UNIT 3

Anne Bradstreet

Learning objectives

In unit 3 you will:

~— explore how seventeenth-century American poetry was shaped by both

Puritan aesthetics and the ornamentedstyle of the English Renaissance
tradition;
— analyze four poemsby Anne Bradstreet, the author of thefirst published
book of English poetry written by an inhabitant of America;
— examine the complex tensions between a poet’s public and private
voices in order to understand ironic discourse, and thus be able to
discover meanings hidden underthe wordsof socially constrained texts
(e.g. resentment toward divine will concealed under acceptance of
God’s authority);
— learn the basics about the English metrical patterns generally used in
early American poetry;
— accurately apply to the analysis of poetry the following literary terms:
extended metaphor
pun
tone
verbal irony
anaphora
allusion
imagery
paradox
elegy
apostrophe
ambiguity
ambivalence
pathos
theme
atmosphere
figurative language
26 A STUDY GUIDE FOR AMERICAN LITERATURETO 1900

Suggestions for how to proceed

You maystart by reading pages 41-44 of American Literature to 1900 to become

acquainted with Anne Bradstreet’s historical, theological, biographical, literary
and linguistic contexts before you approach the four poemsthat follow. Every
poem is individually introduced with a few paragraphs containing rather
extensive background information, which is designed to make the text more
accessible. The lines are numbered tofacilitate any necessary references, and
annotated beneath each poem in detail, so that your reading process should
not be hindered by frequent recourse to a dictionary to search for any
unfamiliar words. Unlike most of the other study units of the textbook, unit 3
presents the exploratory questions immediately after each poem in order to
prompt your close analysis at once. Such questions are intended to improve
our critical skills and help you grow as an active reader of poetry by
ecoming fully aware of the multiple facets of this fascinatingliterary genre.
By the time you reach the ten questions for self-evaluation (pages 58-60), you
will probably not need to go back to the poems themselves, but you can do so
if youprefer to make sure that your selections are correct before you check
them with the help of the key (page 499). In the last section of this study unit
(page 60), you are encouraged to start your own glossary which you can
illustrate with examples of your choice and expand with other technical terms
employed throughout thecourse.

Activity

Scanning English verse

Study unit 3 is certainly the most challenging in American Literature to 1900

for several reasons. It is the first one to deal with poetry, a literary genre which
is open to a wide range of appreciations because its essence remainselusive,
its nature mysterious, and its substance unfathomable. Reading good poetry is
gratifying, but it may also be more demanding than prose, especially in the
case of seventeenth-century poetry. Moreover, the seventeenth-century poems
you will find in this unit have been kept in their original form (without
modernizing their spelling and punctuation), unlike the prose texts of the same
period which you have examined so far. As a result, you should reasonably
expect to devote to this particular unit more time and energy than to any other
one in the textbook, perhaps as much as you have already spent on the two
Unit 3: ANNE BRADSTREET 27

previous units together. Due to the specific difficulties which might arise, you
will receive plenty of practical assistance and detailed advice for responding
not only to Anne Bradstreet’s poems but to the works of many other poets as
well. Hence,all of your present effort will be rewarded now andlater, when
you apply this knowledgeto the analysis of other poems written in English.

It is obvious that your experience of reading poetry should not be reduced

to scanning verse, but extended so that you may be thoroughly engaged in a
satisfying aesthetic experience. However, far from interfering with your
enjoyment, an awareness of the metrical patterns of English poetry can
enhance yourpleasure. In order to understand the fundamentals of verse form,
you need to work out stress patterns for yourself. Stress is an additional
loudness, or length, or voice intensity. The syllables which carry stress are
called stressed, and those which donotcarry stress are called unstressed. To
get practice at identifying stress, write a slash mark(/) to indicate each stressed
syllable and the sign (x) to show each unstressed onein the following words:

— locking: / x
— syllable: / x x
— forgetting: x / x
— sorrow:
— acquaintance:
— thousand:
— manifold:
— bridegroom:
— heavens:
— recompense:
— immortality:

Scansionis the act of scanning poetry, a process which involves measuring

the stresses in metrical lines and determining the rhyme schemeof the poem.
Take into accountthese additional suggestions about metrics before you begin
to scan a poem:

