Anne Bradstreet Response

Anne Bradstreet lived in a time when women had traditional roles of caregiver and housewife. In her time most women did go far in the educational field and didn’t have much of an education. Writing poetry was a secret hobby of hers that she shared with her close family and friends. In her to poems “The Author to Her Book” and “To My Dear and Loving Husband” she gives a view of life as an educated woman and loving wife.
In the poem “The Author to Her Book” Anne expresses her feelings about her poetry being published without her permission. In her poem she describes the book as a baby and her, the mother with diction, for example the words “offspring” and “brat”. She also shows resentment towards her family and friend, John Woodbridge who published the book. Anne conveys how embarrassed and ashamed that her works would be released into the world for all to see when she could see so many errors that could have been fixed. She felt it was too late to fix the mistakes she saw and that others were judging her work. In the last twenty-four lines she conveys that she wants the book to go far away where no one knows of it and if anyone asks who its mother or Author is to say she is poor and caused her to abandon it. This poem shows the embarrassment she felt when the world sees her work meant only for her family and friends and is understandable because it appeals to pathos and ethos. She appeals to pathos and explains that the poems in the book were “ill-formed” or ill prepared to be published and anyone would want only their best published for the world. She appeals to ethos and shows how the poems were “snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true” and it was wrong for him to steal them and publish them without permission and a true friend wouldn’t have taken that action.
The poem “To My Dear and Loving Husband” shows her strong feelings as a wife. She states “I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold” conveying strong feelings of love and admiration for her husband. The diction of this poem is nothing but loving words and all comparisons are very extreme. Anne’s love for he husband is compared to a thirst that even a river can not quench. Even when death is brought up at the end she says she hopes that they will die and live together forever. The diction paints a vivid picture on how she feels about her husband and appeals to pathos. It appeals to pathos using love as a main idea because most people can relate to love in some way and may even have someone they love.
These poems show a very personal part of her feelings and everyday life. These poems portray a regular everyday woman who gets embarrassed and loves her husband. She shows very human feelings of shame and anger, but also of love and admiration. The readers of the poems could relate to her feelings in “The Author of Her Book” and also “To My Dear and Loving Husband”.