Click here for Anne Bradstreet Poetry Contest Announcement and Rules

2023 Anne Bradstreet Poetry Contest - Announcement and Rules

Saturday, May 13, 2023

2023 Anne Bradstreet Poetry Contest - Several Award Winning Poems


As Poet Laureate, and from the Poet Laureate committee, I wanted to thank everyone who submitted poems to the Anne Dudley Bradstreet Poetry Contest this year.

Thank you to all who took up our invitation to find inspiration in the poetry and life of Anne Bradstreet, America's first published poet.

This was the 3rd year of the contest, and it felt especially good to have Anne herself as the theme.

 And North Andover responded with some wonderful creativity. In total, 76 poems were submitted. From these, the judges selected 22 as award winners.

Here are a few of the award winning poems. More to come!

Mark Bohrer
North Andover Poet Laureate

Karen M. Kline
Chair, North Andover Poet Laureate Committee

______________________________________________

Grades 1-2  Winner -  Emily Timpe – 2nd Grade   Sargent Elementary

“Dear Woods”
Written by Emily Timpe
 
Dear Woods,
I could almost hear you speaking to thee,
But the way you speak is not like a person,
It’s more like a silent meadow.
The trees sway with grace,
And I love these places around the world.
 
 
Emily’s Inspiration:
from "Contemplations" (#21)
Under the cooling shadow of a stately Elm
Close sate I by a goodly Rivers side,
Where gliding streams the Rocks did overwhelm;
A lonely place, with pleasures dignifi’d.
I once that lov’d the shady woods so well,
Now thought the rivers did the trees excel,
And if the sun would ever shine, there would I dwell.
____________________________________

Grades 3-5 Winner - Robert Michael Kolling – 4th Grade  Franklin Elementary

Inspiration Note: ((*The first line of each verse is taken from 
"Prologue to the Tenth Muse Recently Sprung Up in America"))

 “- War –“
Written by Robert Michael Kolling

To sing of Wars, of Captains, and of Kings,
So rich, so greedy all those things,
Once you want, you start to fight,
For freedom, or for higher might.

To sing of Wars, of Captains, and of Kings,
"It's wealth or death," the poor one sings,
To pretend the world is a piece of trash,
To sacrifice, then add to your stash.

To sing of Wars, of Captains, and of Kings,
One step left to ending things,
Throw the cannons, let them fall,
Take the gold, take it all.

______________________________________________

Adult Winner & Metaphorical Imagination – Graham Jackson – resident of NA 

“To Bradstreet: Her Book’s Reply”

Graham's poem was inspired 
by the poem by Anne Bradstreet: “The Author to Her Book” (following his poem)

Poem:

To Bradstreet: Her Book’s Reply
Written by Graham Jackson

You bright-eyed Founder of a distant home
From whence I sprung full-formed, and full of joy,
You sought to keep me close, and thus entomb
These rags in lonely darkness, sans employ,
To force a blindness on a blinding light
That helpless burns, a muse within your heart.
I once was freed by friends who saw your plight,
Who knew the world could learn from thine high art.
And so they brought me forth into the day
Over the hill and by the Common green.
(In print) I laughed and sang and danced away
While you made chase to wash your errors clean.

For all your sight, you did not see I fell
Within your greatest Critic’s hands—your own.
Though scrub you may, I have a tale to tell:
Of steady hearts that beat for this new town;
Of families that shaped these truthful songs;
And faith that fanned your worthy words to flame.
And so I’ll stand, to spite my many wrongs,
Although I’m ill-formed in your sight, the same.
But don’t lose hope. Perhaps in time you’ll see
That there’s no shame in trying to impress
The crowds that clamor for your legacy,
For you’re my gifted Maker nonetheless. 


