Bradstreet also wrote about her fear of death and whether her husband might remarry. "Through her dread of dying in childbirth lets us see that her deeper fear is a jealous one that her husband might remarry," (Hensley xxiii). Bradstreet's description of childbirth as being a shade away from death shows what life was like for women in the colonies. "The last month of pregnancy was not only a time for making 'pyes' but also a time of making peace with the idea of approaching death," (Gordon 135). Motherhood is another prominent theme in Anne Bradstreet's poetry. Bradstreet's protective instinct is expressed in the verse, "great was my pain when I you bred, great was my care when you I fed, long did I kept you soft and warm, and with my wing kept off all harm," (cited by Gordon 151). Bradstreet continues the bird analogy: "I had eight birds hatched in one nest, four cocks there were, and hens the rest. I nursed them up with pain and care, nor cost, nor labour did I spare," (cited by Heidi 128). Bradstreet tended to her "eight birds" as well as to household chores. Her jealousy of her husband's possible remarriage after her death was also related to her fear of her children having a bad stepmother. Bradstreet writes, "and if thou love thy self, or loved'st me, these O. protect from step Dames injury," (cited by Nichols 128). Bradstreet's poems served as a "spiritual autobiography" for her children, so that they would have tangible memory of their mother (Gordon...

In a preface to one of her volumes, Bradstreet wrote, "This book by any yet unread I leave for you when I am dead, That being gone, here you may find What was your living mother's mind. Make use of what I leave in love, and God shall bless you form above," (Gordon 258).
Anne Bradstreet's poetry proves to be important historical documents detailing the lives of wealthy Puritan women in the early New England colonies. Bradstreet wrote within "an atmosphere where the search for knowledge was frowned upon as being against God's will, and where women were relegated to traditional roles," ("Anne Bradstreet Biography"). However, Bradstreet's poetry was a remarkable attempt at self-expression during a time when women did not receive formal education. Bradstreet's poetry shows how much a Puritan woman's life was consumed by motherhood and a devotion to Christianity.

Works Cited

"Anne Bradstreet Biography." Retrieved May 2, 2010 from http://www.annebradstreet.com/anne_bradstreet_bio_001.htm

Bradstreet, Anne. The Works of Anne Bradstreet. Ed. Jeannine Hensley. Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard UP, 1967. Print.

Gordon, Charlotte. Mistress Bradstreet: The Untold Life of American's First Poet. New York: Little Brown and Company, 2005. Print.

Nichols, Heidi. Anne Bradstreet: A Guided Tour of the Life and Thought of a Puritan Poet. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R publishing company, 2006. Print.