1. First, divide the lines into syllables, and count them. The following
examples have been drawn from the four different poems by
Bradstreet which are included in the textbook:

— Thou /ill- / formed / off / spring / of / my / fee / ble / brain, (10 syllables)
— I/prize / thy / love / more / than / whole / mines / of / gold (10 syllables)
— In/si/ lent / night / when / rest / I / took, (8 syllables)
— Let’s / say / He’s / mer / ci ful / as / well / as / just. (10 syllables)
28 A STUDY GUIDE FOR AMERICAN LITERATURE TO 1900

2. Read the poem aloud in as natural a voice as possible, listen for

stresses, and mark the stressed and unstressed syllables. You may
prefer to markthe stressed syllablesfirst, and then go back to mark the
unstressed syllables. Tapping your foot or pounding your hand on a
desk when you hear the accented syllables can help you to hear the
rhythm. Notice the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. The
smallest metrical unit of repeated patterned stress, formed by a group
of two or three syllables, is called a foot.

. Divide the lines into feet, marking them with vertical lines. Note that
notall the lines in a poem need to be madeup of the same numberof
feet. Identify what kind of foot is dominant by lookingat the repetition
of a fixed pattern of syllables. Common types of metrical feet are:

— lamb: x / (one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, e.g.

away)
— Trochee: / x (one stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one,
e.g. lovely)
— Anapest: x x / (two unstressed syllables followed by a stressed
one, e.g. with a leap; unabridged; seventeen).
— Dactyl: / x x (one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed
ones, e.g. desperate)
— Spondee: / / (twostressed syllables, e.g. white founts; pen-knife)

. Count the numberof feet in each line, bearing in mindthat there may
be variations. Lines are classified into the following types according
to the numberof metrical feet they have:

— Tetrameter: fourfeet.
— Pentameter:five feet. The line of five iambic feet, which is called
iambic pentameter, is preeminent in English poetry.
— Heptameter: sevenfeet.
— Octameter: eightfeet.

Note that, in the four examples from Bradstreet’s poems quoted

above,the only line with 8 syllables is a tetrameter (four feet with two
syllables each), whereasthe other three lines have 10 syllables and are
pentameters (five feet with two syllables each).

. Do not expectto find uniform regularity in all the lines, since some of
them maybeshorter or longer than the predominant meter. Regularity
Unit 3: ANNE BRADSTREET 29

is not always at a premium. Poets often vary meter for effect, or

simply to avoid the tediousness provoked by the mechanical repetition
of a rhythmic pattern. One source of variation is the shifting of
metrical accent (e.g. a foot which is expected to be an iambturns out
to be a trochee). Although notall deviations from a basic metrical
pattern seem to be acceptable, a poet may choose to alter or break a
regular pattern for various reasons(e.g. to emphasize certain wordsor
to disrupt readers’ expectations). The irregularities of some lines tend
to draw attention to themselves.

6. A caesurais a pause inserted anywherein a metricalline, usually near

the middle. It is generally, but not always, indicated by a punctuation
mark,andthereare lines that have no internal pauseatall. In scanning
a line, caesuras are markedby a double vertical line. Listen for pauses
within the lines and mark them with double vertical lines, paying
particular attention to the caesuras that are not indicated by
punctuation. There is an example of caesura in the middle of the
following tetrameter:

Farewell mypelf, Il farewell my store.

In the following example, the caesura does not occur right in the
middle of the line, but after the second foot of the pentameter:

Gopretty babe,II go rest with sisters twain;

7. Readers may differ over the scansion of a given line. One person’s
four-stress line may be another’s three- or five-stressline.

8. Notall poets choose to use fixed meterpatterns. In free verse thereis

no regular stress pattern, or equal line length. The fact that free verse
is not constrained by an imposed form and hasan irregular rhythm
does not meanthat it has no rhythmic arrangement. The overall effect
has a melodic character because the variable patterns of sound used by
the poet are created by meansofalliteration and assonance,and by the
repetition of words and phrases.

