Iron till it be thoroughly heated is incapable to be wrought; so God sees good to cast some men into the furnace of affliction, and then beats them on his anvil into what frame he pleases.

Bradstreet was not responsible for her writing becoming public. Four years after the death of Anne in 1672 Simon Bradstreet married for a second time to a lady also named Anne (Gardiner). A very serious tone for the poem.

Anne Bradstreet (born Anne Dudley; c. It was met with a positive reception in both the Old World and the New World.