Bradstreet and Wheatley

Paper Summary:

Anne Bradstreet and Phillis Wheatley have the unique distinction of being two firsts in American feminism. Bradstreet was the first American female poet to have her work published and Phillis Wheatley was the first black female poet to have her work become known and published. This paper shows that, because of their bravery and fame for breaking the gender and race barriers to the expression of women's voices, Bradstreet and Wheatley are intrinsically feminist artists -- for no other reason than that they were female and they were influential in the advancement of female art. On the other hand, the paper shows that neither woman could particularly be considered revolutionaries in their own time (both catered to the existing system rather exaggeratedly) and in this time would certainly not even be considered feminists. Both Bradstreet and Wheatley conformed to what was expected of them. With their subtle way of being feminist by conducting themselves within their proper gender roles and imitating male forms in their art, these two prefigured the entire vein of feminist thought and action which attempts to win a place for woman by acting professionally male and privately feminine.

From the Paper:

"One of the critiques that has been consistently leveled against both Wheatley and Bradstreet is that their work is derivative and lacking in innovation. In their own era, this charge was used to suggest that women were incapable of high poetic flights of genius. In later eras, it was further used to show that both were overly conformed to "The standard poetic conventions used by men" (Schlotterbeck) of the era and thus failed to find authentic female voices. It is certain that "Bradstreet and Wheatley used the poetic conventions of the day, which is evident in the form of their poetry. It is not too adventurous stylistically." (Schlotterbeck) The critique that women are not capable of poetic brilliance is certainly false, for these women no doubt could have had originality in their form and adventurism in their choice of topics had they not needed to conform to male standards in order to be published."

More papers on Bradstreet and Wheatley:

• Analytical Essay # 62556 : "Anne Bradstreet and American Literature"
• Comparison Essay # 148600 : "Puritanism in the Poetry of Bradstreet and Wigglesworth"
• Comparison Essay # 33503 : "Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor"

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