Graham's poem was inspired 
by the following poem by Anne Bradstreet: “The Author to Her Book”

Thou ill-form’d offspring of my feeble brain, 
Who after birth didst by my side remain, 
Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true, 
Who thee abroad, expos’d to publick view, 
Made thee in raggs, halting to th’ press to trudge, 
Where errors were not lessened (all may judg). 
At thy return my blushing was not small, 
My rambling brat (in print) should mother call, 
I cast thee by as one unfit for light, 
Thy Visage was so irksome in my sight; 
Yet being mine own, at length affection would 
Thy blemishes amend, if so I could: 
I wash’d thy face, but more defects I saw, 
And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw. 
I stretched thy joynts to make thee even feet, 
Yet still thou run’st more hobling then is meet; 
In better dress to trim thee was my mind, 
But nought save home-spun Cloth, i’ th’ house I find. 
In this array ’mongst Vulgars mayst thou roam. 
In Criticks hands, beware thou dost not come; 
And take thy way where yet thou art not known, 
If for thy Father askt, say, thou hadst none: 
And for thy Mother, she alas is poor, 
Which caus’d her thus to send thee out of door. 



Sunday, April 30, 2023

2023 Anne Bradstreet Poetry Contest Winners and Finalists


The North Andover Poet Laureate Committee is pleased to announce the 2023 contest winners and finalists!

Our panel of  judges carefully read and evaluated the poems – 76 in total – inspired by the theme: 

“Let Anne Be Your Muse”.  

The poetry and history of Anne Dudley Bradstreet herself was the theme. The contestants of all ages in North Andover took this theme to heart. Some wonderful poetry was written.

The judges themselves were inspired by all the poems that were submitted. The judges all remarked - North Andover is a creative place!


Here are the results:

Grades 1-2
Winner – E. T. “Dear Woods”  
Finalist – G. C. “Anne was the first person to write poems.”  [ABECC]

Grades 3-5
Winner – R. K.  “- War -”  [Franklin]
Finalist – C. B.   “Anne (Bradstreet)” - cinquain  [Sargent]
Finalist – H. M.   “A cemetery”  [Sargent]
Finalist – L. B.  “Ode to the Trees”  [Sargent]
Finalist – S. D.  “America's first poet shall she be”  [Sargent]
Finalist – T.  “Anne Dudley Bradstreet” - acrostic  [Sargent]

Middle School
Winner – I. J.  “A Painting of a Tunnel”  [NAMS]
Finalist – T. N.  “Springs Embrace”  [NAMS]

High School
Winner – L. B. “A++”   [NAHS]
Finalist – D. A.  “Faith, a force beyond what we can see”  
Finalist – E. D.  “Gray”  
Finalist – L. G.  “The Fall”  [Brooks School]
Finalist – L. I.  “Deathbed Desires”  [NAHS]
Evocative Imagery – E. H.  “Leak”  [NAHS]
Metaphorical Imagination – J. S.  “Strings”  [Brooks School]

Adult
Winner & Metaphorical Imagination – Graham Jackson  “To Bradstreet: Her Book’s Reply”
Finalist & Evocative Imagery – Christine O’Connor  “A Modern Jeremiad for Mistress Bradstreet”
Finalist – Jessica Wolfenden  “A Parsley Wreath”
Finalist – Jim  Mealey “Sounds”
Finalist – Ron Searls  “On first hearing of Anne Bradstreet”

All award winners and finalists will read their poems at the Anne Bradstreet Poetry Contest Awards Ceremony on the Town Common on Saturday, May 6 at 1:00 PM on the band platform. (rain date Sat May 13)

Thank you to all who entered.  See you on Saturday May 6th on the NA Common.

Mark Bohrer North Andover Poet Laureate

Karen M. Kline  ChairNorth Andover Poet Laureate Committee

Sunday, April 16, 2023

2023 Submissions Extended Through Sunday April 16

Submissions Extended Through Sunday April 16

To all North Andover Community members - 

If you were thinking of submitting a poem to this year's contest, you can still do so. We've extended the submission deadline through Sunday April 16.

