... Likewise, any writing that did not serve at least one of the purposes listed above was considered to be a waste of time that would be better spent praising God. Anne Bradstreet defied the rules of her time by writing about whatever she wanted including personal thoughts, reflections, emotions, and events. ... American literature. Bradstreet clearly stated her opinion of those who objected to her writing: "I am obnoxious to each carping tongue, who says my hand a needle better fits." (Baym, Levine, and Krupat35) Most writers were men and to have a woman even writing poems of their own was...

• Word Count: 902
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... they give the impression that they are challenging the Puritan ideals. In the fifth stanza Bradstreet states, I am obnoxious to each carping tongue who says my hand a needle better fits, a poet's pen all scorn I should thus wrong, for such despite they cast on female wits: If what I do prove well, it won't advance, ... didst by my side remain (Bradstreet 119). Though this line seems harmless at first, that is simply due to the fact that Bradstreet did a far better job at hiding her sarcasm within her words. The offspring she speaks of is none other than the book she wrote, and she states...

• Word Count: 1702
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... favor of female intellect, and challenges the views of the day that women couldn't write: I am obnoxious to each carping tongue Who says my hand a needle better fits. A Poet's Pen all scorn I should thus wrong, For such despite they cast on female wits. If what I do prove well, it won't ... and rather than exploring the general themes of female ability, she pinpoints very specific examples of female advancement and argues that such mental liberation makes a better woman, one who possessing "a mind thus filled would have little room for the trifles with which our sex are, with too much j...

• Word Count: 2469
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... to fulfill her writing aspirations and have her works read and reviewed equally of that of her male counterpoints. She knew that her prose was just as good, if not better than the male-dominated literary figures she had come to work with. In her identifying essay, "The Great Lawsuit,"" Fuller covers, in depth, her struggles with equality between men and ... , through eight, six lined stanzas, which document her suppressed views of equality. In stanza five, Bradstreet states that she is "obnoxious to each carping tongue who says my hand a needle better fits- (Bradstreet 129). She knows th...

• Word Count: 1980
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate