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ENG 3050

17 May 2016

“The Author to Her Book” by Anne Bradstreet

Anne Bradstreet in her poem “the Author to her book” is focusing on her life story. The story is basically about her poem that she wrote; each word and details are related to the meaning of the poem. Anne wanted to finish her poem and show the complexity of the story in full but, after having a child and becoming a mother, she had no time to do this. Her poem was known everywhere but she could not have the chance to develop and fix her story as she wished. According to her poem, we can see that the Theme is talking about a personal life and experience of the woman. The Tone of the poetry has a remarkable motif that is gentle but strict at the same time, so that the reader will go through it when he/she read the poem. Additionally, this poetry expresses a lot of Persona by showing details of the author’s life. These three elements are combined and inseparable while reading the poem. Thus, everyone who reads this will feel the unity of these elements on basis of an overall meaning of the poem.

The representing of Anne’s life in a book is a real background of the events in the poem. This poem has a great Theme because Anne in her poem is focused on sincere confession about her personal experience, her outlook on life, and difficult relationships with her parents. She started and ended the poem with many details about her personal life. Anne described her life, concentrating the attention of the reader to the fact that she was an author that wrote a poem while being in the condition that can be compared to having a child. As she mentioned, “Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain, who after birth did’st by my side remain, till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true, who thee aboad exposed to public view; made thee in rangs, halting, to the press to trudge, where not lessened, all my judge” (21). With these words, the author shows that she has nothing to hide from the readers. She tells the story of her formation as a person and those factors that influenced these changes (Singleton). According to her words, her book is her baby but the publication of the book became her main concern (compared to raising a child).

The opening of the poem has a strong Tone, its introducing multiple feelings and emotions are full of controversial issues. Anne’s life and her feelings are about her poetry and the results of her work during a long period. She said that she was dressing her child, so she felt her book on the emotional level, as she wanted the book to be better and more interesting to the readers. However, she did not have the chance to do it. She stated that “yet still thou run’st more hobbling than is meet; in a better dress to trim thee was my mind, but naught save homespun cloth in the house I find” (21). In the selected poem, I feel that the emotional Tone and feeling of the author are connected and related to the whole meaning of the poetry and publishing. Thus, when any person will read the poem, he/she can be engaged in the life of the author and those events that are important for her. That what happened to me when I read it for the first time. I felt the overall tone on the emotional level, highlighting certain points where I understood the author and agreed with her. Thus, the poem is riddled with deep meaning that is manifested in the tender (as attitude to the child) but depreciative (in relation to the process of creating the book) tone (Gosse). Moreover, the poem expresses feelings about motherhood. Anne mentioned “thy mother and Father”. It seems that she talks about family and being a parent but in the context of the parentship as a whole. Bradstreet stated that ”If for the father asked, say thou hand’st none; and for thy mother, she alas is poor, which cause her thus to send thee out of door”. What I feel about this poem is that women suffer more than man, especially if she is a mother. This poem shows motherhood as a creativity. We know that mother can sacrifice many things in order to make her child feel comfortable and happy. Therefore, the spirit of motherhood and affection for her creation forced the author to create these lines and show the tragedy on the example of the problems of child rearing.

The whole poem is about Persona. It basically talks about the author’s personal life and experiences from the creative activity. The story of her poems is related to time, place, language, and personal feelings (such as motherhood) of the author (Leggett). Thus, they are all aimed at the disclosure of Person. When I read the poem “The author to her Book“ I noticed that the author gave a lot of details about her life that she were telling to people. For example, I am an author, I had a feeling to publish my work and shoe people that I can create something perfect, I wanted to improve something, but I did not get the chance, My book was published so here is my story. After reading the poem, it is clear that Anne wanted to share her experience and emphasize the main idea about creating something that will be worth reading. Moreover, personal information that is presented as a story about the experience is an indication that the concepts of "identity" and "story" are interrelated. Thus, a certain abstraction from this aspect becomes impossible.

In conclusion, one of the most wonderful poems that talks about a person’s life “The author to her book” by Anne Bradstreet is the complicated story of the feelings and emotions of the author. This poem talks about many sides of the author’s personal life, it includes all criteria of Theme, Tone and Persona that make a united concept of the poem in relation to the literature. The theme, tone with feelings and emotions, and, finally, persona that stands for personal life and experience formed the overall picture after reading the poem. This poem one of my favorites and I chose to talk about it since it is interesting to know about someone’s life and feelings. When I read and understood the poem I learned a lot about the author’s life and her attitude to the publishing process. I liked the way she wrote the poem, the word choice, the language of the poem that makes the reader involved with the authors feelings. Therefore, the mastery of the author and the main idea of the poem made a great contribution to my inner world and perception of the life experiences.

Works Cited

Bradstreed, Anne “The Author to her Book” An introduction to poetry. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Boston: Longman, 2010, 21. Print.

Gosse, Edmund. "The History of a Poem." The North American Review 164.484 (1897): 283-93. Web.

Leggett, B. J. "The Poetry of Insight: Persona and Point of View in Housman." Victorian Poetry 14.4 (1976): 325-39. Web.