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Pioneer in Verse

Anne Bradstreet Day commemorates the first published poet among English settlers in America.

A prominent citizen, Bradstreet's father was a Massachusetts governor and her husband also became a colonial governor. In addition to managing her household of eight children, she wrote many poems about her Puritan religious beliefs and her domestic life.

Today's print depicts an iconographic Massachusetts village that complements Bradstreet's devotional verse. A woodcut suits the subject as well. Stark color contrasts and the severity of its lines conjure the aura of an austere Puritan hamlet.

By night when others soundly slept
And hath at once both ease and Rest,
My waking eyes were open kept
And so to lie I found it best.

I sought him whom my Soul did Love,
With tears I sought him earnestly.
He bow'd his ear down from Above.
In vain I did not seek or cry.

My hungry Soul he fill'd with Good;
He in his Bottle put my tears,
My smarting wounds washt in his blood,
And banisht thence my Doubts and fears.

What to my Saviour shall I give
Who freely hath done this for me?
I'll serve him here whilst I shall live
And Love him to Eternity.

Pictured: Howard Cook, 1901–1980, The Village, 1928, woodcut on paper, 6 3/4 x 12 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Barbara Latham.