Homage to Mistress Bradstreet-- a Poem With Pictures by Ben Shahn

New York: Farrar, Straus & Cudahy, 1956. 1st ed first printing. Illustrated tan cloth in illustrated d.j. with red spine, in archival mylar wrap; 1 volume (unpaged) illustrations 25 cm Near fine in near fine(-) to very good++ dust jacket -- top corners chipped; owners' signature to front leaf in very good+ dust-jacket. Hardcover.

Homage to Mistress Bradstreet, long poem by John Berryman, written in 194853 and published in 1956. Noted for its intensity, it is a tribute to colonial poet Anne Bradstreet that also reveals much about the author. The poem examines the tension between Bradstreets personal life and her artistic life, concluding in a spirit of fatalism. It shows throughout a loving and intimate grasp of the details of American history. The work primarily examines creative repression, religious apostasy, and the temptation to adultery.