Poetry Annalysis on the Author to Her Book

Poetry Analysis

In the poem The Author to Her Book Anne Bradstreet uses an extended metaphor comparing the artist’s intense feelings towards one of her works to those of an unsatisfied parent for a child. In doing this she is also referring to her own ability as a writer. Bradstreet is able to convey her theme of an artist’s dissatisfaction with her work through her contemptuous or angry tone and through her negative imagery.

Bradstreet’s poem is one extended metaphor comparing her work of literature to an unwanted child. The contempt she holds for the child is clearly seem throughout the poem. The “ill-formed offspring” is hers, yet she claims it is “irksome in my sight.” Her tone is like that of any author to his or her work, always striving to improve what is there, and never being content with the final product. But Bradstreet’s poem was “snatched” by friends from her side and published, prematurely in her mind. Her “rambling brat” now is roaming “ �mongst vulgars” in rags, and is not fit to be read by anyone. As the author, Bradstreet still cares for her work, wanting to improve it and get rid of her contempt for its ugliness and deformity. She is similar to Dr. Frankenstein of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein in this respect. He, too, creates a monster, and, like Bradstreet, he longs to improve it, to make it something that people will remember as being good. Bradstreet, dissatisfied with the “visage that is so irksome” is striving to amend the “blemishes” because she loves her work like a mother loves a child, but she only makes them worse and more numerous. Her frustration in her tone is directed at herself for creating such a contemptible work of literature. Bradstreet is also comparing the work of literature to herself. After all, a author’s piece is a reflection of the ability of the author. By criticizing her work in the poem she doesn’t completely believe in her own ability to write.

Bradstreet employs diction to create the negative imagery of the extended metaphor. By choosing words that refer to her book as a “rambling brat” and

“the ill-formed offspring of my feeble mind,” Bradstreet depicts the contemptible nature of her work. The illustration of her book through the