The Prologue, Essay Example

Bradstreet’s “The Prologue”: A Feminist Manifesto?

Much has been written about whether Bradstreet’s poetry is a reflection of Puritan beliefs. Yet when reading “The Prologue”, it is difficult to maintain the position that her work is influenced by Puritan religion. Rather, the poem resembles a feminist manifesto, as Bradstreet tries in this work to establish a position for women’s poetry in what has been a historically-male dominated genre.

By titling the work “The Prologue”, Bradstreet perhaps introduces her readers to how they should read her poetry. There are no explicit references to Puritan ideals about God. Instead, there is a dialogue with the history of poetry. Bradstreet tries to establish the merits of a female voice in poetry. For example, she writes “Let Greeks be Greeks, and Women what they are.” Certainly, it could be argued that she is arguing her for some type of division of the sexes. But when contrasted with the other themes of the poem, for example, when she writes “Preeminence in and each is yours, Yet grant from small acknowledgment of ours”, Bradstreet wants to call attention to the relevance of women’s voices in poetry.

Bradstreet’s use of poetic language also contributes to this “feminist” position. Bradstreet employs a simple rhyme scheme. This can be interpreted as perhaps lacking an adventurous spirit in exploring poetry. However, in the context of the poem, it is clear that Bradstreet instead wants to both make a humble contribution to poetry that should be acknowledged as a woman’s contribution. She suspects this is unlikely to happen: “If what I do prove well, it won’t advance, They’ll say it’s stol’n, or else it was by chance.” Here, Bradstreet says that even if her poetry is well-received, because she is a woman her successes will never be acknowledged.

Furthermore, her use of metaphor and symbols underscores this theme. She is trying to carve out a space for women among the history of poetry, and therefore makes much reference to Greek culture, such as “Muses” and “Calliope” in her symbolism. But in Greek mythology these are feminine figures: therefore, it seems that Bradstreet wants to argue that women were also crucial to the Greek arts.

In conclusion, Puritanism does not appear to drive “The Prologue.” Instead, Bradstreet is concerned with her status as a female poet. Her choice of theme and use of poetic devices underscores this point.

Works Cited

Bradstreet, Anne. “The Prologue.” Retrieved 5 April 2014 at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/172961