Respond to a Reading: “The Author to Her Book” by Anne Bradstreet

Respond to a Reading: Anne Bradstreet, “The Author to Her Book”

Read the poem “The Author to Her Book” below and respond to the questions in the margin. When you are done, “submit” your response.

Anne Bradstreet

Anne Bradstreet was born in England, the daughter of a “well borne woman” of modest wealth and a father who was the steward of the country estate of the Earl of Lincoln. Both the earl and Bradstreet’s parents were Puritans, and she was given a much better education than most young women of her time. At sixteen she married Simon Bradstreet, also a Puritan, and two years later, in 1630, she, her husband, and her parents sailed to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They lived first in Boston and in 1664 moved to North Andover, where Bradstreet lived for the rest of her life.

In 1650, purportedly without her knowledge, her brother-in-law took a gathering of her poems to London. The collection was the first to be published by anyone living in the North American colonies, and the book attracted considerable attention. Because of the constraints placed on women’s lives, her brother-in-law felt obliged to assure suspicious readers, in the introduction, that Bradstreet was respectable according to the standards of the time. The poems, he wrote, were “the work of a woman, honored and esteemed where she lives, for her gracious demeanor, her eminent parts, her pious conversation, her courteous disposition, her exact diligence in her place, and discreet managing of her family occasions.”

Bradstreet’s poem plays on a familiar metaphor of the artistic creation as the author’s “baby.” How does the speaker feel about this “offspring”? Is there anything you find surprising about her attitude toward the baby/book?

Question

Bradstreet’s poem plays on a familiar metaphor of the artistic creation as the author’s “baby.” How does the speaker feel about this “offspring”? Is there anything you find surprising about her attitude toward the baby/book?
Chapter 5: Bradstreet’s poem plays on a familiar metaphor of the artistic creation as the author’s “baby.” How does the speaker feel about this “offspring”? Is there anything you find surprising about her attitude toward the baby/book?

When Bradstreet’s book was published, it included several “Commendatory Verses” from male writers, congratulating Bradstreet on her achievement and vouching for her as author of these poems. These endorsements speak both to how unexpected a female writer was in Bradstreet’s time and how women who did write had to overcome resistance from readers. Given that tricky situation for a female writer, how does Bradstreet’s diction claim authority for her as a writer? How does her word choice also maintain an appropriately “feminine” attitude toward her work?

Question

When Bradstreet’s book was published, it included several “Commendatory Verses” from male writers, congratulating Bradstreet on her achievement and vouching for her as author of these poems. These endorsements speak both to how unexpected a female writer was in Bradstreet’s time and how women who did write had to overcome resistance from readers. Given that tricky situation for a female writer, how does Bradstreet’s diction claim authority for her as a writer? How does her word choice also maintain an appropriately “feminine” attitude toward her work?
Chapter 5: When Bradstreet’s book was published, it included several “Commendatory Verses” from male writers, congratulating Bradstreet on her achievement and vouching for her as author of these poems. These endorsements speak both to how unexpected a female writer was in Bradstreet’s time and how women who did write had to overcome resistance from readers. Given that tricky situation for a female writer, how does Bradstreet’s diction claim authority for her as a writer? How does her word choice also maintain an appropriately “feminine” attitude toward her work?

Though the book of poems has been published, the speaker can’t dress it for “public view” as she would like. What does it mean for these poems to be made of coarser “homespun” materials? Why might this distinction between what is appropriate for the home and the broader world be important for a female writer in particular?

Question

Though the book of poems has been published, the speaker can’t dress it for “public view” as she would like. What does it mean for these poems to be made of coarser “homespun” materials? Why might this distinction between what is appropriate for the home and the broader world be important for a female writer in particular?
Chapter 5: Though the book of poems has been published, the speaker can’t dress it for “public view” as she would like. What does it mean for these poems to be made of coarser “homespun” materials? Why might this distinction between what is appropriate for the home and the broader world be important for a female writer in particular?

If Bradstreet is the mother of these poems, who might be their father? Why do you think she counsels the “rambling brat” to say it has no father?

Question

If Bradstreet is the mother of these poems, who might be their father? Why do you think she counsels the “rambling brat” to say it has no father?
Chapter 5: If Bradstreet is the mother of these poems, who might be their father? Why do you think she counsels the “rambling brat” to say it has no father?

The Author to Her Book

1

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;

2

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;

3

In better dress to trim thee was my mind,

But nought save homespun cloth i’ th’ house I find.

In this array ‘mongst vulgars mayst thou roam.

In critic’s hands beware thou dost not come,

And take thy way where yet thou art not known;

4

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.