“An Author to Her Book” Anne Bradstreet

Posted on March 6, 2012 by themeedz

In this poem, Bradstreet uses an extended metaphor to compare her book to a child. Like a child, her book is presented to the world before it is ready and instead of being a source of pride and enjoyment, it is a source of shame and disappointment. Bradstreet attempts to mend the flaws and fix the shortcomings, describing it in the same way a parent would advise and mold a child to improve (lines 12-18). However, this only gimps her book even further and she uses personification to describe its now blemished face and hobbled walk. A quick search about the author revealed that much of her work was published without her consent. This explains the lines”Til snatched from thence by friends…to public view”. Of the reasons her book received harsh criticism was the fact that she never intended it for public view (line 4) or perhaps she had not revised it yet (hence the book being described as “in rags, halting to the press to trudge”). Despite her embarrassment, I didn’t feel Bradstreet’s tone as hateful or malicious. Even though the book caused her ridicule and criticism, she still attempted to fix it out of love (line 11). Similar to the manner a child may embarrass his mother by dirtying new clothes in public and the mother would scold him and still clean him up to improve his appearance.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

3 Responses to “An Author to Her Book” Anne Bradstreet

  1. Deicy says:
    March 7, 2012 at 9:53 am

    This is a great interpretation of the poem. The brief background provided gave a better insight on the writers word choice. Lines like “Til Snatched from thence by friends….to public view” isn’t well understood until the background is explained. Bradstreet’s use of personification shows her conflicting relationship between her and her work. It’s not always how she wanted it to come out, but she loves it anyway. His/Her example at the end

    Similar to the manner a child may embarrass his mother by dirtying new clothes in public and the mother would scold him and still clean him up to improve his image

    really pulled it together and made the poem relatable to our own childhood.

    Reply
  2. Jody R. Rosen says:
    March 7, 2012 at 5:38 pm

    It’s often surprising how a little bit of information can illuminate a poem, which you’ve done. Can you include the citation for the source, though–we want to make sure we uphold the rules of academic integrity, which includes giving credit to sources for ideas that are not common knowledge.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *