Anne Bradstreet: The Heretical Poet
Greg Saxon
The purpose of this research is to discuss heretical elements in the
poetry of Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672). This is not to imply that Bradstreet was
a heretic in the sense that American religious reformer Anne Hutchinson was.
Hutchinson (1591-1643) emigrated to Boston in 1634 and preached a doctrine of
salvation through intuitive apprehension of grace rather than by works, and
attacked the rigid moral and legal codes of New England Puritanism. Anne
Bradstreet accepted the tenets of Puritanism and was a very religious person.
Anti-Puritan themes are, however, to be found in her poetry in terms of her
religious doubts, her expression of personal emotions and thoughts, and her
artistry. She did not write to preach or teach,, as Puritan writers were
instructed to, but to express herself. It is this personal expression that
forms the basis of the heretical elements in her poetry.
To understand why personal expression may be......
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