thesis for the author to her book

The Author to Her Book Summary & Analysis by Anne Bradstreet

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis
Poetic Devices
Vocabulary & References
Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme
Line-by-Line Explanations

"The Author to Her Book" was written in the mid-1600s by the Puritan poet Anne Bradstreet, after she and her family had emigrated from England to America. In the poem, Bradstreet explores her own feelings towards her one published collection of poetry, The Tenth Muse, Lately Sprung Up in America , which was supposedly published without her knowledge (though some critics cast doubt on this story). The poem expresses doubt and disappointment about her work from start to finish. This is achieved through an extended metaphor that characterizes the book as the "ill-form'd offspring" of the author's "feeble brain."

Read the full text of “The Author to Her Book”

The Full Text of “The Author to Her Book”

1 Thou ill-form’d offspring of my feeble brain,

2 Who after birth didst by my side remain,

3 Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,

4 Who thee abroad, expos’d to publick view,

5 Made thee in raggs, halting to th’ press to trudge,

6 Where errors were not lessened (all may judg).

7 At thy return my blushing was not small,

8 My rambling brat (in print) should mother call,

9 I cast thee by as one unfit for light,

10 Thy Visage was so irksome in my sight;

11 Yet being mine own, at length affection would

12 Thy blemishes amend, if so I could:

13 I wash’d thy face, but more defects I saw,

14 And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.

15 I stretched thy joynts to make thee even feet,

16 Yet still thou run’st more hobling then is meet;

17 In better dress to trim thee was my mind,

18 But nought save home-spun Cloth, i’ th’ house I find.

19 In this array ’mongst Vulgars mayst thou roam.

20 In Criticks hands, beware thou dost not come;

21 And take thy way where yet thou art not known,

22 If for thy Father askt, say, thou hadst none:

23 And for thy Mother, she alas is poor,

24 Which caus’d her thus to send thee out of door.

“The Author to Her Book” Summary

“the author to her book” themes.

Art and Creativity

See where this theme is active in the poem.

Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Author to Her Book”

Thou ill-form’d offspring of my feeble brain, Who after birth didst by my side remain, Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true, Who thee abroad, expos’d to publick view, Made thee in raggs, halting to th’ press to trudge, Where errors were not lessened (all may judg).

At thy return my blushing was not small, My rambling brat (in print) should mother call, I cast thee by as one unfit for light, Thy Visage was so irksome in my sight;

Lines 11-14

Yet being mine own, at length affection would Thy blemishes amend, if so I could: I wash’d thy face, but more defects I saw, And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.

Lines 15-16

I stretched thy joynts to make thee even feet, Yet still thou run’st more hobling then is meet;

Lines 17-19

In better dress to trim thee was my mind, But nought save home-spun Cloth, i’ th’ house I find. In this array ’mongst Vulgars mayst thou roam.

Lines 20-24

In Criticks hands, beware thou dost not come; And take thy way where yet thou art not known, If for thy Father askt, say, thou hadst none: And for thy Mother, she alas is poor, Which caus’d her thus to send thee out of door.

“The Author to Her Book” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

See where this poetic device appears in the poem.

Extended Metaphor

“the author to her book” vocabulary.

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

Ill-form'd
Rambling brat
Home-spun Cloth
I' th' house
'Mongst
See where this vocabulary word appears in the poem.

Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Author to Her Book”

Rhyme scheme, “the author to her book” speaker, “the author to her book” setting, literary and historical context of “the author to her book”, more “the author to her book” resources, external resources.

The Puritan Experience — A more in-depth look into the Puritan movement.

Bradstreet's Life Story — A valuable resource on Anne Bradstreet from the Poetry Foundation.

America's First Poet — An NPR piece about the life and work of Anne Bradstreet.

Homage to Mistress Bradstreet — A poetic tribute to Anne Bradstreet by John Berryman.

The Book in Question — Read the full text of Anne Bradstreet's collection of poetry (the book referred to in this poem), "The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America."

LitCharts on Other Poems by Anne Bradstreet

Before the Birth of One of Her Children

To My Dear and Loving Husband

Verses upon the Burning of our House

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

A Summary and Analysis of Anne Bradstreet’s ‘The Author to Her Book’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) was the first person in America, male or female, to have a volume of poems published. She’d been born in England, but was among a group of early English settlers in Massachusetts in the 1630s. In 1650, a collection of her poems, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America , was published in England, bringing her fame and recognition.