The term rhymerefersto the use of similar soundsin the stressed syllables
at the ends of two or more words. The pattern of end rhymes in a poem is
called rhyme scheme. To learn how to determine the rhyme scheme of any
given poem, bear in mindthe following tips:
30 A STUDY GUIDE FOR AMERICAN LITERATURETO 1900

1. The sound of each last syllable of every line is assigned a letter,

beginning with the first letter of the alphabet: (a). For example, the
first six lines of one of Bradstreet’s poems rhymethus:

In silent night whenrest I took, (a)

For sorrow near I did not look, (a)
I waken’d waswith thund’ring noise (b)
Andpiteous shrieks of dreadful voice. (b)
That fearful sound of “Fire!” and “Fire!” (c)
Let no man know is mydesire. (c)

The rhyme schemeofthese six lines is aabbcc.

2. Although rhymed wordsoften have similar spellings, this coincidence

is not a requirement. What matters is that the words soundalike (e.g.
the word spy rhymeswithlie).

3. Whenthe final vowel sounds are the same, as well as any consonant
sounds that follow the vowels, we call it exact rhyme, which is also
named perfect rhymeor full rhyme(e.g. the word cat rhymes with
bat, fat, hat, mat, sat and rat). A rhymethat is not exact because there
is a repetition of the consonant sounds following the vowel sounds, but
the vowel sounds are not identical, is called para-rhyme, partial
rhyme, imperfect rhyme, half rhymeor slant rhyme(e.g. the words
room and storm).

4. In eye rhyme:the spellings are similar, but the pronunciations are not
(e.g. brow and blow; flood and good).

5. Rhymehas an importantrole in creating harmony and can reinforce or

contribute to the meaning of a poem by focusing readers’ attention upon
certain words. Rhyme mayalso be used for producing comic effects or
for imitating certain sound effects, such as that of cascading water.

6. Rhymeis closely associated with poetry, but it is an optional element

of versification, rather than an indispensable one. Many poemswritten
in English do not use rhymeatall. See, for instance, Phillis Wheatley’s
“To the University of Cambridge, in New England” in study unit 8
(American Literature to 1900, page 133).

A groupoflines of verse forming a unit in a poem iscalled a stanza. These

groupingsof lines are set off by a space on the page (except for couplets), and
Unit 3: ANNE BRADSTREET 31

usually have a set pattern of meter and rhyme. Stanzasare classified into the
following types according to the numberoflines they have:

— Couplet: a stanza formed by twolines that generally rhyme and have the
same length. Although couplets form distinct units, they are frequently
not separated from each other by a space on the page. If the pair
compriseslines that have different lengths, it is called a distich (usually
a dactylic hexameter followed by a dactylic pentameter).
— Tercet: a three-line stanza.
— Quatrain: a four-line stanza. It is the most common stanzaic form in
English.
— Sestet: a six-line stanza.
— Octave or octet: an eight-line stanza. The most famous is the oftava
rima, consisting of iambic pentameters rhyming abababcc.

Bibliography

Primary sources:

Bradstreet, Anne. The Complete Works of Anne Bradstreet. Ed. Joseph R.

McElrath and Allan P. Robb. Boston: Twayne, 1981.
—. The Works ofAnne Bradstreet. Ed. Jeannine Hensley. Foreword Adrienne
Rich. Cambridge, MA: Belknap P of Harvard UP, 2006.

Secondary sources:

Cowell, Pattie, and Anne Stanford, eds. Critical Essays on Anne Bradstreet.
Boston: G.K. Hall, 1983.
Dolle, Raymond F. Anne Bradstreet: A Reference Guide. Boston: G.K. Hall,
1990.
Gordon, Charlotte. Mistress Bradstreet: The Untold Life of America’s First
Poet. New York:Little, Brown, 2005.
Hammond, Jeffrey A. The American Puritan Elegy: A Literary and Cultural
Study. New York: Cambridge UP, 2000.
Martin, Wendy. An American Triptych: Anne Bradstreet, Emily Dickinson,
Adrienne Rich. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1984.
Nicolay, Theresa Freda. Gender Roles, Literary Authority, and Three American
Women Writers: Anne Dudley Bradstreet, Mercy Otis Warren, and Margaret
Fuller Ossoli. New York: Peter Lang, 1995.
 UNIT 3
AnneBradstreet (c. 1612-1672)

