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Summary ‘The Author of Her Book’ (Ann Bradstreet)
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‘The Author of Her Book’ (Ann Bradstreet)
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1The Author of Her Book 1. Thou ill-form’d offspring of my feeble brain,
2. Who after birth didst by my side remain,
3. Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,
Ann Bradstreet 4. Who thee abroad, expos’d to publick view,
5. Made thee in raggs, halting to th’ press to trudge,
“The Author to her Book” features a regretful 6. Where errors were not lessened (all may judg).
speaker addressing her written work. She uses an 7. At thy return my blushing was not small,
extended metaphor to compare the book to an 8. My rambling brat (in print) should mother call,
ill-cared-for child whose messy attire and 9. I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
imperfections represent its mother's failures in 10. Thy Visage was so irksome in my sight;
childrearing. 11. Yet being mine own, at length affection would
12. Thy blemishes amend, if so I could:
13. I wash’d thy face, but more defects I saw,
TONE 14. And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.
The poem about the bond between an author 15. I stretched thy joynts to make thee even feet,
and her book. There is a tone of admiration and 16. Yet still thou run’st more hobling then is meet;
love in the speeches of the poetic persona. Her 17. In better dress to trim thee was my mind,
tone reflects the caressing quality of a mother’s 18. But nought save home-spun Cloth, i’ th’ house I find.
reliable voice. The poet treats her work as her own 19. In this array ’mongst Vulgars mayst thou roam.
baby. Like a mother brings her child up, she has 20. In Criticks hands, beware thou dost not come;
also raised her book like a kid. 21. And take thy way where yet thou art not known,
22. If for thy Father askt, say, thou hadst none:
23. And for thy Mother, she alas is poor,
24. Which caus’d her thus to send thee out of door.
Summary
Anne Bradstreet wrote this poem in response to learning that her
brother-in-law, John Woolbridge, had taken a collection of her
poems to England for publication. She describes the endless struggle
to make her writing perfect and thus ready to be presented to the
general public.
, Anne Bradstreet 2
1. Thou ill-form’d offspring of my feeble brain,
2. Who after birth didst by my side remain, "The Author to Her Book" was written in the mid-1600s by the
3. Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,
Puritan poet Anne Bradstreet, after she and her family had
4. Who thee abroad, expos’d to publick view,
5. Made thee in raggs, halting to th’ press to trudge, emigrated from England to America. In the poem, Bradstreet
6. Where errors were not lessened (all may judg). explores her own feelings towards her one published collection
7. At thy return my blushing was not small,
of poetry, The Tenth Muse, Lately Sprung Up in America, which
8. My rambling brat (in print) should mother call,
9. I cast thee by as one unfit for light, was supposedly published without her knowledge (though
10. Thy Visage was so irksome in my sight;
some critics cast doubt on this story). The poem expresses
11. Yet being mine own, at length affection would
12. Thy blemishes amend, if so I could: doubt and disappointment about her work from start to finish.
13. I wash’d thy face, but more defects I saw, This is achieved through an extended metaphor that
14. And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.
characterizes the book as the "ill-form'd offspring" of the
15. I stretched thy joynts to make thee even feet,
16. Yet still thou run’st more hobling then is meet; author's "feeble brain."
17. In better dress to trim thee was my mind,
18. But nought save home-spun Cloth, i’ th’ house I find.
19. In this array ’mongst Vulgars mayst thou roam.
EXTENDED METAPHOR
20. In Criticks hands, beware thou dost not come;
21. And take thy way where yet thou art not known, "The Author to Her Book" is based on the
22. If for thy Father askt, say, thou hadst none: comparison of birthing and raising a child to
23. And for thy Mother, she alas is poor, writing and publishing a collection of poems. It
24. Which caus’d her thus to send thee out of door. identifies the similarities in the feelings of
mothers and writers, who both worry about
how well they have prepared their offspring to
go out into the world.
Rhyme
The poem is written in heroic couplets. This
means that it has pairs of rhyming lines written
in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme is
aa, bb, cc, dd . . .
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