This volume was the first book of poems by an author living in America to be published. She continued to write poetry in the ensuing decades. In ‘The Author to Her Book’, one of Bradstreet’s most widely studied and analysed poems, she addresses The Tenth Muse . Here’s the poem.

The Author to Her Book

In heroic couplets (rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter), Bradstreet addresses her book, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America . In summary, she calls likens the book to a child or ‘offspring’, produced by her weak brain.

At thy return my blushing was not small, My rambling brat (in print) should mother call, I cast thee by as one unfit for light, The visage was so irksome in my sight;

Her poems were ‘snatched’ from her and taken away to be published without her consent, like somebody kidnapping her child.

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. I stretched thy joints to make thee even feet, Yet still thou run’st more hobbling than is meet; In better dress to trim thee was my mind, But nought save homespun cloth i’ th’ house I find.

When the poems were published, they were full of errors, which embarrassed Bradstreet as the author of them. She resolved lovingly to correct the ‘blemishes’ or faults within the printing of the book, like a mother dotingly improving her child. Sadly, in trying to correct these faults, she only succeeded in making it worse. When she writes:

I stretched thy joints to make thee even feet, Yet still thou run’st more hobbling than is meet;

She is making a pun on ‘feet’: the image calls to mind a mother trying to correct a child’s flat feet, but she’s also referring to the ‘feet’ or metre of her poems (with ‘run’st’ providing an additional pun in the following line). If we read ‘hobbling’ as trisyllabic, we also get a nice hobbling effect in the line, as the iambic ‘feet’ are disrupted by the awkwardness of the word. But we digress …

In this array ’mongst vulgars may’st thou roam. In critic’s hands beware thou dost not come, And take thy way where yet thou art not known; If for thy father asked, say thou hadst none; And for thy mother, she alas is poor, Which caused her thus to send thee out of door.

Bradstreet says she wanted to dress her child in nicer clothes – i.e., she wanted further editions of her book to be more presentable. But as we’ve already seen, every attempt to improve the state of her book has only made things worse. Oblivion and obscurity, Bradstreet decides, is the best fate for her book.

Female modesty? Perhaps. As a female writer published in the mid-seventeenth century, Anne Bradstreet may have felt the need to play down her own (obvious) talents as an accomplished poet; she was a wife and mother living in the new American colonies, and her duties, society would believe, were chiefly to her husband and children.

Yet Bradstreet overdoes such modesty (false modesty?) when referring to her ‘feeble brain’, and the idea that in trying to correct the flaws in her book she only succeeded in adding more casts her as a cack-handed and barely competent versifier, and her verse itself tells a different story. Is she pulling our leg here?

Other aspects of the poem, especially when we compare them with the book she’s referring to, suggest she may be. Throughout ‘The Author to Her Book’, Bradstreet compares the writing of her book to motherhood: her book is her ‘offspring’ to which she gave ‘birth’; she refers to herself as ‘thy mother’.

She is reminding us that she’s a woman, true, but she’s also slotting herself into an established tradition of male writers who had likened poetic creation to siring (or, occasionally, bearing) a child: Sir Philip Sidney (from whom, incidentally, Bradstreet could claim descent) talks of himself as ‘great with child’ in the opening sonnet of his sequence Astrophil and Stella.

Similarly, Elizabethan sonneteers often referred elsewhere to ‘begetting’ their poems (a usage which strengthens the theory that the ‘onlie begetter’ to whom the first edition of Shakespeare’s sonnets was dedicated, ‘Mr. W. H.’, is none other than Shakespeare himself, who ‘begat’ or sired the sonnets that follow).

But there’s a problem here. Early in the poem, Bradstreet implies that her poems had been ‘snatched’ from her and taken away without her consent, and yet in the final line she tells us that she willingly sent her book out into the world (implying with the word ‘poor’ that she did so in order to raise a bit of money through publishing it):

And for thy mother, she alas is poor, Which caused her thus to send thee out of door.

Is this the final comic twist of the knife, like the delayed punchline to a joke? Bradstreet was in on it all along after all: her brother-in-law was given her blessing to take her poems and publish them in England. America’s first published poet was also a canny publicist, and knew how to market her books for readers ‘back home’.

