Anne Bradstreet-an Author to Her Book Essay

"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.

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

"At thy return my blushing was not small, / My rambling brat (in print) should mother call." (7-8) These two lines show her embarrassment of the book. She was obviously not ready for the book to be expressed to the public, and she was mortified at the amount of mistakes she had made. She was ashamed to call it her book, and symbolized it as a "brat" (8) in her poem. She sees it as an ill-disciplined child for leaving her sight. "Yet being mine own, at length affection would / Thy blemishes amend, if so I could: / I washed thy face, but more defects I saw, / And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw." (11-14) Bradstreet sees her book as a child that only a mother could love. She wanted to revise the book, but while she was reading the published copy, in her mind making changes, she only came across more problems. She would change one thing that would, in turn, make another thing wrong. She uses a loving yet critical tone for her book in this part of the poem. She does love her book, but, as aforementioned, she was not ready to publish it.

On the contrary, Bradstreet was far from being kidnapped. Because Bradstreet had different experiences than Rowlandson, the themes and messages behind her poetry is different than Mary’s. Bradstreet’s poetry was mostly about her own feelings. According to one

Anne Bradstreet was not only the first English-speaking, North American poet, but she was also the first American, woman poet to have her works published. In 1650, without her knowledge, Bradstreet’s brother-in-law had many of her poems published in a collection called The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up In America. Although these poems did not reflect what would be her best work, they did emulate what would be the greatest influence on all of her writing. Anne Bradstreet’s Puritan life was the strongest, and the most obvious influence on her work. Whether it was her reason for writing, how she wrote, or what she wrote about, Bradstreet’s poems would reflect the influence of Puritan life and doctrine.

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.

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

Anne Bradstreet's poem, To My Dear and Loving Husband, shows her profound love and undying affection for her husband. For a Puritan woman who is supposed to be reserved, Bradstreet makes it her obligation to enlighten her husband of her devotion. She conveys this message through her figurative language and declarative tone by using imagery, repetition, and paradoxes.

In lines 15-17, Bradstreet comments on her “foolish, broken, blemished Muse” as something that can’t be fixed or mended because “alas, no art is able, / ‘Cause nature made it so irreparable.” We get this sense that Bradstreet sees her female gender as something broken and unrepairable. The English Oxford Dictionary defines a feminist as “an advocate or supporter of the rights and equality of women,” and our definition today hasn’t strayed from that. Bradstreet comes across in this double voice that 1) supports women and encourages their success, but also 2) is feeling as though her womanhood is what is holding her back. It’s that second voice that overshadows the first one, and has modern feminists criticizing Bradstreet’s early writing. In Harvey’s article she includes commentary from critics who are interested in Bradstreet’s position as a female poet within a male poetic tradition, and she writes that they “almost inevitable comment on ‘The Prologue’…Many find these early ‘public’ poems ‘imitative’ or ‘derivative’ and favor instead Bradstreet’s later ‘personal’ poems for either their more feminine or their more expressive qualities.” More specifically they talk about Bradstreet’s line of the “carping tongue” (25). Though it’s not sure as to who she’s referring to in this line, readers

In addition, in this quote, Bradstreet acknowledges that even if her writing skills are extraordinary, that because she is a woman, no one will accept it or believe it.

Each writer has their own distinct format of protest, but Bradstreet uses her polite and censored language in a fashion that appears self-deprecating, but in reality is perhaps a defensive offense against her critics and those who did not believe in the abilities of a woman. Bradstreet’s earlier works were full of passionate language and ideas, some which would be criticized by many of her superiors in the faith for their content and by English thinkers for her structure. They were very good for her time and the idea that a woman was in reality challenging the best writers of that time was sickening to many and they believed she stole these pieces from a man. In order to save face with her faith community and pacify her critics, she would write

In all of Bradstreet’s works she is constantly expressing herself through her figurative language that whoever reads the poetry

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.

The whole essay documented the process by which the narrator attempted to gain the acceptance and acknowledgement from her father as a writer. “In a sense, everything I have ever written has been for him, to win his approval even though I know my father can’t read English words”(Cisneros, 140). From her father’s perspective, her future life was restrained to domesticity as a wife. Therefore, as a daughter, even though the narrator had the potential to become a brilliant writer, her father and cultural background continued to stifle her.

In her first stanza, Bradstreet immediately appears to demean her own writing proclaiming that certain "superior things" are out