The Full Text of “The Author to Her Book”
1Thou ill-form’d offspring of my feeble brain,
2Who after birth didst by my side remain,
3Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,
4Who thee abroad, expos’d to publick view,
5Made thee in raggs, halting to th’ press to trudge,
6Where errors were not lessened (all may judg).
7At thy return my blushing was not small,
8My rambling brat (in print) should mother call,
9I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
10Thy Visage was so irksome in my sight;
11Yet being mine own, at length affection would
12Thy blemishes amend, if so I could:
13I wash’d thy face, but more defects I saw,
14And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.
15I stretched thy joynts to make thee even feet,
16Yet still thou run’st more hobling then is meet;
17In better dress to trim thee was my mind,
18But nought save home-spun Cloth, i’ th’ house I find.
19In this array ’mongst Vulgars mayst thou roam.
20In Criticks hands, beware thou dost not come;
21And take thy way where yet thou art not known,
22If for thy Father askt, say, thou hadst none:
23And for thy Mother, she alas is poor,
24Which caus’d her thus to send thee out of door.
The Full Text of “The Author to Her Book”
1Thou ill-form’d offspring of my feeble brain,
2Who after birth didst by my side remain,
3Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,
4Who thee abroad, expos’d to publick view,
5Made thee in raggs, halting to th’ press to trudge,
6Where errors were not lessened (all may judg).
7At thy return my blushing was not small,
8My rambling brat (in print) should mother call,
9I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
10Thy Visage was so irksome in my sight;
11Yet being mine own, at length affection would
12Thy blemishes amend, if so I could:
13I wash’d thy face, but more defects I saw,
14And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.
15I stretched thy joynts to make thee even feet,
16Yet still thou run’st more hobling then is meet;
17In better dress to trim thee was my mind,
18But nought save home-spun Cloth, i’ th’ house I find.
19In this array ’mongst Vulgars mayst thou roam.
20In Criticks hands, beware thou dost not come;
21And take thy way where yet thou art not known,
22If for thy Father askt, say, thou hadst none:
23And for thy Mother, she alas is poor,
24Which caus’d her thus to send thee out of door.
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“The Author to Her Book” Introduction
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"The Author to Her Book" was written in the mid-1600s by the Puritan poet Anne Bradstreet, after she and her family had emigrated from England to America. In the poem, Bradstreet explores her own feelings towards her one published collection of poetry, The Tenth Muse, Lately Sprung Up in America, which was supposedly published without her knowledge (though some critics cast doubt on this story). The poem expresses doubt and disappointment about her work from start to finish. This is achieved through an extended metaphor that characterizes the book as the "ill-form'd offspring" of the author's "feeble brain."
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“The Author to Her Book” Summary
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My book—you are the deformed child of my weak brain. You stayed beside me after I created you. But then my friends stole you and, perhaps with good intentions, published you abroad. They forced you to go to the printing press, and when you were printed you were still full of errors. When I next saw you I was embarrassed to be the creator of such an unpolished piece of work. I made you this way: so ugly that it's best you stay out of the light. Despite this, however, you are mine. And I hope that over time my love for you would help me to fix your problems. I cleaned and scrubbed you, but you just seemed to get more and more blemished; it was as though every time I erased one mark another one would appear. I tried to improve your metrical feet, but still the poems were clunky and clumsy. I would have dressed you better, but I only have the cloth I spin in this house. And it's in this that you must go out into the crude world. Avoid critics, and go where nobody knows you. Tell them you have no father, and that your mother is poor—which is why she sent you on your way.
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“The Author to Her Book” Themes
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Art and Creativity
The poem explores the relationship between an artist and their creation through an extended metaphor. The speaker—generally taken to be Bradstreet herself commenting on her one published work, The Tenth Muse, Lately Sprung Up in America—reimagines her book as a child, “ill-form’d” and full of “flaws.” In doing so, Bradstreet is able to draw out her complex feelings towards her own work and, in common with many artists out there, to express her self-doubt and anxiety. The poem suggests that artistic perfection, or even simple satisfaction, is something near-on impossible to achieve—and thus that an author is always bound to feel a sense of disappointment with their work.