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The Author to Her Book

By Anne Bradstreet

Thou ill-form’d offspring of my feeble brain, Who after birth didst by my side remain, Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true, Who thee abroad, expos’d to publick view, Made thee in raggs, halting to th’ press to trudge, Where errors were not lessened (all may judg). At thy return my blushing was not small, My rambling brat (in print) should mother call, I cast thee by as one unfit for light, Thy Visage was so irksome in my sight; Yet being mine own, at length affection would Thy blemishes amend, if so I could: I wash’d thy face, but more defects I saw, And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw. I stretched thy joynts to make thee even feet, Yet still thou run’st more hobling then is meet; In better dress to trim thee was my mind, But nought save home-spun Cloth, i’ th’ house I find. In this array ’mongst Vulgars mayst thou roam. In Criticks hands, beware thou dost not come; And take thy way where yet thou art not known, If for thy Father askt, say, thou hadst none: And for thy Mother, she alas is poor, Which caus’d her thus to send thee out of door.

Summary of The Author to Her Book

Popularity of “The Author to Her Book”: Written by the top Puritan soul and a great poet of the 17 th century, Anne Bradstreet, this beautiful poem “The Author to Her Book” presents her ruminations about her upcoming poetic collection. Interestingly, that poetic collection appeared in the United States in the middle of the 17 th Titled as The Tenth Muse , this collection is stated to have appeared without her knowledge. The poem celebrates the thoughts of the author about her book, which she calls an “ill-formed” child. The popularity of the poem lies in the universal ideas about the writers, books, and critics Bradstreet highlighted back in the 17 th century.
“The Author to Her Book” As a Representative of Writing Advice : Presented as an extended metaphor , Bradstreet presents a speaker writer who thinks about her book as a spoiled or deformed child who has come into the world through a premature birth as she was not ready to get it published. Yet, some unscrupulous friends published it beforehand. When it reached her, she could not brook mistakes, irregularity of feet, notes, and linguistic errors. Although she argues, she tried her best to remove these blemishes. The book stayed the same. The more she rubbed it, the more it became spotted, and finally, she advised it like her own child that it should not fall into the hands of the critics. She further advised that in case the book is in the hands of such criticism, she must assert herself about her being an orphan and having a poor mother, the reason for its mistakes. In other words, the author wants to state it is all her mistake not to have done proofreading.
Major Themes in “The Author to Her Book”: Poetry, book printing, and unsatisfied creative power are three major thematic strands of the poem “The Author to Her Book.” As Bradstreet is herself a poet, she knows how difficult it is to write and then prune the poetic output and finally get it published. That is why she is rather surprised that her poetic book is out in the market. Also, when she wrote this poem, printing book was not an easy job. However, it is surprising that her friends managed to get her book printed but she is not satisfied as she finds various mistakes and spots in the book that she tries to remove. She fears that now the angry critics would vent up their spleen over it. Therefore, she advises the book that it must find good critics and narrate her story of being an orphan with a poor mother.

Analysis of Literary Devices Used in The Author to Her Book

Anne Bradstreet used various literary devices to enhance the intended impact of his poem. Some of the major literary devices Bradstreet has used are as follows.

Archaic: It means to use old English to write poetry or prose . The poem shows the use of archaic diction or language, such as “Thou ill-form’d offspring of my feeble brain.
Assonance : Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /i / in “Who after birth didst by my side remain” and the sound of /o/ in “And for thy Mother, she alas is poor.”
Alliteration : Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession, such as the sound of /m/ in “my mind”, and /w/ in “way where.”
Consonance : Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /t/ and /n/ in “Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true” and the sound of /s/ in “In this array ’mongst Vulgars mayst thou roam.”
Imagery : Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. Anne Bradstreet used imagery in this poem, such as “In this array ’mongst Vulgars mayst thou roam”, “And take thy way where yet thou art not known” and “If for thy Father askt, say, thou hadst none.”
Irony : It means to the contradictory meanings of the words used in different contexts . For example, Bradstreet used irony when she says that “And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw” which shows that she intended to remove a spot but it widened.
Metaphor : It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between objects that are different in nature. The poet has used the extended metaphor of the book, comparing it to a child.
Personification : It means the attribution of human emotions to inanimate objects. The poet used the book as a personification in the last verses as she addresses the book as a human being.
Symbolism : Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem shows symbols, such as the brain, friends, press, errors, and a book to show creativity.

Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in The Author to Her Book

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

Diction : It means the type of language. The poem shows very good use of formal, archaic, and poetic diction.
End Rhyme : End rhyme is used to make the stanza melodious. Anne Bradstreet used end rhyme in this poem, such as brain/remain and true/view.
Heroic Couplet : This device shows the use of couple verses rhyming with each other. For example,

Made thee in raggs, halting to th’ press to trudge, Where errors were not lessened (all may judg).

Rhyme Scheme : The poem follows the AABB rhyme scheme until the end of the poem.
Stanza : A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. This poem is a single stanza having 24 verses written in heroic couplet.
Tone : It means the voice of the text. The poem shows a simple, ironic, and dedicated tone .

Quotes to be Used

The following lines are useful to advise a sole surviving son about how to live in the world.

And take thy way where yet thou art not known, If for thy Father askt, say, thou hadst none: And for thy Mother, she alas is poor, Which caus’d her thus to send thee out of door.

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English Studies

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“The Author to Her Book” by Anne Bradstreet: A Critical Analysis

“The Author to Her Book” by Anne Bradstreet was published in 1650 as part of her groundbreaking collection, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America.

Introduction: “The Author to Her Book” by Anne Bradstreet

“The Author to Her Book” by Anne Bradstreet was published in 1650 as part of her groundbreaking collection, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America . This historic volume marked the first collection of poetry by a resident of the New World and the first book of poetry by a woman to be published in both England and the North American colonies. Although Bradstreet’s work initially faced criticism due to its female authorship, it has since become recognized for its exploration of themes like motherhood, faith, and the complexities of the creative process, solidifying its importance in American literary history.

Text: “The Author to Her Book” by Anne Bradstreet

Table of Contents

Thou ill-form’d offspring of my feeble brain,

Who after birth didst by my side remain,

Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,

Who thee abroad, expos’d to publick view,

Made thee in raggs, halting to th’ press to trudge,

Where errors were not lessened (all may judg).

At thy return my blushing was not small,

My rambling brat (in print) should mother call,

I cast thee by as one unfit for light,

Thy Visage was so irksome in my sight;

Yet being mine own, at length affection would

Thy blemishes amend, if so I could:

I wash’d thy face, but more defects I saw,

And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.

I stretched thy joynts to make thee even feet,

Yet still thou run’st more hobling then is meet;

In better dress to trim thee was my mind,

But nought save home-spun Cloth, i’ th’ house I find.

In this array ‘mongst Vulgars mayst thou roam.

In Criticks hands, beware thou dost not come;

And take thy way where yet thou art not known,

If for thy Father askt, say, thou hadst none:

And for thy Mother, she alas is poor,

Which caus’d her thus to send thee out of door.

Annotations: “The Author to Her Book” by Anne Bradstreet

Literary and poetic devices: “the author to her book” by anne bradstreet, themes: “the author to her book” by anne bradstreet.

The poem delves into the intricate dynamics of the creative process, portraying the author’s mixed feelings towards her own work.
The speaker expresses frustration and embarrassment over the imperfections of her work, despite her efforts to improve it.
Example: Describing her work as a “rambling brat” unfit for public view underscores the perpetual pursuit of perfection that often eludes creative endeavors.
The speaker laments the exposure of her work to the public, fearing harsh judgment and criticism.
Example: Expressing shame and inadequacy as her work is scrutinized by “Criticks hands” reflects the vulnerability and insecurity artists may experience when their private creations are thrust into the public eye.
Despite initial rejection, the speaker ultimately feels a sense of affection and responsibility towards her work.
Example: Referring to her creation as “mine own” reflects the intimate bond between the artist and their creation, even in the face of imperfection and criticism.

Literary Theories and “The Author to Her Book” by Anne Bradstreet

Feminist Theory

Gender and Authorship: Examines how Bradstreet’s identity as a female writer in a Puritan society shapes her complex relationship with her work.
Subversion of Expectations:
Explores whether the poem critiques conventional expectations of female authors and their work (modesty, domestic themes).
Internalized Patriarchy: Analyzes if the self-criticism is a product of societal pressures on women or a genuine reflection of artistic dissatisfaction.

