Prologue

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1650

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Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

Who Decides Artistic Value

“Prologue” is in many ways a feminist argument for gender equality in the arts, a plea for male and female poets to share space. However, it also shapes another longstanding battle: Which art has value, and who gets to decide on that value? Bradstreet tries to articulate a place for creative work that is not art of “preeminence” (Line 41). In other words, her complaints may be directed to those critics who are restrictive regarding the perimeters of art—particularly limiting it to men, especially the men of the classical Western canon that she herself extols.

This is why the poem begins with the impassioned lines that frame her art as unexpected. She won’t “sing of Wars, of Captains, and of Kings” (Line 1). She isn’t Virgil or the “Great Bartas” (Line 8), nor is she the dedicated, eloquent Demosthenes. She knows that her art will receive “no Bays” (Line 46) and therefore doesn’t ask for them. She’s aware that standards and tastes shift and that there are simply those who look down on “female wits” (Line 28). Anything she creates may be judged as accidentally good—or, even worse, nefariously “stol’n” (Line 30).

In another time or space, there might be appreciation for the poetry she creates. A different society, such as ancient Greece, might have lauded her poems like they did Sappho’s verse. Bradstreet is smart enough to know that the critics in her present are not the same as the critics of the past or future. Still, she advocates for even a small concession that her art is worthwhile, perhaps worthy of a “thyme or Parsley wreath” (Line 46) instead of laurels. Just because her work is humble doesn’t mean it’s not deserving.

Valuing Aspiration and Action Over Perfection

“Prologue” shows Bradstreet’s personal struggle as a woman poet, but it also touches on another, more universal theme. Many people aspire to do something that someone else has done better than themselves. We emulate those we admire. Junior athletes mimic their superstar heroes, painters may hope to be the next Claude Monet, and a tech wiz might worship Steve Jobs. Bradstreet’s tendency toward comparison is completely understandable. What is admirable is how she handles it when she feels that she falls short of her goals.

Doubt permeates Bradstreet’s lines as she worries that she lacks natural skills and suspects that her dedication won’t pay off. As she explains, “Nor can I, like that fluent sweet-tongued Greek / Who lisp’d at first, in future times speak plain” (Lines 19-20). In comparison to Virgil, du Bartas, and Demosthenes, she cannot compete. She also feels an undercurrent of resentment that she cannot reach perfection—“I do grudge the Muses did not part / ’Twixt [du Bartas] and me that over-fluent store” (Lines 9-10)—as well as an irritation that she is expected to achieve such a high level of artistry. “From School-boy’s tongue no Rhet’ric we expect, / Nor yet a sweet Consort from broken strings” (Lines 13-14), she notes with some bitterness. However, she despises, too, the doubts of others and the “despite they cast on female wits” (Line 28). All in all, she is put into a position surrounded by obstacles. Among them, she must come to terms with her own reason for producing art.

Eventually, she decides that though her “lowly lines” (Line 45) may not equate to the “high flown quills that soar the skies” (Line 43) or the “sugar’d lines” (Line 8) of great poets, they might still deserve “acknowledgement” (Line 42). Despite their faults, her poems should be made public regardless of their stature. In this way, “Prologue” helps to show that one must move from perfection, to aspiration, to action to have any success. Dreaming of a perfect product ultimately must give way to the making of that product, which will necessarily fall short of the vision.

Intellectual Thoughtfulness

Bradstreet strikingly shows off her intellectual resources, a poetic feature that belies her tone of humility. At the time, one of the primary arguments for dismissing women writers was that they did not have the knowledge base of men—a circular argument that was made possible by the fact that most women were barred from getting an education and did not have access to school, books, or lessons. Instead, they were encouraged to listen to the men in authority while sticking to domestic life.

Because of her father’s position with the Earl of Lincoln, Bradstreet had unusual access to a vast library. Because of his egalitarian Puritan beliefs, she was also tutored by her father in Greek, Latin, French, and Hebrew. As a result, Bradstreet was an intellectual as well as a Puritan wife, despite her protestations of having a weaker mind in “Prologue.” She may have resisted scandal by saying that she didn’t know that John Woodbridge had taken her manuscript to be published, and her tone may have diminished judgment from others about so-called uppity women, but her poem itself speaks to the fact that she was no simpleton.

An unskilled mind could not so easily allude to the subject matter of Virgil’s Aeneid, the history of Rome, the artistry of du Bartas, Demosthenes’s life story, the nine Muses, the symbolism of herb wreaths, or the differences of Greek culture from her own. Many wealthy citizens of London, let alone all of Massachusetts Bay County, didn’t have her warehouse of information about science, history, art, and literature. It is said that when her house burned in 1666, her extravagant store of 800 books went with it—a library that would have rivaled those of the most affluent men at the time. Even without this factoid, “Prologue” serves as a testament to Bradstreet’s love of learning and level of intelligence. One should not buy her false assessment that her “mean Pen” (Line 3) wasn’t fit for “superior” (Line 3) topics.