While the poem makes wider points about the relationship between an artist and their work, Bradstreet was also making a complaint about her own specific situation: her collection of poems was allegedly published without her consent. This heightens the sense in which the speaker feels that her book made public before it was ready—before the artist could make it as good as it possibly could be. That’s why the book is presented as an ugly, impoverished, and pretty much unloved infant. The imperfections of the book, “pressed” (published) before “errors” could be “lessened,” cause the speaker embarrassment (“my blushing”), testifying to the difficulty involved in putting work out into the world.
The poem subsequently moves on to talk about the process of revision—how an artist tries to make improvements to their work. Here, the poem draws out the artistic tension between optimism and hopelessness, the speaker feeling that enough “affection” might “amend” the book’s “blemishes”—might make it worthy of a readership. But every adjustment that the artist makes results only in more “flaw[s].” Even given the chance to make the artwork better, the relationship between the artist and their creation remains pained and difficult.
But the poem does see a tentative resolution in the speaker’s attitude. Essentially, she admits that, if perfection is unattainable, at some point she has to let go of her hopes about making the book better and just accept it as it is. She cautions the book—still presented as a child—from falling into the harsh hands of critics, but also suggests that the book go “where yet thou art not known.”
In other words, despite everything, the book should go out into the world, even though it isn’t perfect. Perhaps, then, this is how the poem offers its subtle solution. If perfection can’t be achieved, the artist at some point has to accept what they’ve made—and be done with it. Otherwise, they make nothing, caught in a vicious cycle of improvement and subsequent disappointment. Underscoring the pain and doubt that come with being an artist, the poem ends with Bradstreet characterizing herself as “poor,” playing into the poem’s overall conceit about impoverishment but also doubling down on her negative assessment of her own work.
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Author to Her Book”
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Lines 1-6
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 publick view,
Made thee in raggs, halting to th’ press to trudge,
Where errors were not lessened (all may judg)."The Author to Her Book" is an autobiographical poem in which Bradstreet reflects on the 1650 publication of her collection, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America. Of course, the poem also goes beyond the specifics of Bradstreet's situation, forming a broader discussion of the relationship between an artist and their work—a relationship often fraught with difficulty and disappointment.
It's also worth remembering that Anne Bradstreet was one of the first female published poets. Poetry was a gendered environment and much of Bradstreet's early work seems anxious about attaining the standards of male contemporaries. In this poem, though, her appraisal of her own writing seems more intent on the age-old question of whether it's any good.
The poem establishes its mode of address right from the start: apostrophe. The speaker, who in this instance can be fairly equated with Bradstreet herself, talks to her own book—which, of course, can't answer back. The book is personified through an elaborate extended metaphor—also known as a conceit—as an infant child. This, of course, borrows from Bradstreet's own experience as a mother (though by all accounts she was an excellent one!) and as a woman expected to undertake domestic work (and not be wasting time on poetry). The opening line links the weakness of the book to the weakness of Bradsteet's own "feeble brain," gentle /f/ consonance connecting the two together ("ill-formed offspring").
The following lines tell the story—or a story—of Bradstreet's book (it's not known for sure if she wanted it to be published or not). The book was "snatched" by Bradstreet's "friends" (her brother-in-law, John Woodbridge, was responsible for the publication), who took it to England to printed. The poem stresses the book's inferiority, using metaphorical poverty to suggest the Bradstreet's supposedly limited abilities as a writer. That's why the book wears "raggs," and is full of "errors."
The multiple caesurae in this section make the poem clunky and cumbersome, fitting in with the way the book is made to "trudge" to the (printing) "press." Bradstreet self-consciously pre-empts any criticism of her work by making that criticism herself, and asserting that others will feel the same way—"all may Judg" (line 6).
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Lines 7-10
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; -
Lines 11-14
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. -
Lines 15-16
I stretched thy joynts to make thee even feet,
Yet still thou run’st more hobling then is meet; -
Lines 17-19
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. -
Lines 20-24
In Criticks 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.
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“The Author to Her Book” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Assonance
Assonance is used throughout "The Author to Her Book." The poem relies on frequent rhyming couplets, which add a sense of steadiness and regularity throughout. There is assonance within lines as well, which sometimes evoke the sense of a phrase via sound. In line 2, for example, the speaker describes her book as having stayed "by my side" after birth (the book is metaphorically transformed into a child throughout the poem). These three identical vowel sounds have the effect of clinging to the ear, as though they can't be shaken off. They represent, then, the closeness with which the author kept her book—until it was snatched from "thence" by "friends" and published abroad.
