Due: Tuesday, March 1
English 2327 – Ms. Schwettmann
Reader Response #3 and #4 (Yes, this one counts twice)
You will submit this reflection at the beginning of class. Print out a copy to turn in.
Format –
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Proper header (Your full name, English 2327 – Day/Time, instructor name, Due date)
Title – include RR #3 and #4 in your title
Double Space
12 point font
Paragraphing – follow directions below
Topic – You were given a handout on Anne Bradstreet’s poems “The Author to Her Book” and
“To My Dear and Loving Husband.” Your task is to respond to the questions which ask you to
analyze the poems and HOW the writer creates meaning.
Answer each of the questions in complete sentences. Be sure to PTT (point to text) and offer
specific examples.
This response is a lengthy one. It should ultimately be about 2 pages long double spaced. There
are a total of 10 questions, so make sure to give yourself enough time to complete this
assignment thoroughly and thoughtfully.
Anne Bradstreet
“To My Dear and Loving Husband” (1678)
If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me ye women if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.
Thy love is such I can no way repay;
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let's so persever,
That when we live no more we may live ever.
An initial reading:
1. What kind of figurative language does Bradstreet use to describe her feelings for her husband?
2. How do you understand the final two lines of the poem? What do you think Bradstreet means
when she enjoins her husband to “persever” in love so that they “may live ever”?
“To My Dear and Loving Husband” (1678)
If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me ye women if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.
Thy love is such I can no way repay;
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let's so persever,
That when we live no more we may live ever.
A deeper reading:
3. What is the effect of Bradstreet’s use of the “if/then” structure in the first three lines of the
poem?
4. Line 4 in the poem directly addresses other women/wives “ye women”. Why do you think the
speaker invites comparison with other women in line 4? How does this line come into tension
with the title, which addresses the poem to Bradstreet’s husband?
5. What is the effect of Bradstreet’s reliance on metaphors of wealth and debt when she tries to
describe her love for her husband?
6. Notice Bradstreet’s use of the word “ought” in line 8. How do you think she’s using the word?
Does it indicate a duty (as in one “ought” to do something) or is she playing on the word
“aught,” which means “nothing”? How might the line make use of both meanings? This is called
a double entendre.
7. At what point in the poem does Bradstreet introduce spiritual concerns and ideas about the
afterlife? What is the relationship between her passion for her husband and her commitment to a
Puritan ideal of a union with God?
“The Author to Her Book” (1666/78)
Thou ill-form’d offspring of my feeble brain,
Who after birth didst by my side remain,
Till snatched 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 stretched thy joints to make thee even feet1,
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 vulgars2 mayst thou roam.
In critic’s hands, beware thou dost not come;
And take thy way where yet thou art not known,
If for thy Father asked, say, thou hadst none:
And for thy Mother, she alas is poor,
Which caus’d her thus to send thee out of door.
1
2
Metrical feet; thus to smooth out the lines
The common people
This poem “The Author to Her Book” comes from The Tenth Muse which was a collection of her
poetry published in 1650 without her knowledge. Bradstreet is thought to have written this poem
in 1666 when she was contemplating a second edition.
In this poem, the writer uses what’s called an extended metaphor. She compares her book to a
child she bore and herself as its mother. The key to extended metaphor is to be able to
“unpack” and discuss the various elements being compared, and to comment on their
effectiveness.
8. Bradstreet’s brother-in-law collected her poems and had them published in England without
her knowledge. Where does she address this in this poem, and how does she describe her
brother-in-law? What does this mean?
9. Point to the text and discuss how Bradstreet addresses her “offspring” in unflattering terms.
.
10. Why do you think Bradstreet wrote about her own creation in such negative terms? Do not
use “I” in your response.