didact’s journal May 14 2023

…the first American poet of consequence was a woman, Anne Bradstreet

(1612-1672), born before Shakespeare died…friends who were proud of her

talent had her poems published in 1650.

To My Dear and Loving Husband

If ever two were one, then surely we.

If ever man were lov’d by wife, then thee;

If ever wife was happy in a man,

Compare with me ye women if you can.

…

excerpted from The New Oxford Book of American Verse, chosen and edited by Richard Ellmann