New Historicism

Social and Cultural Context: Considers how Puritan beliefs about women’s roles, the printing press, and the concept of ‘good literature’ influence the poem’s creation and reception.
Publication History: Investigates how the circumstances of the book’s publication without Bradstreet’s full consent impacted the poem’s meaning.
Colonial Identity: Analyzes whether the poem reflects anxieties about writing while situated in the ‘New World’, away from established literary centers in England.

Psychoanalytic Theory

Subconscious Desires: Explores the poem as a manifestation of the author’s unconscious anxieties about creativity, motherhood, and self-image.
Symbolism and Dreams: Interprets the child metaphor and other symbols as reflecting Bradstreet’s repressed fears and desires.

Reader-Response Theory

Multiple Interpretations: Emphasizes how readers from different backgrounds (gender, time period, etc.) might have contrasting emotional responses to the poem’s self-deprecation.
Evolving Reception: Tracks how the poem’s meaning has changed throughout history, especially as views on female authorship shifted.

Formalism / New Criticism

Structure and Meaning: Analyzes how the poem’s form (rhyme scheme, meter, etc.) contributes to its emotional impact and themes of imperfection.
Close Reading: Focuses on the language itself, examining how metaphors, diction, and rhetorical devices shape the speaker’s attitude towards her work.

Critical Questions about “The Author to Her Book” by Anne Bradstreet

Literary works similar to “the author to her book” by anne bradstreet.

“To a Mouse” by Robert Burns : This poem explores similar themes of imperfection and vulnerability, as the speaker reflects on the impact of human actions on the lives of small creatures. The poem also touches on the unpredictability of life and the resilience required to navigate it.
“Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror” by John Ashbery : This poem reflects on the complexities of artistic creation and the relationship between the artist and their work. Like Bradstreet’s poem, it delves into themes of self-doubt, imperfection, and the struggle for perfection.
“ The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock ” by T.S. Eliot : While different in form and style, this poem shares similar themes of self-doubt and the tension between inner thoughts and outward appearance. Like Bradstreet’s poem, it explores the complexities of the human psyche and the challenges of expressing oneself artistically.
“Morning Song” by Sylvia Plath : This poem addresses themes of motherhood and the relationship between parent and child, which can be seen as analogous to the relationship between artist and creation in Bradstreet’s poem. Both poems explore the feelings of responsibility, affection, and vulnerability that come with nurturing something into existence.
“This Is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams : While less directly related thematically, this poem shares a similar sense of intimacy and vulnerability as the speaker addresses a personal confession to someone close to them. Like Bradstreet’s poem, it explores the complexities of human relationships and the emotions that accompany them.

Poet Biography

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Anne Dudley Bradstreet was born in 1612 in England. She was the daughter of Thomas Dudley, an estate steward for the Earl of Lincoln. Bradstreet’s proximity to the aristocracy afforded her access to a library and education that were typical for the nobility and gentry. She would have read classical Greek and Roman works, learned Latin and other ancient languages, and been exposed to the thriving literary culture of the Renaissance.

Bradstreet's father and brother were prominent Puritans who invested in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which they envisioned as a haven where they could practice Christianity that was purified of the excesses of the Church of England. Bradstreet married Simon Bradstreet in 1628, and in 1630, Bradstreet and her husband followed her father to New England. After a stint in Salem, Massachusetts, then the New England hub of religious dissenters, the family settled in Andover, the frontier of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. During the first three years of her marriage, Bradstreet had no living children, which would have distinguished her from many of the women in her social circle. Between 1630 and 1652, Bradstreet gave birth to eight children, however.

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In 1650, Bradstreet’s brother-in-law collected her poems, which had only circulated privately, and had them printed by a publisher in London. The volume, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America , burnished the reputation of the Dudleys and the Bradstreets, and established Bradstreet as one of the most important female writers of the period. Bradstreet continued writing, composing five poems that she planned to include in Several Poems , and a revised and expanded Tenth Muse . After she died in 1672, her family published Several Poems in 1678. “The Author to Her Book” is included in this collection.

Thou ill-form’d offspring of my feeble brain,

Who after birth didst by my side remain,

Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,

Who thee abroad, expos’d to publick view,

Made thee in raggs, halting to th’ press to trudge,

Where errors were not lessened (all may judg).

At thy return my blushing was not small,

My rambling brat (in print) should mother call,

I cast thee by as one unfit for light,

Thy Visage was so irksome in my sight;

Yet being mine own, at length affection would

Thy blemishes amend, if so I could:

I wash’d thy face, but more defects I saw,

And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.

