Summary Of The Author To Her Book By Anne Bradstreet

Anne Bradstreet uses reverse psychology in the poem “The author to her book” by criticizing and rejecting her own poems. Since Bradstreet wants to receive encouragement, she creates a sense of pity towards herself so that the audience would not have a need to do it. Reverse psychology is a method in which someone does the opposite of what it is being suggested in order for that person to actually do what the other really wants or desires. Throughout the poem, Bradstreet proceeds in describing her book of poems as a flawed one, but it is uncertain if she really meant it. She portrays her book as an “ill-form’d offspring of [her] feeble brain” (Bradstreet 1). This book which represents Bradstreet’s child is considered to be an ugly creation of her brain that

lacks strength. The poems remained by her side until her friends, who she thinks are loyal because they appreciate her work, but not wise because she thinks it is ugly, took it away from her and published it. Bradstreet addresses her poems as being ugly, dressed in rags, brat and annoying. In this poem, she demonstrates that she has a low self-esteem about her poems. “Thy Visage was so irksome in my sight” (Bradstreet 10). According to Bradstreet, the appearance of her poems is so ugly and irritating to her view. She makes this emphasis about her poems being so ugly and not well elaborated in order for the people see that her poems are actually good and therefore should not be criticized.

Since her book is represented as her own child, she clearly has a great feeling of affection towards the poems that she writes. When the book was returned after being stolen from her friends, Bradstreet mentions that “[her] blushing was not small” (Bradstreet 7), she was really ashamed to see her book. She also says that “Yet being mine own, at length affection would” (Bradstreet 11), which proves that she actually loves her poems even if she considers them imperfect, she still loves them because they are hers. Bradstreet then decides that she wants to fix the poems and make the meter run smoothly even though they are already published. This shows that Bradstreet did care for her child, so basically, she contradicts herself throughout the poem. As she revised her poems, the more she read them, the more flaws she saw. Bradstreet is a protective and caring mother who does not want her child to fall in “Criticks Hands” (Bradstreet 20). She wants to keep the book away from people who will judge or criticize it.

Bradstreet sold her poems for money because she knew that they are excellent and even worth money.

At the end of the poem, Bradstreet says” 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 22-24). There was no male intervention in the creation of this poem, she is the only one who created the poem. As Bradstreet mentions, she is poor, so she sold her poems because she needed the money. If she sold her poems, she knew that they were good enough that she will even receive money for them. Throughout the poem, she emphasizes in criticizing her poems and she also affirms that “[she] cast thee by as one unfit for light” (Bradstreet 9). According to Bradstreet, her poems should not be shown to people because they are not good and therefore will be judged, but still, after everything she said in the poem, she sold them for money, and she knew that she would get the money because her poems are actually great, and the only thing she wanted was people to praise her work. Bradstreet liked her poems and her way of receiving encouragement was a good method because people love her work and she is a very admirable and well-known

poet.