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Summary Of The Author To Her Book By Anne Bradstreet

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Bradstreet’s inner Struggle in a Nutshell: Motherhood is not a limitation, it’s an asset

The poet Anne Bradstreet resorts to her stance as an industrious woman to further elaborate her poems using her two significant roles in Puritan society: wife and mother. In “The Author to Her Book” we can contemplate how the role of the mother has taken a big toll on her writing. Consequently, the poem itself is comprised of one long stanza in which the conceit correlates the poem and an ‘ugly child’, represented by the “ill-form’d offspring” (1). Why did she decide to use this juxtaposition? An idea that has come to my mind is how “poor” (25) circumstances are conveyed as a liability weighing over her head, ergo affecting her reasoning and making her believe that the only way in which she could possibly develop her poetry is through experience. Also, as a female poet, she probably wanted to transmit an idea that wouldn’t be perceived as conventional, but would accomplish telling her apart from the rest of the male poets.This leads us to the crux of our argument: Bradstreet is taking up the role of a pioneer by using …show more content…

I stretched thy joynts to make thee even feet,/ Yet still thou run’st more hobling then is meet;” give us a perfect child imagery as well as a broader view of her innermost thoughts. She isn’t merely expressing her vexation upon the careless errors that haven’t been “lessened” (8), but proceeds to personify her book of poems by naming the struggles of ‘raising and nurturing human life’. Moreover, readers who aren’t necessarily poets can sympathize with her displeasure and chagrin of having something that intimate be taken from her. We could interpret her fervent emotions as ‘maternal instincts’. Therefore, the poem justifies how being a mother gives you an ideal edge in

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