Book Review: Beyond Stateliest Marble

Yesterday, I finished reading a little volume entitled Beyond Stateliest Marble: the Passionate Femininity of Anne Bradstreet by Douglas Wilson. It is part of a series called "Leaders in Action", from which I have another biography I've never quite been able to get through. I plan to try again, however, after reading this one.

The biographies in this series include several distinct parts, and admittedly, the first section detailing the life and historical times of Anne Bradstreet was a bit dry. (Which is quite a concession from a history nerd, who really appreciated the historical background so carefully given... it just took me awhile to get into it.) After that, however, I was very pleased with the straightforward writing style (even if it was slightly ironic in a book about a poet).

Wilson did a great job of demonstrating just how Anne's Puritan beliefs informed every aspect of her life, and also just what those beliefs were. He dispelled many common myths about the Puritans and backed up his assertions with good historical and Scriptural data.

As a historian, I enjoyed the book and feel like I have a better grasp of where Anne Bradstreet's life and work fit into the broader scope of history. I had tended to imagine her out on her own living on a homestead somewhere, writing poetry constantly, but in fact, she lived in a close-knit colony, which really functioned like a town. She and her community were greatly affected by the political goings-on in England, and it was fascinating to have snippets of Anne's own writings scattered throughout the descriptions of the different turns of events in the English Civil War.

As a writer, I was encouraged by the fact that she did her writing in a few hours here and there, snatched from sleep. She was not a full-time writer by any means. I was also encouraged by the balance her life displayed between fulfilling her God-given duties to home and family, but also using the particular ability God had given her to its fullest.

As a Christian, and particularly as a Christian woman, I was encouraged by how Anne's life displayed not only submission to the authorities in her life and to the roles of daughter, wife, and mother, but also at the utter fulfillment she had in those roles. Wilson says it well, referring to the publication of her first book of poems (which was done without her knowledge):

"The publication of The Tenth Muse revealed Anne Bradstreet's profound humility. She accepted it, and she took pleasure in it. But she did all this without altering the direction and course of her life, and without being distracted by it. Her identity was not that of a poet. She did not adopt poetry as a minor 'career'. She was a wife and a mother, and she used her poetic gifts from the vantage point of that identity. She did not cling to them as a substitute for that identity." (p.91)

Anne Bradstreet's life is remarkable as an example of a woman whose devotion to God fueled every aspect of her life, whether writing, family, or even just how she viewed the world around her. This biography demonstrates the power her godly example had on her family and community, as well as the power it can still have on Christians as we look back to the life she lived as she walked with God.