Thanks to all who submitted poems so far to this all-ages community poetry event.
Anne Bradstreet herself is this year's theme: "Let Anne Be Your Muse". Look to Anne's poetry and history for inspiration.

Here are the rules, which has links to her poetry & story:
2023 Anne Bradstreet Poetry Contest - Rules and Info

Mark Bohrer, North Andover Poet Laureate
Karen M. Kline, Chair, North Andover Poet Laureate Committee



Saturday, March 11, 2023

2023 Anne Bradstreet Poetry Contest - Announcement and Rules

 Announcing

2023 Anne Bradstreet 
Poetry Contest

In honour of Anne Bradstreet, 
the North Andover 
Poet Laureate Committee is announcing 
the 3rd annual Anne Bradstreet Poetry Contest!

All who live, work or go to school in North Andover are invited to take part.

Our town is the home of America's first published poet, Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672). Anne arrived here at the very founding of the town in the early 1640's with her husband and their young children. She made her life in the frontier settlement.  She made her mark in the world of poetry right here in North Andover. Her first collection, "The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America", published in 1650, was widely read in America and England, an uncommon achievement for a woman in the post-Elizabethan English world. Anne lived and raised her family - and wrote her poetry - right here. Anne is an inspiration to all of us on the Poet Laureate Committee, and why we named the contest after her.

In her spirit, we are inviting all members of the North Andover community to submit a poem on this year’s theme:

2023 Theme: 

Let Anne Be Your Muse 

    • Write a poem inspired by Anne’s poetry or her history
    • Poems can be any style, free verse or rhyming
    • See where Anne’s words and life can take you! 
Anne's Poetry:
https://www.annebradstreetpoetrycontest.com/2023/03/anne-bradstreet-poetry.html
 
Anne's History: 

OFFICIAL CONTEST RULES
  • Open to all who either live, work or go to school in North Andover
  • Submit in one of 5 age categories: Grades 1-2, Grades 3-5, Middle School, High School, Adult
  • The poems can be any style. They can be rhyming or free verse. Write a poem however the theme speaks to you.
  • The top three in each category will be invited to perform their poems on the North Andover Common
  • Include the poem from Anne or the event from her history that you are using as your inspiration
  • By submitting a poem, the author / parent / guardian gives the North Andover Poet Laureate Committee the right to publish the poems online and on the FB North Andover Poets page, and in a collected book of poems for the event.
  • Parents/guardians of school age children have the right to approve what identifying  information for school age children is published: 1) the name, school, and grade, 2) initials, school and grade, or 3) only school and grade is published.
  • The poem copyright remains with the author.
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR POEM
  • Email to: annebradstreetpoetrycontest@gmail.com
  • Subject: Age Category (Grade 1-2, Grade 3-5, middle school, high school, adult)
  • Body: your name, email address, mailing address, age category, poem
  • If sending an attached document, include the name and other information in each document
  • Those without email address, ask an adult in the household with email to submit
CONTEST DATES
  • April 15 Final date to submit poems
  • April 29 Winners and finalists announced 
  • May 6 Award ceremony on the North Andover Common - Winners and finalists will read their poems. (May 13 rain date)  Last year we had more than 120 people in attendance!
Email submissions and questions to annebradstreetpoetrycontest@gmail.com

The contest and poetry celebration is sponsored by the
North Andover Poet Laureate Committee
Karen M. Kline, Chair
Mark Bohrer, Poet Laureate




Saturday, March 4, 2023

Anne Bradstreet - An Intro To Her Poetry

An intro to Anne's poetry with links to her poems
plus selected verses from some of her famous poems  
(including a guide and worksheet for early elementary grades)

Anne Bradstreet was the first person to be recognized as an accomplished New World Poet. Her volume of poetry The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America received considerable favorable attention when it was first published in London in 1650. Eight years after it appeared it was listed by William London in his Catalogue of the Most Vendible Books in England, and George III is reported to have had the volume in his library. Bradstreet's work has endured, and she is still considered to be one of the most important early American poets.
 
