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(2016
midterm assignment) Sample Student Midterm Answers 2016 (index to #2 samples) #2a: Short Essay (Favorite Passage) |
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Michelle Liaw
Anne Bradstreet: The Tenth Muse
My first encounter with Anne Bradstreet’s poem,
The Author To Her Book, immediately
struck a chord with me. Bradstreet’s natural talent of being able to connect
personally to her audience truly gives credit to her publications known as the
“Tenth Muse”. Bradstreet’s
portrayal of being critical and sensitive of her own work is a fear that can be
applied to anybody, poet or not. Considering the times that Bradstreet lived in,
where heavy Puritan beliefs prevented godly women from receiving education, it’s
astounding to see how Bradstreet’s work continues to leave a lasting impression.
Bradstreet’s ability to highlight the insecurities of any writer through
her adroit use of extended metaphor is remarkable. By comparing her book to an
“offspring of my feeble brain”, she expertly shapes an unknown feeling into a
physical being. Continuing on by giving her book human characteristics, she
entertains the reader by imagining an child suddenly taken from her, put in rags
on a harsh spotlight. This characterization of her poems being dressed in “rags,
halting to th’ press to trudge”, is a skillful comparison to the embarrassment a
mother might feel if her child was unkempt under public eye.
Furthermore, this metaphor allows her to convey feelings of betrayal over the
brash publication of her poem, and denial of poet ownership.
Bradstreet’s ongoing theme of being self-conscious of her work shows that she’s
affecting modesty, which would have been unheard of in a male-dominated world.
Compared to other female writers, like the
Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary
Jemison, whose story was heavily shadowed by a male interpreter’s voice,
Bradstreet’s poem marks the beginning of female authority in literature. In
lines 12, by saying “yet being mine own,
at length affection would thy blemished amend”, Bradstreet acknowledges her
creation, and the permanent tie the poem would have by bearing her name.
Continuing to personify the poem with blemishes that can’t be washed away, she
acknowledges her own imperfections as a writer.
During class discussion, the statement “ with familiarity, you can put things together to make a better story” was brought up. By allowing her audience to connect to her on a personal note, Bradstreet poem can become appealing to anybody throughout time. Additionally, not only does Bradstreet’s metaphor use expose her strong maternal instincts, which echoes in several of her poems, but it also allows her to write herself into history. Her mastery of extended metaphor to create unheard of parallels between motherhood and her poetry will forever mark her as the Tenth Muse.
