This sounds like odd advice to the modern ear. Chrissy just finished a biography of Anne Bradstreet by Douglas Wilson. These are two of the last paragraphs in the book that come in the way of application of Anne’s story:
“If we are homeschooling, or if we are associated with Christian schools, we will reinstitute the memorization of poetry in the curriculum. Not only will we reinstitute memorization, but we will reinstitute memorization in vast amounts. It is a shame that several generations ago even the government schools required more poetic memorization than do many Christian schools today.
“What we are looking for is a reformation and a renaissance. We are not looking for a ‘movement.’ We are looking forward to the day when a Christian who wants to ‘make a difference’ will not think first of running for Congress, but will rather find a pleasant place in the library and will set himself to write a poem. He might do well to dedicate it to Anne Bradstreet.”