Anne's poetry was shaped by her Puritan beliefs and life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Her poetry gives the reader a chance to understand the push and pull of the world of an educated and intelligent Puritan woman. Anne's contentment in her home life and her deep love and commitment to her family seem sometimes at odds with her feminist beliefs and lack of fervor for some elements of Puritanism. And yet she remained dedicated to Puritan religious ideals throughout her life.

Her skill and attention to meter as well as her evocative syntax brought attention to her poetry at time when there were few celebrated female poets. As she grew older, her poetry became more natural and her subject centered around her life as a Puritan mother and wife in the new Massachusetts Bay Colony. 

From poetryfoundation.com:
Throughout her life Bradstreet was concerned with the issues of sin and redemption, physical and emotional frailty, death and immortality. Much of her work indicates that she had a difficult time resolving the conflict she experienced between the pleasures of the senses and family experience against the promises of heaven. As a Puritan she struggled to subdue her attachment to the world, but as a woman she sometimes felt more strongly connected to her husband, children, and community than to God.

Links to Anne's Poetry:



Student Guide and Worksheet 
for early elementary school grades




Selections from a few of Anne's poems:
To sing of Wars, of Captains, and of Kings,
Of Cities founded, Common-wealths begun, 
... 
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. 
If what I do prove well, it won’t advance,
They’ll say it’s stol’n, or else it was by chance.
 
If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
 
I had eight birds hatcht in one nest 
Four Cocks were there, and Hens the rest.
I nurst them up with pain and care,
No cost nor labour did I spare
Till at the last they felt their wing,
Mounted the Trees and learned to sing.
 
In silent night when rest I took,
For sorrow near I did not look,
I wakened was with thund’ring noise
And piteous shrieks of dreadful voice.
That fearful sound of “fire” and “fire,”
Let no man know is my Desire.
...
Then, coming out, behold a space
The flame consume my dwelling place.
And when I could no longer look,
I blest His name that gave and took,
That laid my goods now in the dust.
Yea, so it was, and so ‘twas just.
Under the cooling shadow of a stately Elm
Close sate I by a goodly Rivers side,
Where gliding streams the Rocks did overwhelm;
A lonely place, with pleasures dignifi’d.
I once that lov’d the shady woods so well,
Now thought the rivers did the trees excel,
And if the sun would ever shine, there would I dwell.
 

First page of her books as published in 1650 and 1678.

Anne Bradstreet: A Short History
https://www.annebradstreetpoetrycontest.com/2023/03/a-short-history-of-anne-bradstreet.html

Anne's History - more links: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Bradstreet 
https://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/cambridge-harvard/anne-bradstreet/
https://allpoetry.com/Anne-Bradstreet 
 
Valley of the Poets - Karen M. Kline - Local Poetry and the Arts 

  

 


Wednesday, March 1, 2023

A Short History of Anne Bradstreet

Tracing Anne's life from England to North Andover




Anne’s home once stood near the Parson Barnard House, on the other side of present day Osgood Street. 



Anne Dudley Bradstreet was born to Dorothy Yorke Dudley and Thomas Dudley in 1612 in Northamptonshire, England. Her father was a steward at the estate of the Earl of Lincoln. The estate housed a large library to which Bradstreet was given access. Under her father's guidance and that of many tutors, Anne received a comprehensive literary education. At the age of sixteen, she married Simon Bradstreet.

In 1630, the young couple and the Dudley family embarked for America under the leadership of Puritan John Winthrop. The family settled in Massachusetts Bay. Anne and Simon Bradstreet were among the founding families of Boston and Cambridge.

In the early 1640’s  Anne was pregnant with their 6th child. Simon moved the family from Ipswich to Andover, in what is present day North Andover, with the Stevens, Osgood, Johnson, Farnum, and Barker families, and founds a frontier settlement. During the coming years, Simon was often away from Anne in service to the colony’s government, including Simon serving as governor of the colony. Anne gave birth to eight children between 1633 and 1652.

