Anne Bradstreet

by Faith Cook

Sailing to the New World at the age of eighteen, Anne Bradstreet was one of the first Puritan refugees to leave the shores of Britain. In search of freedom to worship without persecution, she struggled with chronic illness as she raised a family in the harsh environment face by the early settlers. A gifted writer, Anne frequently recorded her experiences in poetry. When a collection of her poems were printed in London in 1650, she became the first published poet in America. World recognition was followed by catastrophe when her house burnt down, an event she describes in what has become her most famous poem. FAITH COOK’S classic biography traces Anne’s early years through to her life in America and reveals a believer who lived-out an authentic faith in the face of the gritty realities of everyday life.

Genres: Biography, Poetry, History

176 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2010

About the author

Faith Cook was born in China, the daughter of OMF missionaries, and now lives in Derbyshire. She is married to Paul, who served as a pastor in churches in Northallerton, Shepshed and Hull. They have five children and ten grandchildren. She is also the author of Lives Turned Upside Down, The Nine-Day Queen of England, Our Hymn-writers and their Hymns, Seeing the Invisible and Under the Scaffold.

Reviews

[Autumn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend this short biography on America's first published poet. Lots of emotion in this biography. Anne's poetry may seem simple in form but it has a complexity in the construction and depth of feeling and trust in the Almighty.

[Shae West · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this biography. Faith Cook does an amazing job telling the story of Anne and her hardships. She includes info on some of the things happening to the people around Anne while always being able to bring it back to the main story. It's quite impressive actually.
I also loved how she explained the meanings of the poems Anne wrote and when she had written them.
I admire Anne so much, as both a woman and a follower of Christ. I HIGHLY recommend this book!

[Kristin Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A remarkable woman! I have learned much from this account of her life. Her life reflected her faith and trust in God through joy, victory, adversity, pain, suffering, and death. Faith Cook weaves narrative biography together with Anne Bradstreet's own words and poetry giving a well rounded picture of her Anne's life and the events and people around her.

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb!

[Corey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Given my love for the Puritans, and my steadily growing love for history and poetry, I was immediately interested to read more about Anne Bradstreet when I learned she was the first writer in the American colonies to be published, and America's first published poet. This book did not disappoint.

This book does a great job of blending Bradstreet's personal biography, excerpts of her poetry, life in the colonies in the 17th century, and beautiful theology. That last one was my favourite. Sadly, biographers often leave out their subject's theological convictions in favour of telling more interesting things about them and their life, as if a person's theological persuasions aren't the most important and influential things in a person's life. But Faith Cook did a fantastic job of giving Anne Bradstreet a platform from which she can share with us her God-trusting, Christ-magnifying faith, and how such a faith can utterly transform and redeem all the pain and sorrow of life, even such as Bradstreet endured.

History, biography, theology, and poetry all in one little book.
Coherent; highly readable; insightful; engaging; God-honouring; and convicting.

Highly recommend

[Steve Linskens · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times, Cook provides large chunks of Bradstreet's poetry, which can be helpful to some degree, but a couple of the chapters have Bradstreet's poetry taking up the majority of the text. Besides that qualification, this is a nice biography of Anne Bradstreet. I read it aloud as bedtime reading for my wife and me.

[Antonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting account of the first published poet in America. To be able to read the thoughts of someone who existed that long ago shows the power of the written word. I'm glad we get to learn from this.

[Josh Griffin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book about a fascinating character in history I hadn't heard of before. The author shows a clear understanding on the historical context surrounding Anna Bradstreet's life. The lines from Anne's poemas dotted around the book have been expertly chosen. I would recommend this to anyone.

[Sean Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

Biddy writes a biography of another biddy which was quite interesting and had some very good moments. Worth the read,