The first published book of poemsby an inhabitant of America wasalso the

first book in American literature to be published by a woman. Probably
without Anne Bradstreet’s knowledge or consent, her brother-in-law took to
England the manuscript collection of thirteen poemsshe had copied out for
family circulation. He hadit printed in London underthepretentioustitle of
The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America (1650). Later on, Anne
Bradstreet herself revised the volume, added a considerable number of new
pieces and wrote a poem asa preface to the second edition, which was not
published until 1678, six years after her death. The first book was very
widely read and recognized during her lifetime, and the revised and
expandededition, entitled Several Poems Compiled with Great Variety of Wit
and Learning, was equally welcomed by her contemporary audience.
Nevertheless, seventeenth-century enthusiasm for Bradstreet’s poetry gave
way to eighteenth-century neglect and nineteenth-century condescension.
Twentieth-century critics began to evaluate Bradstreet’s verse using scholarly
criteria and appreciated her literary accomplishments from different
perspectives. For instance, she has been celebrated by the poet and critic
Adrienne Rich and highly praised by other recent feminist critics. Most
critical approaches nowadays analyse her poems focusing on the specific
historical and cultural context in which she created them. Atpresent, she is
considered the “grandmother” of American poetry.
Anne (née Dudley) was born and educated in England. She received an
education far superior to that of most womenofhertime, and started to write
poemsasa child to please her father, Thomas Dudley, who was steward to the
Puritan Earl of Lincoln. She wasraised in luxurious surroundings, had access
to private tutors and made excellent use of the Earl’s extensive library. She
learned Greek, Latin, Hebrew and French. At the age of sixteen she married
Simon Bradstreet, her father’s assistant. Two years later, in 1630, both her
42 AMERICAN LITERATURE TO 1900

family and her husband’s emigrated to the New World with John Winthrop’s
fleet aboard the Arbella to escape religious persecution. They were not
Separatists like William Bradford, but Non-Separatist Puritans who wanted to
reform the Church of England from within and were persecuted for their
radical theology. Whereas Separatists like William Bradford settled Plymouth
Plantation, the Non-Separatists settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Anne Bradstreet’s husband, a graduate of Cambridge University, was
secretary to the Company. He became the wealthiest man in Roxbury and for
a time was governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The couple’slife in
America was much harder than it had been in England, however, and Anne
disliked the “manners” of the New World. They movedhousesseveral times,
always to more remote areas (from Boston to Newtown, then to Ipswich,
and finally to North Andover) in order to improve their financial situation.
They had to confront manyofthe difficulties and dangersthatall settlers had
to face, often enduring sickness and being constantly vulnerable to attacks. Of
the large party who were under the leadership of Governor John Winthrop,
some two hundred died within eighteen monthsoftheir arrival. In spite of her
ill health, Anne gavebirth eight times andall of her children—four sons and
four daughters— grew to adulthood. She often felt the threat of death,
especially in childbirth, which she anticipated with great apprehension, but she
lived to be sixty years old.
Literary critics generally consider two aspects of Anne Bradstreet: on the
one hand, her public self as a member of a community of devout andstrict
Puritans, as the dutiful daughter of a prominent man and as the submissive wife
of a well-known colonyofficial; and, on the other hand, her private self,
emotionally attached to her family as a wife, mother and grandmother. Her
work showsthe complex struggle to reconcile both aspects: the public voice,
whichtendsto be imitative, and the private voice, which is more original. She
is often seen as a poet of ambivalencesandhesitancies, of unresolved conflicts,
of tensions between herreligious duty and her inner feelings. She probably
experienced somekindofself-division based on the tensions between what she
thought she ought to feel and whatshe really felt. Puritan theology told her
what she had to believe and rigorous social codes told her how she had to
behave, but she also had to cope with her own deep feelings and personal
perceptions in the both attractive and harsh life of a colony. For instance,
Puritan theologians had warnedthat the senses were unreliable and that appeals
to the imagination were dangerous. This particular religious doctrine was
contrary to her nature, for she found great pleasure in the agreeable realities of
the present and wascaptivated by the beautiful landscape of the New World.
She wasalso terrified when she crossed the Atlantic in a small overcrowded
ship, and extremely distressed whenever she had to confront misfortune, in the
UNIT 3: ANNE BRADSTREET(c. 1612-1672) 43

