Prologue

In stanza four, Bradstreet notes that she cannot be “like that fluent sweet-tongued Greek / Who lisp’d at first, in future times speak plain” (Lines 19-20), which is a reference to Demosthenes, an ancient Greek orator. As a young man, Demosthenes isolated himself due to a speech impediment that caused him to be bullied. Furthermore, when his guardians tried to steal his funds and lands, he could not argue against them—another drawback of non-fluid speech. As legend has it, Demosthenes then retreated to a private underground abode, where he practiced a disciplined routine, working on his diction, voice, and gestures until he achieved a sophisticated persona. Eventually, he won his case against his guardians and became a professional litigator and orator. Scholars commended his natural, accessible speech and his ability to strike a balance between common language and complicated concepts. Finding eloquence is a repeated concern for Bradstreet throughout her poetry, while balance is a recurrent theme. For Bradstreet, Demosthenes is a figure worthy of admiration since, although he faced a seemingly insurmountable obstacle, he did not have “a weak or wounded brain [that] admits no cure” (Line 24).