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Bradstreet

Anne Bradstreet was a seventeenth-century poet from New England and the first published poet of the North American colonies. In this poem, she alternates her rhyme and use of syllables in such a way that gives the poem an innovative rhythm and meter that remind me of jazz. The message reflects her Puritan culture, though she herself was born in Southampton, England. In these stanzas from a much longer poem, she talks about the sun. They come from a work titled "Contemplations."

"Then higher on the glistering sun I gazed,
Whose beams were shaded by the leavie tree,
The more I looked, the more I grew amazed,
And softly said, what glory's like to thee?
Soul of this world, this Universe's eye,
No wonder some made thee a deity;
Had I not better known, alas! the same had I.


"Thou as a bridegroom from thy chamber rushest,
And as a strong man joyes to run a race,
The morn doth usher thee with smiles and blushes,
The earth reflects her glances in thy face.
Birds, insects, animals with vegetive,
Thy heart from death and dulness doth revive,
And in the darksome womb of fruitful nature dive.


"Art thou so full of glory, that no eye
Hath strength thy shining rayes once to behold?
And is thy splendid throne erect so high,
As to approach it can no earthly mould?
How full of glory then must thy Creator be,
Who gave this bright light lustre unto thee!
Admired, adored for ever, be that Majesty.

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