form of material loss (e.g. the burning of her Andover house) or, even worse,
when several of her grandchildren died. Her later poems show how difficult it
was for her to control some of her impulses. Furthermore, she acknowledged
that she had been troubled by religious doubts all her life, due to spiritual
confusion “concerning the verity of scriptures,” a remark that should be taken
into account when analysing her extensive use of biblical sources.
Asfor herliterary strategies, she felt she had to abide by the principles of
Puritan aesthetics, which encouraged her to adopt somefeatures of the typical
“plain style,” but her work was also deeply rooted in the ornamented style of
the Renaissance tradition. She was very much influenced by sixteenth-century
poets such as Sir Edmund Spenser (c.1552-99), Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86), Sir
Walter Raleigh (c.1554-1618), and the French Calvinist poet Guillaume du
Bartas (1544-90), whom she called her “literary godfather.” Following their
example, in her early verse she was prone to use elaborate conceits and strained
metaphors. She wasalso inspired by her British contemporaries, the English
Metaphysical poets, such as John Donne (1572-1631) and George Herbert
(1593-1633). In spite of the official Puritan condemnation of figurative
language (that is, language that departs from the literal meaning of the words
used), sensual imagery and all other forms of verbal artifice, many poems
written by Puritans reveal a high degreeofliterary complexity. They draw not
only from the Bible as a source of inspiration, but also from classical models
and her contemporary writers. Apart from the Scriptures, they are full of
allusions to the works of Ovid, Virgil, Cicero and Horace, and include
references to Spenser, Sidney, Shakespeare, Herbert and Vaughan. The
discovery of a number of such poemshasled critics to indicate a wide gap
between Puritan theory and practice. In fact, a major shift in the development
of New England Puritanism took place around the middle of the seventeenth
century, when eminent Puritans endorsed this movement towards verbal artistry
both in oral and written forms, It was argued that figurative and symbolic
language could enhancethe believers’ abilities to perceive divine will. Though
caution wasstill preached, someliterary experimentation was encouraged.
Thus, rather than condemning the use of all kinds of metaphors, it was
suggested that some of them could help the elect to understandreligioustruths.
Despite biographical differences between the Puritan mother and the
Catholic nun, Anne Bradstreet and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651-95), also
known as “the tenth muse” of the New World, share some experiences(ill
health, inner spiritual crises, a deep sense of religion combined with a genuine
concern for secular problems, and the difficulties of writing in a male-
dominated intellectual world) and poetic themes (e.g. speaking about their
poemsas their children). Both of them adhered to the major aesthetic
conventions of their times, and wittily repudiated prejudices against women
44 AMERICAN LITERATURE TO 1900

poets, Bradstreet using the convention of ironic self-deprecation, and Sor

Juana resorting to paradox and polemic. Parallels between Anne Bradstreet
and Teresa of Avila (1515-82) can also be drawn.
Bradstreet’s long philosophical and religious poems were generally written
in an artificial style and are less appealing to modern readers than herlater
short witty poems on subjects of daily life. These autobiographical pieces have
warmth, intensity and poignancy; they are not derivative in content or
imitative in structure, as were the early ones, but born from her experience and
constitute a more mature work, full of genuine personal utterances. In spite of
certain restraints, in her later poems the author comes near to expressing her
“true” voice. Although this kind of subject matter is easy to grasp, Bradstreet’s
language may be difficult to understand for modern readers because she
employed certain forms which are no longer used. Here are some examples:
art = are
dost = does
didst = did
hast = have
thou = you (used as the subject when talking to one person)
thee = you (used as the object when talking to one person)
thy = your (used whentalking to one person)
ye = you (used whentalking to two or more people)
She also contracted some words with apostrophes:
i’ th’ house = in the house
*mongst = amongst
lov’d = loved
twas = it was
ere = here
e’er = ever
’ gin = begin

four poems we are‘goingto read elongtotf

neBradstreet’s life, a period in which she developed her own technigt
it of the aesthetic conventions she learned in her formative years, and s
rew basically upon her own personalexperiences, moving toward greate
incerity and independence. Although the poet who speaks in the followin
slections does not feel completely free to express openly everything tha
omes to her mind, she seemsto be willing to share some of her thought
h readers who are perceptive Se) to understandiironic discourse ar
UNIT 3: ANNE BRADSTREET(c. 1612-1672) 45

“The Author to Her Book”

Anne Bradstreet wrote this poem as the new preface to the second edition of
her collection of verses, posthumously published in Boston underthetitle of
Several Poems Compiled with Great Variety of Wit and Learning (1678). John
Woodbridge, Anne Bradstreet’s brother-in-law, had inserted a well-intentioned
preface to the first edition of the volume entitled The Tenth Muse (1650), in
which heasserted that she had not neglected her family duties in order to
write poetry: “These poemsare the fruit but of some few hours, curtailed
from her sleep and other refreshments.” As womenat that time were pressured
to stay out of the public eye, in his preface Woodbridge emphasized that he was
solely responsible for the publication of the volume, without the author’s
approval. He introduced Bradstreet’s poetry using a reproductive metaphorin
which he presented himself as an impatient midwife who forced the birth
before its due time, thus provoking the mother’s pain. When he explained
how hedaredto “expose her labors to the world’s disdain,” he wasreferring
both to the publication of Bradstreet’s poemsandthe last stage of pregnancy,
thus uniting mental and physical processes. In “The Author to Her Book,”
Bradstreet responded to Woodbridge’s birth metaphor, which was common
among seventeenth-century writers. The specific metaphor of book as offspring
can be traced back to Plato, and was also used by male poets such as Sir
Philip Sidney, Sir Edmund Spenser, John Donne, and even Guillaume du
Bartas, Bradstreet’s acknowledged “literary godfather.” Nevertheless,
Bradstreet departed from her masters by taking the metaphor much further and
by usingit in order to claim her ownlegitimacyasa writer.
The speakerof “The Author to Her Book”is the poet, likened to a mother
whose child is her book of poems. The poet, well aware of her society’s
reaction to women whodareto venture out of their prescribed place, portrays
herself in the more acceptable role of a powerless mother who lacks the
resources to care for her family. In order to assure readers that her writings are
not intended as a challenge, she presents her book as a poorandillegitimate
child, dressed in “homespun cloth” and fatherless. Although she humbly
apologizes forthe “ill-formed offspring of the feeble brain,” unwisely exhibited
in public without her consent, she acknowledges her work.In the first line, she
calls attention to the fact that her book/child sprang from her mind,not her
womb, and wasconceived without the intervention of any masculine force.
Asis the case in other poems by Bradstreet, many aspects remain uncertain
and it would be unwise to rush into simplistic interpretations. For instance,
there is no absolute certainty that she was completely ignorant of the
publication of her first book, since some poets (men and women) of the
period oversaw the publication of their poems while disclaiming any
46 AMERICAN LITERATURE TO 1900

involvement with the process of printing which, in their manuscript culture,

was considered a “vulgar” enterprise, less esteemed socially than restricted
circulation among family andfriends. It should be noted also that muchofthe
coynessand dismissal that is expressed throughout Bradstreet’s preface was a
commonstrategy used both by male and female writers in the Renaissance.
Therefore, it is difficult to ascertain how muchof the self-deprecation in
“The Author to Her Book” stems from true humility, how much corresponds
to conventional meekness expected from women and how mucharises from
the typical modesty required by seventeenth-century readers of all writers,
regardless of gender.
The poem is written in heroic couplets, also called rhyming couplets
because they rhyme on consecutive lines, in pairs (aa, bb, cc, dd). Metre(the
fixed arrangementof accented and unaccented syllables) may seem irrelevantto
many modern readers, but it was extremely important for many centuries, and
any appreciation of poetry should considerat least the basic principles of metre
and its relationship to rhythm (the sense of movement communicated by the
metrical pattern). There is a fixed pattern of metre, a unit called a foot, which in
the case of the following poem is formed by an unstressed syllable followed by
a stressed syllable (e.g. defeat). This is a metric pattern known as iambic, which
is the most commonpattern in English poetry. Since each metrical line of this
poem hasten syllables and each foot has two syllables, each line hasfive feet. A
line of verse consisting of five feet is called a pentameter. Therefore, regarding
form, the following lines are rhymed iambic pentameters. Balance and control
are the main characteristics of the heroic couplets below.

