An Author to Her Book Explication Anne Bradstreet’s poem “An Author to Her Book” is the narrative story of an author’s struggles and tribulations with a piece that he or she has created. The complex emotional connection that an author feels for his or her work is displayed through Bradstreet’s use of metaphor. Anne Bradstreet is also able to draw up similarities between being an author and being a parent through the use of personification and comparison. Bradstreet portrays the struggles, difficulties, and fears that a mother experiences as those that a mother would experience when creating and releasing a new work. Bradstreet’s use of metaphor allows her to relate the complex relationships of being a parent to being an author.
When reading this poem it seems short and a bit confusing to the reader, but once the reader finds something to apply it to, doors open to many new meanings. The poem contains a theme of madness against sanity, and remains open to a variety of deeper meanings. I applied this poem to Amy Tans book, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, because both the poem and the book contain a theme of rebellion, as well as madness. The Bonesetter’s Daughter focuses on the relationship experienced between a mother and her daughter. The book goes through three different time phrases from modern day California to the lives of Precious Auntie and Luling, and then transitions to Ruth understanding more about her mother and the wonderful person she didn’t see her for when she was growing up.
Anne Bradstreet’s publication, ‘The Author to Her Book”, dating back to 1678 is an atypical poem that accurately depicts the meaning of a controlling metaphor. Through the use of devices such as tone, diction, and characterization, Bradstreet is able to convey her complex attitude of the public’s criticism of her “unfinished” work. As early as the first sentence, Bradstreet already expresses a critical tone in her writing. By making use of the words “ill-formed” and “feeble” it is easy to understand that the author is not comfortable with her own work as she views it as an actual pre-mature baby. In addition, she portrays similar tones such as desperation and mournfulness.
Compare the ways controlling characters are used in Les Grands Seigneurs and My Last Duchess Dorothy Molloy and Robert Browning, the poets of Les Grands Seigneurs and My Last Duchess respectively, both create a significant and controlling character in their poems; using similar techniques and themes to illustrate the power and dominance to portray a specific message. Firstly, both Malloy and Browning frequently embed the personal pronoun ‘my’ into their controlling characters narrative. For example, the controlling character in Les Grands Seigneurs quotes ‘men were my buttresses’ in the opening line, whilst similarly, in the opening line of My Last Duchess, ‘that’s my last duchess painted on the wall’. This use of ‘my’ enables both characters to develop a sense of possession over their loved ones to the readers immediately; thus allowing their retelling of love to their audiences to be easier. This sense of control is only further strengthened by another technique used by both poets, the regular inclusion of caesuras.
Let me count the ways.” (Line 1 Sonnet 43) The use of first person, authenticates that both poems are written for a personal response, this however cannot be seen in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ apart from when the characters speak. The use of alliteration in ‘Sonnet 43’, confirms that the poem was written for Browning’s lover. The repetition of “I love thee...” Shows it’s a personal poem for her true love. However, ‘Valentine’ could be interpreted as an open poem to allow the readers to understand the experiences Duffy has faced. The use of “...we are, for as long as we are.” (Line 16 and 17) Shows that Duffy is inviting her readers into the poem to help reflect upon how she feels.
Although some may disagree when asked whether or not a poem has the same affect and as other forms of literature when telling a love story, I would agree. For instance, Street Love, by Walter Dean Myers, is a wonderfully written book of poetry that tells a tale of a young woman, by the name of Junice, who is rescued from a life leading to crime and later, prison, when she falls in love with Damien (a young man from a much better part of town). As one reads through the book they are taken on a journey, through Junice’s eyes and mind. You get to experience her life of hardship and sadness, which ultimately makes one feel a deeper connection with Junice and what she is put through. Even before one reads this book they cannot understand what it truly means to break away from hardship and into love without reading and comprehending the passion and love in each and every line of this poetry.
As an example two influential short stories will be discussed in depth in order to shed light into the lives of the two authors and their stories. The short stories by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935) and Angela Carter (1940–1992) both sideway the same idea; the confinement of women in particular roles and positions in both personal and professional lives, posed on them by patriarchal figures. Toril Moi quotes in her examination of feministic criticism, Sexual/Textual Politics (2002), Elaine Showalter’s idea that “women writers should not be studied as a distinct group on the assumption that they write alike, or even display stylistic resemblances distinctively feminine” (Moi, 2002: 49), which comes across when reading the two stories which are stylistically already very different. It might be so that a feminist reader of both times (there’s some 80 years difference between the two stories) did not only want to see her own experiences mirrored in fiction, but strived to identify with strong, impressive female characters (Moi, 2002: 46), and looked for role-models that would instil positive sense of feminine identity by portraying women as self-actualising strong identities who were not dependent on men (Moi, 2002, 46). The two stories bring out two female characters, very different by position and character; the other a new mother, scared and confused of her own role, and the other a young newly-wed girl, still a child, being fouled by a much older man, mainly as a mark of his authority over women in general.
Close Reading "To the Ladies" by Mary, Lady Chudleigh "To the Ladies" by Mary, Lady Chudleigh Located in our poetry anthology on page 22 and online: http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/ladies.html The lines I looked closely at are: "Wife and servant are the same, But only differ in the name: For when the fatal knot is tied, Which nothing, nothing can divide, When she the word Obey has said And man by supreme law has made...(1-6)" In this poem there is a lot of tension between the patriarchal society and the role of women. In line one a wife is metaphorically compared to a servant. Therefore the wife has no say in anything because even though she may be a lady, she is in no position of authority, her only task is to 'serve her husband. This is a very 'male' view of the time period that this poem was written in 1703. Line two continues with the only actual difference between a wife and a servant being the title of 'wife.'
There is a standard definition for customs and declarations, but Alvarez portrays her version of the two in her novel. The dictionary defines declaration as something that is announced, avowed, or proclaimed. However, Alvarez declares how various factors like her struggles and social class impacted goals. The dictionary defines a custom as a group pattern of habitual activity usually transmitted from one generation to another. At one point, Alvarez struggles to maintain her customs, but still wants to continue reading and writing for personal satisfaction.
How does Gwen Harwood lead you to share her concerns about aspects of the world? Gwen Harwood is a sophisticated poet who uses many means of writing to entice the reader to share her views on certain aspects of the world. Her poems demonstrate her worries in parenting and relationships within families. She also expresses fear of death and her interest in individuality. A collection of six poems demonstrates the techniques used by the poet to convey her messages and influence the reader to understand her concerns.