Another interesting example is in line 6, in which the speaker states that, though her book was published, no one edited it to make it better:
Made thee in raggs, halting to th’ press to trudge,
Where errors were not lessened (all may judg).Here, similar /e/ sounds impose themselves on the poem, representing just how many supposed errors exist in the book. Later, in lines 13 and 14, the speaker describes trying to make edits/improvements to her book without much success:
I wash’d thy face, but more defects I saw,
And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.These /aw/ sounds also use prominent patterning to suggest the presence of something undesired—in this case "spots" and "defects." Similar vowel sounds appear like boils or pustules on diseased skin.
In another striking example, line 15 uses assonance in its pun on human feet/metrical feet:
I stretched thy joynts to make thee even feet,
These long /e/ vowels stretch the poem's sound, evoking the image of joints being stretched and suggesting the metrical "even[ness]" that the author aspires/aspired to in her art.
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Apostrophe
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Caesura
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Consonance
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Enjambment
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Extended Metaphor
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Pun
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"The Author to Her Book" Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Thou
- Ill-form'd
- Didst
- Thence
- Thee
- Abroad
- Raggs
- Halting
- Trudge
- Judg
- Thy
- Rambling brat
- Visage
- Irksome
- Mine own
- Defects
- Joynts
- Run'st
- Hobling
- Meet
- Trim
- Nought
- Home-spun Cloth
- I' th' house
- Array
- 'Mongst
- Vulgars
- Mayst
- Criticks
- Dost
- Askt
- Hadst
- Alas
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An archaic form of "you."
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Author to Her Book”
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Form
"The Author to her Book" is written in one single block of text, with 24 lines in total. These can be broken into 12 rhyming couplets. Remember, this is a poem in which the author seeks to self-deprecate—to play down her poetic ability (while also, of course, demonstrating this ability at the same time). Having all the text in one big block suggests a certain lack of refinement, as though this is the raw material of poetry that hasn't yet been shaped into recognizable form.
There are some subtle transitions in the poem, however. The first six lines tell the story of how the book was published. Then lines 7 to 18 talk about Bradstreet's attempts to improve the book. Finally, lines 19 through 24 show her letting go of the book—a metaphor for publishing it, and pushing it off to fend for itself in the big bad world.
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Meter
"The Author to Her Book" is written in heroic couplets. This means the poem consists of rhymed pairs of iambic pentameter lines, or lines with five metrical feet that each follow an unstressed-stressed syllable pattern (da DUM). For example, take line 1:
Thou ill- | form’d off- | spring of | my feeb- | le brain,
Ironically, though the speaker professes in lines 15 and 16 that her ability to handle meter is poor, the poem's meter is remarkably consistent and convincing to the ear—suggesting that the speaker has more talent than she lets on!
On the one hand, iambic pentameter is the most common meter in English poetry—supporting the speaker's suggestion that her book should go and live among "Vulgars" (common folk). But writing metered poetry that flows well and doesn't get in the way of what's being said is difficult—so the ease with which the poem unfolds also demonstrates the poet's metrical skill. Perhaps this is a bit like what people call a "humble brag" nowadays!
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Rhyme Scheme
"The Author to Her Book" is written in rhyming couplets:
AABBCC
...and so on. Depending on the definition, this scheme can also be described as heroic couplets because the lines of the poem also conform to iambic pentameter (see the Meter section of this guide for more on that). This is a very old form. That means that, while the couplets here have quite a simple sound, they also place the poem squarely within a poetic tradition, something which the poem seems to argue against while perhaps secretly desiring it. There's a tension between what's being expressed and the way in which it's being expressed; that is, the poem demonstrates the author's skill while simultaneously denying that skill.
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“The Author to Her Book” Speaker
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It's fair to read the speaker in this poem as Anne Bradstreet herself. There's enough overlap between the content of the poem and what's known about Bradstreet's biography to read her as the "author" mentioned in the poem's title—though, of course, that doesn't mean that the interpretive possibilities end there.