The Author to Her Book

Thouill-formed offspring of my feeble brain,

WN Om IANA HBWN —

Whoafter birth didst by my side remain,

Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,
Whothee abroad exposed to public view,
Madetheein rags, halting to th’ pressto trudge,
Whereerrors were not lessened (all may judge).
At thy return my blushing wasnot small,
Myrambling brat (in print) should mothercall.
I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
Thy visage wasso irksomein mysight;
ee ee

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,
UNIT 3: ANNE BRADSTREET(c. 1612-1672) 47

14 And rubbingoff a spot, still made a flaw.

15 I stretcht thy joints to make thee evenfeet,
16 Yetstill thou run’st more hobbling than is meet.
17 In better dress to trim thee was my mind,
18 But nought save home-spuncloth, i’ th’ house I find.
19 In this array, ’mongst vulgars may’st thou roam.
20 Incritic’s hands beware thou dost not come,
21 Andtake thy way where yet thou art not known.
22 If for thy father asked, say, thou had’st none;
23 And for thy mother,she alas is poor,
24 Which caused herthusto send thee out of door.

Line 1. Offspring: child. Feeble: weak.

Line 3. Snatched: taken away. Thence:a particular place. Friends: Rev. John Woodbridge, her
brother-in-law, who took her manuscriptto the printer.
Line 5. Rags: old torn clothes. Halting: slowly and with hesitation or uncertainty. Trudge:
walk wearily, slowly and with heavy steps.
Line 7. Blushing: reddening of the face, as from shame or embarrassment.
Line 8. Rambling: wandering, going on a long walk. Brat: child (an informal pejorative
word; e.g. “spoilt brat’).
Line 10. Irksome: irritating, annoying.
Line 12. Blemishes: faults, flaws. Amend: correct.
Line 14. Rubbingoff a spot: removinga stain.
Line 15. Joint: 1) a part where two bonesare joined, 2) the way in which two things are joined.
Note the punin this line: the child’s feet and the metrical feet. She tried to smooth out
the metre ofthe lines.
Line 16. Hobbling: limping, walking lamely or in an awkward way with small steps. Meet:
appropriate, decorous.
Line 17. Trim: adorn, make you look moreattractive. Mind: intention.
Line 18. Nought save: nothing except. Home-spun: 1) made at home, 2) simple.
Line 19. Array: dress, outfit. Vulgars: common people. Roam: wanderor travel without a
particular purpose.
Line 20. Beware: be careful.
Line 23. Alas: interjection used to express sorrow,pity, regret, or worry.
Line 24. Out of door: out of the house, out in the open.

1. Analyse the extended metaphorin this poem. Bear in mind that a metaphor
is an implicit comparison or identification of one thing with another,
suggesting an analogy between them. An extended metaphoris a detailed
and complex metaphorthat extends over a long section of a work through
several points of comparison.
48 AMERICAN LITERATURE TO 1900

. A pun (paronomasia) is a play on wordsthat have different meanings.

i)

Analyse the effect of the pun in line 15.

Scan the metre of this poem. Is it a regular iambic one? Whatis the effect of
this metrical pattern?
Analyse the poet's attitude towards her child/book. Does she regard it
harshly or with kindness, tenderness and a certain indulgence towardits
faults?
Like mostartists, Bradstreet probably had mixed feelings about her book,
but some of her fears were clearly determined by the fact that she was a
literary womanwriting in a patriarchal society. Comment on the toneof her
poem, paying attention to the flash of anger expressed in lines 15-16 and to
any other hints of a rebellious spirit that occasionally surfaces. Remember
that the tone of a poem is the reflection of the poet’s attitude both to the
theme (wistful, yearning, admiring, sentimental, harsh, etc.) and to the
reader(e.g. intimate, confiding, conversational, aggressive, authoritarian,
sarcastic, neutral, etc.). Can you find any changes of tone throughout the
poem? In other words, does the poet express any changesof attitude
towards her subject and her readers?
Do you think that Bradstreet was genuinely modest, or was she artfully
claiming artlessness? Could Bradstreet be asserting her own achievement
despite her apologetic tone? Can self-deprecation be interpreted as bold
self-assertion? Analyse the strategies used by the author in this poem in
order to offset negative criticism of her poetry and to avoid suspicionofall
forms of art in general and literary womenin particular.
A nineteenth-century critic, Helen Campbell, suggested that a sense of
deficiency hadfilled Bradstreet. Few readers today would take Bradstreet’s
“apologies” at face value, because they are aware ofthe fact that the
skilled manipulation of rhetorical irony implies the use of subversive
techniques. Can you find any traces of irony in this poem? Bear in mind
that irony is a manner of discourse in which the meaning is contrary to
the words; that is, one thing is stated, but the opposite is implied.
Find evidence of Bradstreet’s gentle humour.Is she just trying to be playful
and amusing? Whatis the effect of self-mockery?
Whatdoesthis poem reveal about seventeenth-century ideas concerning
the proper role of women?
10. Comment on the way the poet links motherhood andartistic creativity,
paying attention to the fact that her child/bookis fatherless. Could this be
interpreted as a sign of independence? Note that in this poem the author
does not cite any male writers as authorities, and that she views her daily
domestic experience as a valid subject for her art, since all her images are
drawn from women’s experiences.
UNIT 3: ANNE BRADSTREET(c. 1612-1672) 49

