In Anne Bradstreet’s “The Author to Her Book,” Bradstreet expresses frustration with the unauthorized publication of her earlier poetry and dissatisfaction with her literary abilities by crafting an extended metaphor likening her poetry to a flawed child birthed from her alone. Creating a connection between form and function, Bradstreet applies changes in meter, like syncopes and additional syllables, chooses an untraditional structure for the stanzas, and incorporates extended metaphor in order to further highlight the imperfections of her creation. Beginning by demeaning her work directly, “thou ill-form’d offspring” (line 1), and herself , “of my feeble brain”, Bradstreet employs second person language aligned with the envoi genre to personify, humanize, and belittle her creative work. “After birth” (line 2) the poetry existed by Bradstreet’s side, its sole …show more content…
Quickly, the poetry was “snatcht” (line 3) and “exposed to public view” (line 4), embarrassing Bradstreet immensely. Avoiding the break of the decasyllabic pentameter, Bradstreet brilliantly echos the “halting” (line 5) of the press by using a syncope on the word ‘the’, forming a physical representation of Bradstreet’s shock when her work is poorly represented. The use of parentheses, “(all may judge)” (line 6), highlights Bradstreet’s internal bashfulness as the parentheses create an aside to herself. Calling herself “mother” (line 8) and the poetry “brat”, meaning bastard, Bradstreet references back to the creation of her poetry, its birth, suggesting that it is worth less because it lacks a father. Bradstreet, nevertheless, feels attached to