Review Of Anne Bradstreet's 'Author To Her Book'

Author to Her Book
Writing poetry can be a deeply personal process. Through hard work, a poem is born, and for better or for worse the author is responsible for it. Author to Her Book is a poem by Anne Bradstreet. This poem is about her book Tenth Muse: lately sprung up in America that was published without her approval. (Academy of American Poets). Anne Bradstreet beautifully demonstrates the relationship that exists between an artist and her work in the poem. In the poem she refers to the book as her child, kidnapped and exploring in a world.
In the first line Bradstreet refers to the book as an “ill formed offspring of feeble brain” (Bradstreet. Line 1.) She has no confident in her work and apologies to anyone who might have read her work

In lines, two through four she shows that her ‘child’ was suddenly “snatched” (Bradstreet.

Line 3) away by friends “less wise than true,” (Bradstreet. Line 3) and then “exposed to public view” (Bradstreet. Line 4) before it had a chance to mature in her care. Bradstreet’s feels betrayed.
Lines five and six illustrate her published poem as dressed in “rags” (Bradstreet. Line 5). She knows that the “errors were not lessened” (Bradstreet. Line 6), and feels frustration at her lack of control over the situation. This could be compared to the embarrassment a mother might feel if her child were taken to a fashion show in dirty rags before she had a chance to properly groom and dress

her.
In lines seven and eight, Bradstreet shows the embarrassment she feels due to her unperfected work to the shame a parent feels due to a child. It has been published and all may see it, even though she does like it.
Lines nine and ten express her disappointment in the immaturity of the published poems. She accounted them “unfit for light” (Bradstreet. Line 9) and even goes on to say that they are “irksome in sight” (Bradstreet. Line 10). She wishes that she could banish them from her sight, as well as the sight of everyone else.
She knows that she cannot abandon her work. The poems bear her name, which will forever tie them to her. In lines eleven and twelve, she softens a bit and shows the affection that she feels toward the poetry. She wants to wipe away the “blemishes” (Bradstreet. Line 12), hoping that she can somehow stop the situation.
Lines thirteen through sixteen describe her attempts to clean up and perfect the child of her brain. She personifies the book of poetry, giving it a face to wash, with joints and feet. She tries to create perfection by performing some talented words, all the while trying to kill her own insecurities in the process. She feels it’s hopeless.
Lines seventeen and eighteen are written entirely to be self-depreciating. She wanted to prove her worth as a poet by improving the current state of the poetry, but feels that she doesn’t have the talent to do so. “But nought save homespun cloth i’ th’ house I find” (Bradstreet. Line 18) meaning she feels her creative mind is lacking in thinking skills to get the job done. Bradstreet doesn’t seem to feel that she is educated properly to perform the work of a poet.
Line nineteen through twenty-one express her fear and sadness that the work will be unliked by some people, and not as special as it was intended. Bradstreet’s sense of motherhood over the subjugated book must leave her feeling helpless, as if it was a child from her loins and not her brain.
In the last three lines, twenty-two through twenty-four, Bradstreet leaves her child with an apology of its existence. The poem ends on a defeated note. She implies that she did her best, but could not measure up to her own imagined standards.
The metaphor of the child shows that she feels connected emotionally and responsible for the poetry.

As in the lines: “And for thy mother, she alas, is poor, which caused her thus to send thee out of door” (Academy of American Poets. Lines 23-24). She is clutching to a child that had to leave before she was set to let go. Bradstreet writes that she "washed" (Bradstreet. Line 13) the face of the book, meaning she made attempts at improving its appearance and content, but in "rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw," (Bradstreet. Line 15). The use of these metaphors describing her actions upon the book certainly personify the work as a child with an "irksome" (Bradstreet. Line 10) face and "hobbling" (Bradstreet. Line 16) legs that are metaphors also for the sequence of plot events. The last line contains both personification and metaphor as the child/book is sent out of the door, meaning it is put out for

publication.
“The Author to Her Book” reveals a deeper, unnamed feeling, which many of us have experienced. Having one’s inner-self exposed to the world for all to view and critique is a situation to which every writer can relate. Bradstreet’s poem makes us understand not only her nature, but also our own. She uses her poem to interpret her hidden emotions and to give them a voice. By analyzing Bradstreet’s poem, we are better able to explore the words to see how they move and how they move us.