Anne Bradstreet

Anne Bradstreet’s feelings about her home represent the most material conflict. When her home burned down she wrote the poem to voice these feelings of hers. She describes the awakening to the “shrieks of dreadful voice” and going out to watch “the flame consume” her “dwelling place”. But she comforts herself with good Puritan dogma. The burning of the house is God’s doing and his doings should not be questioned. In looking over the stanzas where she

In the author to her book Anne Bradstreet presents a poem that express how she felt when one of her poems was published .. The complete poem is an extended metaphor of an ugly child she created using the human characteristic of motherhood as part of the conceit.. Her choice of metaphor was influenced by her status as a women cause they didn't have access to advanced education as men for the reason of their gender. She uses the whole poem to deceive to people that her poetry isn't made for their view, that's why she says its “ ill form-d”:1 as an excuse that her poems are not perfect as the other ones who are meant to be published.. she expresses that her poetry is in ugly shape and is not qualified for people to read but in reality her

In the first lines of “One Art,” Bishop’s tone is that of a melancholy nature. She states that “losing isn’t hard to master” (line 1). She follows this by proclaiming that everything intends to “be lost” from the beginning, so disaster should not be felt when those losses take place (line 3). Erin Christian talks somewhat of this in her essay, “On Loss in Elizabeth Bishop’s ‘One Art’.” One may infer that Bishop’s tone, in these lines, reflects this opinion of easiness with the rhyming of the word “master” with “disaster” (Christian 541). This style is used in a villanelle to be rigid and almost unplanned, which reflects the tone of Bishop’s words in that her opinions and statements throughout are rather unfocused or disorganized. The way that she encourages her readers to “lose something every day” is, in her view, a way to get used to the

Through the poem, one is also able to determine the cultural values, beliefs, and behavior Bradstreet’s society at the time. The Motivation for writing the poem People often wonder what motivated Bradstreet to create her masterpiece, “Contemplation”. However, looking back at the circumstances that she faced in life and the

This internal war starts the second that you set foot in this unknown word as a baby, all the way up to the last step you take to say your last goodbyes to this world. The poem begins with a life of a child in whom people around him tended to call the child “...crybaby or poor or fatty or crazy and made [the child] an alien…”(Sexton), and the child “...drank their acid and concealed it.”(Sexton) illustrating how painful it is, not react and take actions,but counseling is the best method the child seemed fit. Furthermore, courage in a person can also cause a war, in which the author shows the imagery, how the child’s “...courage was a small coal that [the child] kept swallowing.”(Sexton) and encouraging to society to make his own future. As an adult, the person endured many difficulties, such as the of enduring “...a great despair…”(Sexton), but you didn’t do it with a companion but rather “...did it alone.”(Sexton) and endured that suffering within yourself. Being an adult is not only passing a time with your loved ones and remembering the ones that sacrificed their time to make you who you are now, from your teachers to your peers to your parents, but to actually live your life the fullest and make each day worth living.Until the last moment that has been waiting since the beginning in which the death “...opens the back door...” and “...[the adult will] put on [his] carpet slippers and stride out.”(Sexton), exemplifying how all you have done, from engulfing the pain given by the society to living your whole life just to see a tear of happiness from seeing your grandchild, will not be taken with you at the moment when you really need it the

"The Author to Her Book" shows Bradstreet's feelings about the unauthorized printing of her work. She expresses her modesty about her ability to write by comparing her work to "homespun cloth" meaning that is was coarse and unrefined. Bradstreet also uses humor to express her feelings about the publication of her work without corrections, but there is still some genuine discomfort. "At thy return my blushing was not small" shows that she was a bit embarrassed about the world reading her rough drafts, but she amends her view towards the book as the poem continues. "Yet being mine own, at length affection would Thy blemishes amend…" illustrates that she truly loves her poetry, and after it is "cleaned" she takes pride in it. She show her delight in her work with the admonition "If for thy Father asked, say thou had'st none." Bradstreet wanted everyone to recognize her for the talented woman writer that she was, but requested this acknowledgment in a humble way.

