Anne Bradstreet was the first published female poet. But in the time of Puritanism and strict moral codes, the progressive woman was looked down upon. The role of a woman was to cook, clean, milk the cows, and manage the household in the event of the absence of the man. But there were women like Anne Bradstreet, Mary White Rowlandson, and Sarah Kemble Knight, who broke those roles (and rules) set for them by a masculo centric and hypocritical society. These women wrote poems and books and were published. Knight, for example, wrote about her journey from Boston to New York City "quite a journey for a woman to take at that time, it was, too! Some women during this time were accustomed to their role given them by society. They embraced it. Some were dissatisfied and wished to break free of an oppressive male-dominated society. Some, like Bradstreet, were conflicted. She writes about this in her poem, The Flesh and the Spirit. It is a glimpse into the tortured soul of a conflicted woman, trying to break free and yet wanting to obey. Her poem begins with the following lines: "In secret place where once I stood/Close by the banks of Lacrim flood."" (Bradstreet).
"In the secret place.," I believe this signifies a silent, suppressed desire "like something to be ashamed of and hidden. She has no confidante. She can tell no one as she will be looked down upon by her fellow Puritans should she tell them. Puritan society was a repressed (and repressive) society. According to men, in those days, a woman was not fit to write. She mentions this in her poem The Prologue. She says: "I am obnoxious to each carping tongue/Who says my hand a needle better fits/A poet's pen all scorn I should thus wrong/For such despite they cast on female wits"" (Bradstreet).
She wishes to break free from these societal norms that hold her back and compares her to the ancient Greek orator Demosthenes, who overcame a speech impediment.