I stretched thy joynts to make thee even feet,

Yet still thou run’st more hobling then is meet;

In better dress to trim thee was my mind,

But nought save home-spun Cloth, i’ th’ house I find.

In this array ’mongst Vulgars mayst thou roam.

In Criticks hands, beware thou dost not come;

And take thy way where yet thou art not known,

If for thy Father askt, say, thou hadst none:

And for thy Mother, she alas is poor,

Which caus’d her thus to send thee out of door.

Bradstreet, Anne. “ The Author to Her Book .” 1678. Poetry Foundation.

The speaker directly addresses the work being composed in a long apologia for the poor state in which it finds itself. The tone is one of self-deprecation as the speaker pronounces the following: You, my book, are something like a child who sprang from my weak mind. Before I had the chance to clothe and rear you so that you would be a fine child, my friends kidnapped you. They did it out of love, but they were wrong to take you from me in this state.

Strangers saw you outside my home clothed in rags. When you walked, your steps were halting and uneven. The printer made things still worse with his own errors. I am ashamed of what he and I made of you.

No one should have set a child like you loose on the world. You are an ugly child whose face shouldn’t see the light of day. Still, you are mine, so I can’t help but love you. If only they had given me the time, I would have made you beautiful. I tried to make you better with tweaks and edits here and there, but my revisions couldn’t undo the fundamental flaws in your conception.

I played with your meter , hoping to make your rhythm sound better, but my efforts helped only a little. If only I could have polished you just a little more to make you into a respectable poem! My talents weren’t up to the task, so I only made you look like a serviceable poem and nothing else.

It is in this plain shape that you circulate among any readers who want to look at you. Hopefully no literary critic will ever decide to dissect you or show you to still more readers who might see how shamefully bad you are.

If anyone asks who made you, say you are a fatherless, illegitimate child whose mother did the best that she could, even though that wasn’t enough.

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The Author to Her Book

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Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain, Who after birth didst by my side remain, Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true, Who thee abroad, exposed to public view, Made thee in rags, halting to th’ press to trudge, Where errors were not lessened (all may judge). At thy return my blushing was not small, My rambling brat (in print) should mother call, I cast thee by as one unfit for light, The visage was so irksome in my 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. I stretched thy joints to make thee even feet, Yet still thou run’st more hobbling than is meet; In better dress to trim thee was my mind, But nought save homespun cloth i’ th’ house I find. In this array ’mongst vulgars may’st thou roam. In critic’s hands beware thou dost not come, And take thy way where yet thou art not known; If for thy father asked, say thou hadst none; And for thy mother, she alas is poor, Which caused her thus to send thee out of door.

This poem is in the public domain.

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To my dear and loving husband.

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Cold, moist, young phlegmy winter now doth lie In swaddling clouts, like new-born infancy; Bound up with frosts, and fur’d with hail & snows, And, like an infant, still it taller grows. December is my first, and now the sun To the southward Tropick his swift race doth run.

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Anne Bradstreet: Poems

By anne bradstreet, anne bradstreet: poems summary and analysis of "the author to her book".

The poet writes about the experience of looking at her book for the first time, which she describes as the "ill-form'd offspring" of her weak brain. It was always by her side after its birth but then, friends took it abroad and exposed it to public view. It went to the press "in rags," and its errors remained uncorrected.

Now that the book has returned to her, the poet blushes at her "rambling brat." At first, she thinks it is hateful to her sight, and she tries to wipe off its blemishes, but to no avail. The more she washes its face, the more flaws appear. She tries to level its uneven feet, but it still hobbles. She had hoped to dress it better, but it is in "home-spun cloth" that she found in the house.

She hopes that the book does not fall into a critic's hand or go to places where it ought not to go. If anyone asks if the book has a father, the book will tell them no, and if they ask if it has a mother, the book should tell them that her mother is poor and that is why she sent the book away.

“The Author to Her Book” is one of Anne Bradstreet ’s most personal and memorable poems. Although she writes the verse in a lucid way, the poem is much more complicated than it initially seems. It offers many interesting insights into the role of the female poet, her psychology, and the historical context of the work. Bradstreet wrote the poem in iambic pentameter. The poem expresses Bradstreet's feelings about her brother-in-law’s publication of some of her poems in 1650, which she was not aware of until the volume was released.