As she attended to her household duties and raised her children, she also found time to write poetry. Her poetry often focused on the themes of family, morality, salvation, nature, love, and religion.

1650  Her book of poems, The Tenth Muse, Lately Sprung Up in America was published in England. Bradstreet's poems garnered considerable success and established her as the first American poet. Although Bradstreet was a prolific writer, The Tenth Muse was the only collection of her poetry published during her lifetime.

1666  The Bradstreet home burned down in a fire. Anne and family escaped with their lives, but lost their possessions. including their library of 800+ books. Anne wrote a poem about it. A side note: The Bradstreets had twice as many books in their library as Rev. John Harvard did when, in 1639, he donated his 400 book library to Harvard.

1672  Anne Bradstreet died of consumption (tuberculosis) at age 60. Details of her illnesses and condition at time of death are recorded by her son, Simon. There is no record of where she was buried. However, based on Simon’s note that his mother was buried 3 days after her death, with no other comment, it is most likely she was buried in the Old Burial Ground on Academy Road at North Andover.

1678  A second edition of her poems and writings titled “Several Poems Compiled with Great Variety of Wit and Learning” was published in Boston – one of the earliest volumes of poems printed in America. 

It's worth nothing that neither of the original editions of her poems had Anne’s name on the cover page. Credits were given to “a Gentlewoman of Those parts” and “a Gentlewoman in New-England”.  

No portrait of Anne Bradstreet exists. This stained glass is in St. Botolph's Church in Boston, Lincolnshire, England and was created in 1948. The picture  of Anne sitting at her desk (above) is from the19th century, by Edmund H. Garrett.

However her journals, written in her own hand, survive. Those journals are the property of the North Andover Historical Society. 

Her poems and writings still speak to us today.


Anne's Poetry:

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

An Anne Bradstreet Timeline

Anne Bradstreet: She Walked The Same Land

Anne’s home once stood near the Parson Barnard House, on the other side of present day Osgood Street. We really can “walk the same land” as she did, just by walking the old cemetery on Academy Road, or by walking on Court Street, the first street in North Andover.



Some personal thoughts from the Poet Laureate

The phrase “walk the same land” also means something else to me. In addition to walking the same land that she did, through her poetry we can walk with Anne and know her experiences first hand. 

I have this belief  that when you read a poem – the moment the poem is read – it is an essential moment of meeting between you and the poet. You are meeting the poet, fresh, alive. Whether it is across a span of days, weeks, years or centuries since the poem was written, you meet the poet face to face in the poem.

"She walked the same land…" We can walk that land. When we read her poems, we live in the same moment as the living Anne. The eternal can be found in that moment of meeting. That is what happens when I read Anne Bradstreet.

As I learned more about her history, the more incredible Anne Dudley Bradstreet’s life story became. Anne's poetry tells her story. Anne's poetry tells us who she was.

[See the bottom of this page for more links to Anne's history.]

An Anne Dudley Bradstreet Timeline


1603  Queen Elizabeth dies, James VI of Scotland takes the throne of England as James 1st. We are now in post-Elizabethan England. 

1612  Anne Dudley is born in the English Midlands, in Northampton, to Thomas and Dorothy Dudley. 

1616  William Shakespeare dies. The same year, her father Thomas Dudley is hired as steward to manage the affairs of the Earl of Lincoln. Thomas moves his family 60 miles to Lincolnshire. 
The Earl’s estate was a center of Puritan religion and thought in England. Dudley was already recognized for his Puritan virtues by the time he entered the Earl's service.

1618  Anne is six years old. While living at the estate of the Earl of Lincoln, Anne begins being tutored. She studies Greek, Latin, French, Hebrew. In her journals, she noted, "When I was about seven, I had at one time eight tutors, in languages, music, dancing." She has access to the large library at the estate, and the support and direction of her father. Her level of education is unusual for a girl in post-Elizabethan England, but not completely uncommon, as there was some precedent coming from the example of Queen Elizabeth herself.