The first six lines follow the story Bradstreet's one published book, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, which was supposedly printed in England without her knowledge by her brother-in-law. The book was very keen to stress that writing poetry hadn't got in the way of the author's domestic duties—raising her children, etc. This points to how unusual it was for a woman to publish a book of poetry in that era, and perhaps this hints at why this poem is so eager to stress that the book doesn't have any real merit; perhaps it's a kind of defense mechanism in a poetry world dominated by men. Bradstreet uses an extended metaphor to position herself as the "feeble brain" behind the "ill-form'd" book, and the poem goes on to try to anticipate criticism of her poetry. This suggests an anxiety about the reception of her work (which, given people are still reading it now, was perhaps unfounded!).
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“The Author to Her Book” Setting
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"The Author to her Book" doesn't really have a specific setting—the whole poem is a direct address from the author, Bradstreet, to her book, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America. The poem is one extended metaphor from start to finish, without much detail in terms of where the poem is set.
That said, there are elements in the poem that give a sense of Bradstreet's life as a Puritan in America (the Puritans were 17th century English Protestants who moved to America in the hope of setting up a better—and more godly—society). The first six lines talk about the publication of Bradstreet's book in England ("abroad"), giving a sense of the Transatlantic division of her life between two countries (her and her family crossed the ocean in 1630, when Bradstreet was 18). The poem also gives a sense of an impoverished way of life, with the references to "home-spun Cloth" and "raggs."
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Literary and Historical Context of “The Author to Her Book”
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Literary Context
Anne Bradstreet is one of the first published female poets in the English language. The poem is read as autobiographical, with Bradstreet reflecting and commenting on the publication of her one collection, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America. This book was first published in 1650 and showcased Bradstreet's deep and wide-ranging understanding of literature.
At the same time, because publishing anything was an extremely unusual activity for a woman, the book also stressed that Bradstreet didn't neglect her womanly duties (childcare and housework) and that her poems were only the "fruit but of some few houres, curtailed from her sleep, and other refreshments." The introduction even stresses how amazed the (presumably male) reader will be that a woman wrote the poems! Perhaps, then, it's understandable that Bradstreet would feel considerable anxiety about her book and its worthiness. She needn't have worried, of course, because her superior work has outlasted most of the male writers of her era. "The Author to Her Book" was written when Bradstreet was contemplating a revision of the above book. Accordingly, it is an instance of reflection in which the poet comes to term with the perceived imperfections of her work.
Bradstreet was not the only Puritan poet, of course (the Puritans were English protestant settlers in America), though she is arguably the most significant. In terms of Puritans living in America, Edward Taylor is the most obvious point of comparison. Indeed, his poem "Huswifery" explores specifically female types of labor as an extended metaphor for his relationship with God (while Bradstreet uses a male activity to explore her relationship with her own creativity). John Milton ("Paradise Lost") and John Dryden are also considered Puritan poets, though they did not immigrate to America. It's also worth considering Bradstreet alongside Emily Dickinson—they are two of the most important American poets, both writing in a male-dominated literary environment.
Historical Context
The Puritans were a group of English Protestants who moved to the New World—America—during the 16th and 17th centuries. Their main aim was to establish a new society founded on Protestant ideals—they disagreed with the religious direction of the Church of England (which was predominantly Catholic). As the name suggests, the Puritans sought to purify humankind's relationship with God, believing that it had been corrupted by certain Catholic practices. It's important to note that "Puritan" is a very broad term that covers a wide range of beliefs, some of which are contradictory with one another. Some Puritans advocated for separating from the official Church, while others wanted to stay within its institution.
In 1620, a number of separatists travelled from England to New England in what would become U.S. Known as Pilgrims, they sailed on the famous Mayflower and are an important part of the (white) American origin story and folklore. Around a hundred passengers undertook the arduous crossing over the Atlantic, with around half of them surviving to establish a colony in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Bradstreet travelled with her family in 1630 on the Arbella, arriving initially in Salem before settling elsewhere in Massachusetts. Life in the colonies was much tougher than anticipated, with disease and hunger commonplace.
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More “The Author to Her Book” Resources
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External Resources
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The Puritan Experience — A more in-depth look into the Puritan movement.
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Bradstreet's Life Story — A valuable resource on Anne Bradstreet from the Poetry Foundation.
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America's First Poet — An NPR piece about the life and work of Anne Bradstreet.
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Homage to Mistress Bradstreet — A poetic tribute to Anne Bradstreet by John Berryman.
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The Book in Question — Read the full text of Anne Bradstreet's collection of poetry (the book referred to in this poem), "The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America."
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Anne Bradstreet
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