Using the metaphor of motherhood, she describes the book as her child. Like a protective mother, she notes that the volume was “ill-form’d” and snatched away from her before it was ready for independence. The “friends” who took it were “less wise than true,” meaning that while their actions were careless, these people certainly did not have malicious intentions. Now that the work has been published without giving the poet time to correct any errors, it is out in the world at the same time that it is back in her hands.

At first, she describes the newly bound volume as “irksome in my sight,” unable to ignore the flaws she wished she had the opportunity to address. She wishes she could present her work in its best form but that is now impossible - she describes washing its face but still seeing dirt and marks. However, the poet cannot help but feel affection for the book, because it is hers - even though it is incomplete.

Critic Randall Huff points out that in this poem, Bradstreet uses contemporary terms culled from the book-publishing industry. For example, the “rags” in which the child was sent to the press may refer to the “high rag content of most paper at the time; it was the expensive product of a labor-intensive process and usually superior in many ways to most paper being produced today.”

At the end of the poem, Bradstreet accepts that her poetry is now out in the world. She hopes people will understand that she did not mean it to be academic or portentous. She takes responsibility for her work, and, as Huff writes, "in developing such maternal analogies, Bradstreet demonstrates that poetry, and especially its creation, is something that women can do."

Critic Eileen Margerum delves further into the matter of Bradstreet's thoughts on poetry and, specifically, poetry written by women. She writes that Bradstreet was proud to be a poet and did not consider it sinful or unrighteous to undertake such an endeavor. By the time The Tenth Muse was published and Bradstreet penned "The Author to Her Book," she was a mature poet. In this poem, she "deals with correcting the poems, not condemning their creator." She sees herself as more than a DuBartas acolyte or a woman beholden to her influential father (see "The Prologue" for more on this subject).

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Anne Bradstreet: Poems Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Anne Bradstreet: Poems is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

"For my pen are to superior things " explain the line

I'm sorry, can you please provide the name of Bradstreet's poem? The only lines I've been able to find that correlate are attached below:

“I am obnoxious to each carping tongue Who says my hand a needle better fits. A poet’s pen all scorn I should...

why is new england reffered to as daughter and a limb of old england?

Bradstreet styled this poem as a dialogue between Old England, the mother, and her daughter, New England. New England asks her mother why she is suffering and mournful, especially since she possesses more wealth and national glory. The mother...

I'm sorry, you have not provided the title of the poem in question.

Study Guide for Anne Bradstreet: Poems

Anne Bradstreet: Poems study guide contains a biography of Anne Bradstreet, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

About Anne Bradstreet: Poems
Anne Bradstreet: Poems Summary
Character List

Essays for Anne Bradstreet: Poems

Anne Bradstreet: Poems essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Anne Bradstreet's poetry.

Anne Bradstreet and Struggles to Conform
A Puritan’s Response to Loss: An analysis of Anne Bradstreet’s “Upon the Burning of Our House”
Anne Bradstreet Poem Explication
Bradstreet Among the Moderns: Comparing Visions of Love
An Analysis of Bradstreet's "A Letter to Her Husband, absent upon Publick Employment"

Lesson Plan for Anne Bradstreet: Poems

About the Author
Study Objectives
Common Core Standards
Introduction to Anne Bradstreet: Poems
Relationship to Other Books
Bringing in Technology
Notes to the Teacher
Related Links
Anne Bradstreet: Poems Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Anne Bradstreet: Poems

Introduction
Literary style and themes
Selected works

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37 The Author to Her Book

Anne Bradstreet

Thou ill-form’d offspring of my feeble brain, Who after birth didst by my side remain, Till snatcht from thence by friends, less wise then true Who thee abroad, expos’d to publick view, Made thee in raggs, halting to th’ press to trudg, Where errors were not lessened (all may judg) At thy return my blushing was not small, My rambling brat (in print,) should mother call, I cast thee by as one unfit for light, Thy Visage was so irksome in my sight; Yet being mine own, at length affection would Thy blemishes amend, if so I could: I wash’d thy face, but more defects I saw, And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw. I stretcht thy joynts to make thee even feet, Yet still thou run’st more hobling then is meet; In better dress to trim thee was my mind, But nought save home-spun Cloth, i’ th’ house I find In this array, mong’st Vulgars mayst thou roam In Critick’s hands, beware thou dost not come; And take thy way where yet thou art not known, If for thy Father askt, say, thou hadst none; And for thy Mother, she alas is poor. Which caused her thus to turn thee out of door.

