Friday, March 11, 2011

Anne Bradstreet


D.B Kellogg wrote about Puritan Poet Anne Bradstreet for Thomas Nelson's Christian Encounters biography series. I remember reading Mrs. Bradstreet's works in high school and college, but not much about her personal life. D.B Kellogg writes about the history of Puritans, the reason for their journey to the New World, life in New England, and, of course, the life of Bradstreet. She also includes portions of Bradstreet's works. By understanding the historical information, the reader is better able to understand and appreciate the poetry.
The first half of the book contains more history regarding England, Puritans, and New England than information about Anne Bradstreet. I found this to be a bit disappointing as far as being a biography about Bradstreet. I do think the writing itself and information given was very interesting, but then again, I love history as much as I do literature. In the second half of the book, Kellogg steps up her information as specifically pertaining to Bradstreet. She also includes more poems than she did in the first half of the book. At first I was disappointed in the seeming lack of detail for Bradstreet's life, but after some thought I realized we're fortunate to know as much as we do. It's only because her father and husband were prominent politicians that we have as much information preserved as we do. The life of a "good" Puritan woman was unremarkable and thus there wasn't a lot of record keeping regarding such a life. I think this book is well worth the read for someone who loves history and/or literature because it covers both so well.



Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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