Anne Bradstreet -- Groups of Poems

On Writing:

• “The Prologue”
• “The Author to Her Book”

The World:

• “Contemplations”
• “A Dialogue between Old England and New; Concerning Their Present Troubles, Anno, 1642” -- a dialogue/debate poem
• “In Honor of that High and Mighty Princess Queen Elizabeth of Happy Memory” -- an elegy? an homage?

Her Father:

• “To the Memory of My Dear and Ever Honored Father Thomas Dudley Esq. Who Deceased, July 31, 1653, and of His Age 77”
• “To Her Father with Some Verses”

Her Mother:

• "An Epitaph on My Dear and Ever-Honoured Mother Mrs. Dorothy Dudley, Who Deceased December 27, 1643, and of Her Age, 61"
• Note: an "Epitaph" is (1) "an inscription on a tombstone in memory of the one buried there," and (2) "a brief literary piece commemorating a deceased person" -- similar to an "Elegy" (a poem composed as a lament to a deceased person)

Her Husband:

• "To My Dear and Loving Husband"
• "A Letter to Her Husband, Absent upon Public Employment"
• "Another [Letter to Her Husband, Absent upon Public Employment"

Her Children:

• “Before the Birth of One of Her Children” -- risk of childbearing, “childbed fever,” situation of orphans, real possibilities for her to consider
• “In Reference to Her Children, 23 June, 1659” -- God as mother (providing); the relationship of mother and children; the Puritan invisibility of mothers
• “To My Dear Children” -- prose

Her Grandchildren:

• "In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet, Who Deceased August, 1665, Being a Year and a Half Old"
• "In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Anne Bradstreet, Who Deceased June 20, 1669, Being Three Years and Seven Months Old"
• "On My Dear Grandchild Simon Bradstreet, Who Died on 12 November, 1669, Being But a Month, and One Day Old"

Religion / Suffering:

• “The Flesh and the Spirit” -- a dialogue/debate poem
• “For Deliverance from a Fever”
• “Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House July 10th, 1666. Copied Out of a Loose Paper"
• “As Weary Pilgrim”