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The Influence of Anne Bradstreet's Innovative Errors

The Influence of Anne Bradstreet's Innovative Errors LoUIsA HA LL University of Texas at Austin e I Th nu fl ence of Anne Bradstreet’s Innovative Errors The question of Anne Bradstreet’s value as a poet has oen ft re- ceded behind the more certain fact of her value as a pioneer. This means that, while generations of students have read Anne Bradstreet’s work on the basis that she was the first American poet, and a woman at that, many have emerged from the experience unconvinced of her poetry’s intrinsic worth. John Berryman, who wrote a book- length homage to Bradstreet, denies all anxiety of influence by proclaiming his allegiance to this camp of skeptical readers: for him, Bradstreet was a “boring, high minded Puritan woman who may have been our first American poet but was not a good one” Fr (ee- dom 328). Alan Golding takes him at his word, using Berryman as a key- stone in his argument that poets are oen ft drawn to write about other poets for reasons that have nothing to do with style. This argument depends on a wholehearted disparagement of Bradstreet’s artistic merit, to which cause he recruits a small army of willing critics such as Carol Johnson, who as- http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Early American Literature University of North Carolina Press

The Influence of Anne Bradstreet's Innovative Errors

Early American Literature , Volume 48 (1) – Mar 6, 2013

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Publisher
University of North Carolina Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 The University of North Carolina Press.
ISSN
1534-147X

Abstract

LoUIsA HA LL University of Texas at Austin e I Th nu fl ence of Anne Bradstreet’s Innovative Errors The question of Anne Bradstreet’s value as a poet has oen ft re- ceded behind the more certain fact of her value as a pioneer. This means that, while generations of students have read Anne Bradstreet’s work on the basis that she was the first American poet, and a woman at that, many have emerged from the experience unconvinced of her poetry’s intrinsic worth. John Berryman, who wrote a book- length homage to Bradstreet, denies all anxiety of influence by proclaiming his allegiance to this camp of skeptical readers: for him, Bradstreet was a “boring, high minded Puritan woman who may have been our first American poet but was not a good one” Fr (ee- dom 328). Alan Golding takes him at his word, using Berryman as a key- stone in his argument that poets are oen ft drawn to write about other poets for reasons that have nothing to do with style. This argument depends on a wholehearted disparagement of Bradstreet’s artistic merit, to which cause he recruits a small army of willing critics such as Carol Johnson, who as-

Journal

Early American LiteratureUniversity of North Carolina Press

Published: Mar 6, 2013

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