As she comes of age, Anne is strongly influenced by Walter Raleigh’s “History of the World”, and especially the sixteenth century French poet Guillaume du Bartas, “The Divine Weekes and Workes”, a history of creation and of the world in verse.

1622  19 year old Simon Bradstreet is hired by Thomas Dudley as his assistant, under the Earl of Lincoln.

1625  Charles 1st, son of James 1st takes the throne. Where James the 1st was relatively tolerant of other religious groups, Charles re-institutes repressive policies against the Puritans. This convinces a number of Puritan ministers and their congregations to emigrate to North America.

1628  A remarkable year for Anne: At sixteen, she survives smallpox, experiences conversion, and marries Simon Bradstreet. Anne wrote later about her adolescence, “about 14 or 15, I found my heart more carnal, and sitting loose from God,” but her “vanity and the follies of youth”, as she described them, were repented. 

She took her recovery from smallpox as a sign of God’s hand. Her thinking about this was mirrored in her poetry and her journals throughout her life, where the events of life indicated the guiding hand of God.

Although she prayed that God would “wean” her affections from an immoderate love for the things of this world, her attention remained on them during her life as metaphors to learn from. She said  “For were earthly comforts permanent, who would look for heavenly?”. While she strove for the Puritan ideal of dedication to God and God’s will, it’s clear to me in her poetry that she also felt the pull of things of this world.

1630 In England  Anne is 18. Anne and Simon Bradstreet, and her parents, join John Winthrop and a large group of Puritans to immigrate to New England. The “Winthrop Fleet” of 11 ships carries approximately 700 Puritans to Massachusetts. It is part of the Great Migration which brought 20,000 Puritans to New England between 1620 and 1640. The Dudleys and the Bradstreets sail on John Winthrop’s flagship, the “Arbella”. After surviving a difficult three-month crossing, they dock at Salem, Massachusetts on July 22, 1630.

1630 In America John Winthrop and the Puritans finally settle on the Shawmut peninsula.
Anne is one of the founders of Boston. Anne and Simon and their now growing family live in Boston, then move across the river to found New Towne, which is later renamed Cambridge. As a result, Anne is one of the founders of a 2nd great city in Massachusetts. When in Cambridge, the Dudleys and Bradstreets lived in what is now Harvard Square. 

1634  Simon moves Anne and family again, to Ipswich.

Early 1640’s  While Anne is pregnant with their 6th child, Simon moves the family from Ipswich to Andover, in what is present day North Andover, with the Stevens, Osgood, Johnson, Farnum, and Barker families, and starts a frontier settlement. During the coming years, Simon is often away from Anne in service to the colony’s government, including Simon serving as governor of the colony. 

1650  Anne Bradstreet’s book of poetry “The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America” is published in London by her brother-in-law, John Woodbridge. Anne is 38. It is the first book of poetry published by anyone in English America.

1666  The Bradstreet home burns down in a fire. Anne and family escape with their lives, but lose their possessions. including their library of 800+ books. Anne writes a poem about it. Yes, for a poet, everything is material. 
A side note: The Bradstreets had twice as many books in their library as Rev. John Harvard did when, in 1639, he donated his 400 book library to Harvard.

1672  Anne Bradstreet dies of consumption (tuberculosis) at age 60. Details of her illnesses and condition at time of death are recorded by her son, Simon. There is no record of where she was buried. However based on Simon’s note that his mother was buried 3 days after her death, with no other comment, it is most likely she was buried in the Old Burial Ground on Academy Road at North Andover.

1678  A second edition of her poems and writings titled “Several Poems Compiled with Great Variety of Wit and Learning” is published in Boston – one of the earliest volumes of poems printed in America. 

It's worth nothing that neither of the original editions of her poems had Anne’s name on the cover page. Credits were given to “a Gentlewoman of Those parts” and “a Gentlewoman in New-England”.  

Her poems and writings still speak to us today.