Anne Bradstreet, as a poet, wrote as both a Puritan woman in her time and as a woman ahead of her time. Zach Hutchins analyzed this tension in “The Wisdom of Anne Bradstreet: Eschewing Eve and Emulating Elizabeth”, and makes a primary argument that three of Bradstreet’s poems provide evidence that Bradstreet rejects the Puritan views of a woman while keeping her own personal faith. Hutchins fither his argument by declaring that readers should not view Bradstreet as a symbol of rebellion or submission, instead as a symbol of wisdom.

Another poem titled “The Author to Her Book” gives the reader the image of a baby being born. Bradstreet critics her works again and again seemingly portraying her works are not good enough. She refers to the “child” having blemishes and crippling handicaps that represents the deep faults and shortcomings in her work. Washing the child, rubbing off a blemish, and stretching its joints but failing to improve his imperfections all contribute to an image of Bradstreet rewriting her book. Dreadfully trying to increase the quality and standards in her work, the more imperfections she found. Towards the end of the poem Bradstreet talks about how she would give her ugly “child” new clothes and it just appears that her real life actions contradict her poem. She is actually very poor in life and could not afford new clothes thus sending her children away from the house.

Bradstreet wrote “A Letter To Her Husband, Absent Upon Public Employment” when she was missing the presence of her husband as he was far away at work. “Limbs now numb” Bradstreet felt like she was nothing without her husband with her. While her husband is gone Bradstreet consoles herself by looking at her children that resemble her husband. Most Puritan women do not write like Bradstreet because they were not allowed to express how they feel about their husbands.

One Art by Elizabeth Bishop is a poem that explores loss in comparison to an art; however, this art is not one to be envied or sought after to succeed at. Everyone has experienced loss as the art of losing is presented as inevitably simple to master. The speaker’s attitude toward loss becomes gradually more serious as the poem progresses.

In lines six through nine Bradstreet associates the embarrassment she feels due to her unperfected work to the embarrassment a parent feels due to an irritable child. She feels ashamed that the "errors were not lessened" (line 6) before the work was printed and refers to it as a "rambling brat" who is "one unfit for light" (line 8-9) because her "child" was taken from her before she had time to prepare it to go out into the world. She is

In the opening line of “The Author to Her Book”, Bradstreet makes use of a metaphor, in which the “ill-form offspring” (1) emblematizes her book, “The Tenth Muse”, and to create a mother-child relationship between her and the book. The child metaphor allows readers to know that she is not satisfied with her writing skills, but has a devotional bond with it. She points out that her book should never be read by a literature expert due to the wide amount of errors that can be found in her work “made in raggs” (5). She expresses she “wash´d thy face” (13), trying to improve her work, but fails to observe any changes in it and fails in the process. These serve as examples to expose how Puritan women underrated and depreciated their skills, making Puritan community believe that they are inferior to

Bradstreet wanted her poetry to remain private. She accepted her poetry unconditionally, like a mother accepts her child, because if she tried to correct the poem's flaws more flaws appeared. A distinct expression of Bradstreet true love to her

In “The Author to Her Book,” Bradstreet is awash in indecision and internal conflicts over the merits and shortfalls of her creative abilities and the book that she produced. This elaborate internal struggle between pride and shame is manifested through a painstaking conceit in which she likens her book to her own child.

Anne Bradstreet was not the typical Puritan author. She wrote sweet and loving poems that greatly contrasted from other writers of her time. She did not write the ever so popular sermons that told people that they were going to hell and there was nothing they could do about it. Bradstreet was a rarity in Puritan times, she was a very educated woman that worked on something other than being a woman in the household. She was one of a kind and the beginning of an era. Using literary criticism when reading Anne Bradstreet’s poems adds a deeper understanding of her character and difficulties in life.