Analysis of "The Author to Her Book"

Within the poem, “The Author to Her Book,” Anne Bradstreet uses a complex metaphor to describe her attitude towards one of her works that was published without her permission. Throughout the poem, she compares her anger towards her book to that of an unwanted child. Bradstreet apparently has the attitude of a perfectionist, so she did not think her book was worthy of publication. However, she was able to get it back and make corrections. Although Bradstreet has a negative attitude towards the publication of her book, she does show some signs of satisfaction when the book is returned to her.
Throughout the poem, Bradstreet displays her negative attitude through a complex metaphor. The metaphor compares an unwanted child to a book that was published without her permission. She immediately begins the poem by showing her displeasure for her own work. “Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain.” The metaphor shows a comparison of a malformed child to her piece. She also claims that her book was stolen from her. Being a perfectionist, she did not publish anything that was not perfect. “Who after birth did’st by my side remain,/ Til snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,/ Who thee abroad exposed to public view.” Based on these lines, she claims her friends took her work and published it for all to read. She also states that they were less wise than true. This could possibly mean that she believes that her friends were ignorant in that they did not realize the faults in her work. She then shows some signs of disappointment and possible embarrassment when she states that her errors were there for everyone to see. “Where errors were not lessened, all may judge.” Within the first six lines of the poem, Bradstreet disguises her negative attitude through her complex metaphor.
When Bradstreet is given a second chance after her book is returned, she has an attitude of satisfaction. After the sixth line, the speaker talks about correcting the “ill-formed