A Book in Review...

Faith Cook pens a lovely little biography of Anne Bradstreet entitled Anne Bradstreet, Pilgrim and Poet. Anne was a leading lady in the American colonies early in the seventeenth century. She mothered eight children, and endured multiple illnesses (and pregnancies!) that taxed her physically for long periods of time. This book is wonderful! It spans 168 pages, concluding with a letter Mrs. Bradstreet wrote to her children to be read after her death.

Two things immediately impress me about her. First, she clung to the Lord while living a colonial life fraught with challenges. She emigrated at the age of eighteen with her new husband, Simon Bradstreet, as well as her mother and sisters. They started in Charleston, and moved on several times after that. She faced the normal dramas of mothering as an emotional female with physical and hormonal swings. She was often ill, and in spiritual, and emotional valleys. I appreciated this quality, and felt immediate identification!

Secondly, she possessed profound skills regarding poetry. At the end of the day, when tired from caring for my children and managing my tasks, I may express myself verbally, but never poetically. (Usually I just end up staring blankly at Facebook)! The kind of mind that disciplines her thoughts into verse immediately strikes amazement to my heart. I identified with her emotions, fears, and aspirations, while appreciating excerpts from poems that expressed them.

The book itself is easy to read, and gives a fascinating historical background concerning what was going on in England and America during those years. It is sympathetic to the Puritan cause and theology, and fair in its assessment of political issues, and how they affected Anne’s thought processes. Faith Cook is a skilled and experienced biographer, and I would highly recommend anything she writes.

I would say that it would be appropriate at a high school level. It would be easy to plug in as a supplement to American/British history (circa 1600 to 1660), Puritan theology, Poetry (Faith does a fair job at some explication in chapter 10), or Biography requirements.

At the end, I read Anne’s own words to her children. This was like a sobering conversation with a friend over coffee. By this time I knew what she was like, and appreciated her wisdom, and love for our God. I was humbled and encouraged.

I heartily agree with Mrs. Cook’s words in the preface,

“More than this, Anne’s spirituality, her dependence on God in prayer, her constant desire to live as a pilgrim, evaluating her all – house, family, achievements – in the light of that better world to come, is a challenge to our frequently materialistic, earthbound outlook.”