In the Puritan society religion was the most acceptable and often times only appropriate subject for women to write about.  Religion was the most highly regarded aspect of life at this time, and most of the literature was a recording of a journey of faith.  In this article American Puritans' writings "were often inspired by the sensible world, a world they rendered in concrete images; that they often used sensuous and sensual language to illustrate spiritual states and religious doctrine; and they believed symbols capable of bridging the gap between the visible world of creation and its invisible creator." 

A handful of literary women including Anne Bradstreet who was an English born immigrant to the United States emerged as very few women writers during the Puritan society, and Bradstreet being a very successful one at that.  Bradstreet, a romantic lyricist, was exceedingly educated for a woman of her time, and although there is no picture of her in existence today, she was defined through her poetry as "a loving wife, a devoted mother, a questing Puritan, and a sensitive poet."  Three of her more well known poems are, "The Prologue," "Upon the Burning of Our House July 10th, 1666," and "Before the Birth of One of Her Children." 

In the revolutionary period politeness of conversation is what drove class distinction.  Because of the emphasis on this, men's interactions with women and their propositions towards them had to be done through using verbal ques.  Women writers of this period promoted this view of women to make sure they were able to play with language, and react properly in all situations.  Fictional women were displayed in literary women's texts to give women of the revolutionary period a witty example of how to use language to scure people and manipulate situations.  Equality through language usage was the objective of the women writers at this time. 

Bryant, John. The Pearson Custom Library of American Literature. 1. New York: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009. 338-339. Print.

Phillis Wheatley, a slave brought to Boston from Senegal, and purchased from a tailor by the name of John Wheatley in 1761 with the intention of being his wife Susanna's companion became the first significant African-American poet.  "The Wheatley household was religious and seriously concerned about the soul and mind of young Phillis" (p. 338).   Phillis Wheatley was fluent in English after only a year and four months of study, and very quickly achieved recognition as a prodigy as she, "hungered after knowledge and sought instruction in the classical languages, ancient mythology, and in English verse" (p. 338).  At the age of thirteen, Wheatley's "To the University at Cambridge in New England" was put on paper, which addressed the provisions that dictated who could become educated.  In 1770 at the age of sixteen or seventeen her first published poem, "On the Death of the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield" came out in print.  "The correctness of her versification, her polite diction, and her use of classical and Biblical imagery were all evidence that she merited her public role" (p. 339).  Phillis Wheatley was very accomplished not only as a woman of her time, but also as an African American.  "To S.M., [Scipio Moorhead] a Young African Painter, On Seeing His Works" and "On Being Brought from Africa to America" from Wheatley's "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773)" are two verses that have come to mesmerize readers today.  Her work has been well known historically, and Phillis Wheatley is to this day appreciated for her accomplishments.