A Geographical Tour of Literary America

The Grand Tour of Literary Landmarks resulted from my students' success with another project that we called "Poetic License with THE AMAZING RACE." This new journey also begins and ends in my students' hometown. Chosen writers are specific to our curriculum and texts; however, teachers can adapt new selections to their students' needs. Side images are their original work. Photo images at each destination go directly to official sites or to the slideshows of my own travel photos. The main sources of written material here are www.Poets.org and Adventures in American Literature, Heritage Edition and Pegasus Edition.

Ipswich, Massachusetts

On the literary map, travel from Rockland, Maine, to Ipswich, Massachusetts.

Calculate:

# _____________ Miles to Ipswich, Massachusetts

$ _____________ Cost for Gasoline to Ipswich, Massachusetts

Visit Mrs. Steller's Anne Bradstreet Gallery.

We have already studied Anne Bradstreet and her poetry. Visit her at www.Poets.org and fill-in-the-blanks.

"Anne Bradstreet was born Anne Dudley in __________ in Northamptonshire, England. She married Simon Bradstreet, a graduate of Cambridge University, at the age of _______. Two years later, Bradstreet, along with her husband and parents, emigrated to America with the ________________________, and the family settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts. There Bradstreet and her husband raised eight children, and she became one of the ____________ to write English verse in the American colonies. It was during this time that Bradstreet penned many of the poems that would be taken to England by her brother-in-law, purportedly without her knowledge, and published in 1650 under the title ___________________________."

"Tenth Muse was the only collection of Bradstreet's poetry to appear during her lifetime. In 1644, the family moved to Andover, Massachusetts, where Bradstreet lived until her death in 1672. In 1678, the first American edition of Tenth Muse was published posthumously and expanded as Several Poems Compiled with Great Wit and Learning. Bradstreet's most highly regarded work, a sequence of _______________ poems entitled Contemplations, was not published until the middle of the __________________ century."

Read "To My Dear and Loving Husband"

If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me ye women if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.
Thy love is such I can no way repay;
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let's so persever,
That when we live no more we may live

Anne Bradstreet’s poems deal with two important Puritan Themes: domestic life and God. This poem describes the greatness of the poet’s love for her husband and of his love for her.

Through what details does Bradstreet suggest the intensity of their love and the fact that the love is mutual?