Postscript to Eighth Set of Questions for EN 211

Good morning :)

Since we will not meet today, I'd like to send you a few questions that pertain to Anne Bradstreet's poetry as well as links to relevant blog entries.

The first link is to an entry on Poetry and Puritanism.  I will probably repost it at Blogger:

 http://szlykworldlit.wordpress.com/2012/08/25/poetry-and-puritanism/

On our blog, I have a link to John Berryman's "Homage to Mistress Bradstreet":

http://en202.blogspot.com/2008/08/poetry-and-puritanism.html

Here is a direct link to Berryman's poem:

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/177880

Although it does not mention Mrs. Bradstreet directly, I am linking to my entry on the poetess and poetry:

http://szlykworldlit.wordpress.com/2012/08/24/poetry-poets-and-poetesses-part-2/

Also, I am providing a direct link to the Poetess archive and two essays on the poetess as a concept:

http://idhmc.tamu.edu/poetess/index.html

http://web.archive.org/web/20071102170216/http://www.ablemuse.com/critique/a-finch_poetess.htm

http://www.erudit.org/revue/ron/2003/v/n29-30/007712ar.html

It turns out that Annie Finch has also written on Phillis Wheatley as a poetess, so when it is time for us to look at Miss Wheatley's work, I will have to look for that essay.

Now for a few questions about Mrs. Bradstreet's poems.

-- Compare your view of her with Berryman's.  He wrote his poem in the 1950s.  How might his view of her reflect his era and its beliefs about women (and class)?  Note that the 1950s was a more egalitarian era than our own (or was it?).  How does your view of her reflect our era?

-- How do Annie Finch's and Laura Mandell's essays help you think about women's poetry?  Is Mrs. Bradstreet a poetess?  Why?  Why not?

-- How do you feel about the word poetess?  Why?  Is it positive or negative for you?  Why?

-- Discuss Mrs. Bradstreet's relationship to her husband, her children, and her family.

-- Discuss her relationship to America and its landscape.

-- Discuss her relationship to other writing by women (poets and prose authors).

-- Which poems of Mrs. Bradstreet's do you like best?  Why?

-- What do you make of her rhyme scheme?  Consider that rhymed couplets are popular with young poets nowadays.

-- Discuss Mrs. Bradstreet's use of imagery.

-- Discuss her use of learned allusions.

-- Compare and contrast Mrs. Bradstreet's poems and Mrs. Rowlandson's narrative as American literature and/or women's writing.  Discuss the impact of class.

-- If you had to choose between including Mrs. Bradstreet's poems and Mrs. Rowlandson's narrative in a course on women's writing, which one would you choose?  Why?

-- If you had to choose between including Mrs. Bradstreet's poems and Mrs. Rowlandson's narrative in a course on American literature, which one would you choose?  Why?

Enjoy the snow, and see you on Monday!

Dr. Szlyk