Analysis of The Author to her Book

Anne Bradstreet 1612 (Northampton) – 1672 (Andover)



Thou ill-form'd offspring of my feeble brain,
     Who after birth did'st by my side remain,
     Till snatcht from thence by friends, less wise than true,
     Who thee abroad expos'd to public view,
     Made thee in rags, halting to th' press to trudge,
     Where errors were not lessened (all may judge).
     At thy return my blushing was not small,
     My rambling brat (in print) should mother call.
     I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
   Thy Visage was so irksome in my sight,
   Yet being mine own, at length affection would
  Thy blemishes amend, if so I could.
   I wash'd thy face, but more defects I saw,
   And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.
   I stretcht thy joints to make thee even feet,
   Yet still thou run'st more hobbling than is meet.
   In better dress to trim thee was my mind,
   But nought save home-spun Cloth, i' th' house I find.
   In this array, 'mongst Vulgars mayst thou roam.
   In Critics' hands, beware thou dost not come,
  And take thy way where yet thou art not known.
  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.


Scheme AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJKLMNO
Poetic Form
Metre 111111101 11011111101 1111111111 1101011101 110110111111 1100110111 1101110111 1101011101 1111110111 1101110011 11011110101 1100011111 1111111011 0101011101 1111111101 111111100111 0101111111 111111111111 010111111 0101011111 0111111111 1111011111 0111010111 1101111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,151
Words 208
Sentences 10
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 24
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 827
Words per stanza (avg) 206
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on May 03, 2023

1:04 min read
93

Anne Bradstreet

Anne Bradstreet was the first poet and first female writer in the British North American colonies to be published. more…

All Anne Bradstreet poems | Anne Bradstreet Books

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