Anne Bradstreet

by Karen M. Kline
The name Anne Dudley Bradstreet is not recognized by many.  Who was she?  Why celebrate her life?  Read on, discover the mystery, the magic that was America's first published poet  .  .  .
Anne Dudley was born in England in March, 1612.
Queen Elizabeth I died only nine years earlier and the Bard of Avon lived four more years until 1616.  Neither Good Queen Bess nor Shakespeare were as important in the shaping of our first poet as was Anne's father, Thomas Dudley.  Her patient, kind mother Dorothy was deeply loved but nowhere near as influential in her daughter's upbringing as...