Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro Centro de Educação e Humanidades Instituto de Letras Aline Fernandes Thosi Anne Bradstreet: Revisiting humanist, puritan and feminist elements in the poet’s works Rio de Janeiro 2018 Aline Fernandes Thosi Anne Bradstreet: Revisiting humanist, puritan and feminist elements in the poet’s works Dissertação apresentada, como requisito parcial para obtenção do título de Mestre, ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras, da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Área de concentração: Estudos de Literatura. Orientadora: Profª. Dra. Fernanda Teixeira de Medeiros Rio de Janeiro 2018 CATALOGAÇÃO NA FONTE UERJ/REDE SIRIUS/BIBLIOTECA CEH/B B812 Thosi, Aline Fernandes. Anne Bradstreet : revisiting humanist, puritan and feminist elements in the poet’s works /Aline Fernandes Thosi - 2018. 144 f. Orientadora: Fernanda Teixeira de Medeiros. Dissertação (mestrado) – Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Letras. 1. Bradstreet, Anne, 1612?-1672 – Crítica e interpretação – Teses. 2. Puritanos na literatura – Teses. 3. Religião e literatura - Teses. 4. Mulheres e religião – Teses. 5. Feminismo na literatura – Teses. 6. Humanismo na literatura – Teses. 7. Retórica – Teses. I. Medeiros, Fernanda Teixeira de. II. Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Instituto de Letras. III. Título. CDU 820-95 Bibliotecária: Mirna Lindenbaum. CRB7 4916 Autorizo, apenas para fins acadêmicos e científicos, a reprodução total ou parcial desta dissertação, desde que citada a fonte. ________________________________________ _________________ Assinatura Data Aline Fernandes Thosi Anne Bradstreet: Revisiting humanist, puritan and feminist elements in the poet’s works. Dissertação apresentada, como requisito parcial para obtenção do título de Mestre, ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras, da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Área de concentração: Estudos de Literatura. Aprovada em 14 de dezembro de 2018. Banca Examinadora: _______________________________________________ Prof.ª Dra. Fernanda Teixeira de Medeiros (Orientadora) Instituto de Letras – UERJ ________________________________________________ Prof.ª Dra. Eliane Borges Berutti Instituto de Letras – UERJ _______________________________________________ Prof.ª Dra. Michela Rosa Di Candia Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro 2018 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I thank Professor Fernanda Medeiros for her guidance. I also thank Professors Davi Pinho, Júlio França, Leila Harris e Peônia Guedes for sharing their knowledge and time. Now Say, have women worth or have they none? Anne Bradstreet RESUMO THOSI, Aline Fernandes. Anne Bradstreet: revisiting humanist, puritan and feminist elements in the poet’s works. 2018. 144 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Estudos de Literatura) – Instituto de Letras, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 2018. O presente trabalho dedica-se a explorar o contexto histórico, cultural e religioso da poeta anglo-americana puritana Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672), com o intuito de reler alguns de seus poemas sob a perspectiva da cultura retórica humanista na qual a poeta cresceu e se auto-educou. A releitura proposta será feita com o objetivo de melhor visualizar e analisar elementos feministas em sua produção. Tais elementos foram construídos a partir do que verificamos ser uma hábil capacidade de modulação da voz poética e de um domínio de certos jogos retóricos bastante valorizados na modernidade nascente. Essa expertise discursiva foi o que permitiu que, dentro de um contexto misógino em pleno século XVII, Bradstreet escrevesse sobre temas que não eram permitidos a mulheres, tais como política, história e religião, defendendo o direito e a capacidade destas de se expressarem poeticamente. Seus poemas transgrediram os padrões sexistas da época em que viveu, tornando-a, assim, uma poeta complexa e inspiradora. Palavras-Chave: Anne Bradstreet. Cultura Retórica. Feminismo. ABSTRACT THOSI, Aline Fernandes. Anne Bradstreet: revisiting humanist, puritan and feminist elements in the poet’s works. 2018. 144 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Estudos de Literatura) – Instituto de Letras, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 2018 The present work is devoted to exploring the historical, cultural and religious context of the Puritan Anglo-American poet Anne Bradstreet (1612 – 1672), as well as re-read her writings through the perspective of the humanist rhetorical culture in which the poet was raised and educated herself. The aim of the re-reading proposal is to better visualize and analyze feminist elements in some of the poet’s poems. Such elements were built from what I have seen to be a skillful modulation of the poetic voice, and a mastery of certain rhetorical games which were highly valued in early modernity. The aforesaid discursive expertise allowed Bradstreet to write about themes which were not allowed to women in the misogynistic context of the seventeenth- century, such as politics, history and religion, defending women’s right and ability to express themselves poetically. Her poems transgressed the sexist standards of her time, making her a complex and inspiring poet. Keywords: Anne Bradstreet. Rhetorical Culture. Feminism. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION…………………..……………………………….……………… 8 1 THE TENTH MUSE AND RHETORICAL CULTURE…..................................... 13 1.1 Anne Bradstreet – More than a Puritan writer………………………………..….. 13 1.2 Rhetoric, Humanism and Rhetorical Culture………………………...…………… 21 1.3 A debate between Ward and Bradstreet……………………………...…………… 37 2 PURITANISM AND THE PLACE OF WOMEN IN PURITAN SOCIETY…… 48 2.1 Anne Bradstreet and Puritanism…………………………………………………... 48 2.2 A brief account of the history of Puritanism……………………………………..... 50 2.3 The place of women in Puritan colonial society…………………………………… 55 2.4 Anne Bradstreet’s questionings…………………………………………………….. 57 3 FEMINIST ELEMENTS IN BRADSTREET’S WORKS………………………... 68 3.1 Submissive or subversive?.......................................................................................... 68 3.2 A brief account of the history of Feminism………………………………………... 78 3.3 Feminist elements in Anne Bradstreet’s elegy to Queen Elizabeth I…………..… 83 CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………… 94 REFERENCES…………………………………………………….………………... 98 APPENDIX A – Nathaniel Ward’s commendatory poem …………………………... 101 APPENDIX B – The Prologue…..…………………………………………………... 102 APPENDIX C – The Flesh and The Spirit…………………………………………... 104 APPENDIX D – A Dialogue Between Old England and New ……………………… 108 APPENDIX E – Upon Some Distemper of Body…………………………………… 118 APPENDIX F – From Deliverance from Fever …………………………………….. 119 APPENDIX G – A Letter To Her Husband, Absent Upon Publick Employment…... 120 APPENDIX H – The Author to Her Book…………………………………………... 121 APPENDIX I – The Four Elements…………………………………………………. 122 APPENDIX J – An Apology ..………………………………………………………. 139 APPENDIX K – In Honour of That High and Mighty Princess Queen Elizabeth…... 140 8 INTRODUCTION Women writers from different historical, cultural and religious contexts have been increasingly contributing to literature while breaking the stereotypes and paradigms of their own time and times which follow. Women Studies and Feminist Criticism, which are important fields in academic research, have been responsible for creating an area of study for a group of people who were marginalized by history. Besides raising important discussions on women’s rights, women writers share their production in all literary fields. In the twenty-first century, there have been many researchers who dedicate their academic life to studying more deeply the works of many female novelists, essayists, dramatists, poets, among others. More and more there can be noticed an increasing rise of female writers and scholars who become interested in their art. The increase in research in the field is of paramount importance for it not only provides enlightening discussions upon contemporary issues, but also because it inspires new female writers to pursue such career. I have been interested in feminine literature since I first started the undergraduate course due to the many inspiring lives and works about which I had the opportunity to study. Amongst many female authors whose works I have read, there was one who interested me the most. Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) is known, up to the present day, to be the first person to be published as a poet in colonial America. The poet was a Puritan woman who was born and raised in England and later in life moved to the New World. The United States of America was not known as such by then, but it was a group of colonies which would become a nation only in 1776. Although the poet is commonly studied as an American Puritan writer, her English background can be strongly noticed especially in her early poems. Bradstreet had her first poetry book The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America (1650) published in England and the second edition Several Poems Compiled With Great Variety of Wit and Learning (1678), which included the author’s corrections as well as new poems, was published in America after her death. In the twentieth century, three centuries after her death, Bradstreet’s works were rediscovered by feminist scholars. In the twenty-fifth anniversary of women’s living in Harvard, a gate and a plaque were erected in honor of Anne Bradstreet where one can find her lines: “I came into this Country, where I found a new World and new manners at which my heart rose”. Indeed, The poet’s heart 9 rose in rebellion due to the many questionings