Importance of Early American Women Writers Essay -- Anne Bradstreet, P

  Ã‚   What could be said to early American women's writers except, thank you? The first American women's writers opened doors and laid the foundation for future women's writers and readers. Today's women raise children, supervise households, and work outside the home with every modern convenience available, and as you would expect do not find the time to write, except for a grocery list. Early American women raised children and supervised households without the modern conveniences of today and in some way made time to write the first poetry of the "New World." For example, Everette Emerson gives a picture of Anne Bradstreet a housewife who stole hours from sleep for writing gave women American writers their start (4). Different styles of writing emerged from various early American women writers in each century, there by setting a precedent for those that followed. Anne Bradstreet, Phillis Wheatley, Abigail Adams, Hannah Foster, Susanna Rowson, and Louisa May Alcott established new forms of literary styles like poetry, letters, fiction, and novels in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Anne Bradstreet established domestic tradition in American poetry in the 17th century. Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) first book of poetry was "The Tenth Muse", with the assistance of her brother-in-law it was published in 1650. "Anne was a Puritan woman of deep spiritual faith, but her highly intelligent and well-educated mind was capable of questioning and even rebellion" (Piercy 17). During the Puritan era of Anne Bradstreet, the idea was one of community and God. According to Katherine M. Rogers, "In her "Prologue," Bradstreet acknowledged that many of her contemporaries thought a needle fitted her hand better than a pen" (Meridian 11.5.2). She rea... ... could be said to early American women's writers except, thank you? Bibliography Elbert, Sarah, ed. Louisa May Alcott on Race, Sex, and Slavery. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1997. Emerson, Everett. Major Writers of Early American Literature. London: The University of Wisconsin Press, Ltd., 1972. The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Third Edition, Volume 1. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998. Linda Wagner-Martin and Cathy N. Davidson. The Oxford Book of Women's Writing in the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. Mason Jr., Julian D. The Poems of Phillis Wheatley. The University of North Carolina Press, 1966. Piercy, Josephine K. Anne Bradstreet. New York, Twayne Publishers, 1965. Rogers, Katherine M., ed. The Meridian Anthology of Early American Women Writers. New York: Meridian, 1991.