“The Author to Her Book” was written by Anne Bradstreet circa 1678. It is in the pubic domain and was taken from the text edited by Helen Campbell entitled. Anne Bradstreet and Her Time.

This work ( The Author to Her Book by Anne Bradstreet) is free of known copyright restrictions.

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The Author to Her Book Poem Summary and Line by Line Explanation by Anne Bradstreet in English

Table of Contents

Introduction:

‘The Author to Her Book’ is a poem written by Anne Bradstreet. It explores the bittersweet relationship an author shares with the book they write.

About the Author:

Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672) was an eminent English poet. She was famed to be the first woman New World Poet. Famous works of hers include ‘The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America’, ‘To My Dear and Loving Husband’, and ‘The Flesh and the Spirit’.

The theme of this poem is disappointment. The person who is an author bemoans the state of the work they had produced, how they could not bear the form it had taken after being published.

This poem consists for 24 lines encompassed in a single stanza. It follows the rhyme scheme ‘aa bb cc’ and so on and so forth. Written in iambic pentameter, this poem falls under the category of a dramatic monologue. The stanzas here are for mere convenience.

The poem begins with a direct addressal to the book the persona had written. They call it as a deformed child of their mind who would remain by their side once born. However, this book of theirs is snatched away from the author by their well-meaning friends to be published into the world. Next, the persona talks about how the process of printing involved subjecting their book to sheer torment, where their book is mercilessly pressed and still produced erroneous.

Upon seeing their book returned from publishing, the persona who is the author blushes from embarrassment. They are self-conscious of their ‘rambling’ being published and brought to light when they themselves find it unfit to be so. However, the book is the author’s own so they believe that perhaps the affection they have over it could make its flaws disappear. Even then, their attempts to wash away the errors was fruitless and erasure only led to realisation of a fresh fault.

This stanza portrays a critical view of the persona’s published copy of the book. It is uneven, clearly filled with mistakes as noted previously. The persona tries to ‘dress’ their book better with some home spun cloth in an attempt to improve its appearance in vain.

Here, the persona cautions their book to not fall into the hands of any literary critic and go to some unknown place where it can be anonymous. Should the book be questioned on its parentage, the persona advises it to state that it had no father and its mother, owing to poverty, had sent it away.

Conclusion:

This is a poem that sheds light on how unhappy authors could be with the way their books are published in publishing houses. Here, the persona expresses their extreme unhappiness over the way their book turned out, going as far as to abandon it to avoid embarrassment.

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Literary Analysis Of The Author To Her Book By Anne Bradstreet

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Works Cited

“Nation's First Poet, a Light Verse Laureate.” The Washington Times, 30 Apr. 2005, https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2005/apr/30/20050430-103300-4765r/.
Davidson, Michael. 'Introduction: Women Writing Disability.' Legacy, vol. 30, no. 1, 2013, pp. 1-17. ProQuest,
https://ezproxy.library.ewu.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1364800164?accountid=7305.
Day-Lindsey, Lisa. 'Bradstreet's THE AUTHOR TO HER BOOK.' The Explicator, vol. 64, no. 2, 2006, pp. 66-69. ProQuest, https://ezproxy.library.ewu.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/216776319?accountid=7305.
Gordon, Charlotte. Mistress Bradstreet: the Untold Life of Americas First Poet. Little Brown & Company, 2007.
Hall, Louisa. “The Influence of Anne Bradstreet’s Innovative Errors.” Early American Literature , vol. 48, no. 1, Mar. 2013, pp. 1–27. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1353/eal.2013.0008.
Levine, Robert S. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. W.W. Norton, 2017.

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The Author to Her Book Summary & Analysis by Anne Bradstreet

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The Author to Her Book

More by this poet

Before the Birth of One of Her Children

Anne Bradstreet: Poems

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Essays for Anne Bradstreet: Poems

Lesson Plan for Anne Bradstreet: Poems

Wikipedia Entries for Anne Bradstreet: Poems

37 The Author to Her Book

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The Author to Her Book Poem Summary and Line by Line Explanation by Anne Bradstreet in English

Introduction:

About the Author:

Conclusion:

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Literary Analysis Of The Author To Her Book By Anne Bradstreet

Works Cited

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