his works we know. Sure he is goodness, wisdom, glory, light, That hath this under world so richly dight. More Heaven than Earth was here, no winter and no night." Anne Bradstreet, Contemplations. Anne Bradstreet came to fame when someone published her poetry as The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America. Anne Bradstreet was a Puritan who had crossed the ocean to help found the new colony in America. She lived on the frontier and lived a fairly uneventful life loving her husband and children. However, she was also a well-educated and imaginative woman whose poetry continues to be admired to this day. This collection of her poems is a forgotten classic that we would be well advised to read. "A real sense of calm pervades [Bradstreet's] poetry. She has genuine affection for the things she writes about, whether that be family, or the vistas of nature, or her husband, or the "pleasant things" lost in the house fire, and so in no way does she come across as a pinched ascetic. But neither does she come across as someone who is in frantic pursuit of worldly goods." From Douglas Wilson's Introduction"--