“To My Dear and Loving Husband”

Among the various poems which the author wrote about her happy marriage
to Simon Bradstreet, we have selected her best-known and mostoften quoted
lyric. Here the poet is also the speaker, who expresses her passionate and
ardent love for her husband, a love that outlasts death. As this particular
poem focuses on her desire and longing for her husband,rather than on her
duty as a wife, it provides a contrasting image with the popular view of the
supposedly invariable Puritan reserve andrestraint.
Although Puritans believed that conjugal love was a proof of piety, they
worried that married couples would lose sight of God. Loving one’s spouse
and children “excessively and for their own sake” wasseen as a dangerous
attachment. This important Puritan belief has been called the “doctrine of
weanedaffections,” which emphasized gradual detachment from everything in
this world. According to Christian doctrine, however, secular love must not be
rejected becauseit can be linked to eternal love, blessed by God. Bradstreet
develops the central idea of this poem in a clear and logical manner: she
feels so loved by her husbandthat the only way she can reciprocate is by
asking the heavens to repay him; earthly love is the best of this world, only to
be surpassed by the union of lovers in eternity.
Bradstreet uses a highly allusive biblical language. The beginning ofthis
poem calls to mind Ephesians 5, which defines the nature and duties of
marriage. While directing the couple to love one another, Saint Paul in
Ephesians 5:25 likens the love in an earthly marriage to the mystical marriage
of Christ, as bridegroom, and the Church, as bride. In thefirst part of line 1 the
poet echoes the phrase “and they two shall be one flesh” (Ephesians 5:31).
Then, in the middle section of the poem, Bradstreet shifts her biblical allusions
from the Pauline epistle to the Old Testament, by echoing in line 7 the phrase
“Many waters cannot quench love” (Song of Solomon 8:7).
Regarding metre, the following lines are rhymed iambic pentameters. As
the twelve lines rhymein pairs, the poem is formed by six rhymed couplets.

To My Dear and Loving Husband

If ever two were one, then surely we.

NNnBWN

If ever man were lov’d 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 minesof gold
Orall the riches that the East doth hold.
50 AMERICAN LITERATURE TO 1900

7 Myloveis such that rivers cannot quench,

8 Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.
9 Thy love is such I can no way repay.
-10 The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
11 Then while welive, in love let’s so persever
12 That when welive no more, we maylive ever.

Line . We: Anne and her husband, Simon Bradstreet (1603-97).

SAR De

Line . The East: East Indies.

Line . Ye: you
Line . Prize: value
Line . Quench: satisfy a thirst. “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods
drownit” (Song of Solomon 8:7).
Line 8. Ought means “nothing” and “duty.” The poem may have combined these two
different meanings.
Line 9. Repay: pay back.
Line 10. Manifold: in many and various ways.
Line 11. Persever: persevere, continue. It is accented on the second syllable and pronouncedto
rhyme with “ever.”
Line 12. Ever: forever, always, everafter.

. Anaphorais a rhetorical device involving the repetition of a word or group

of words in successive clauses. Note thatthefirst three lines begin with “if.”
Whatis the effect of this anaphora?

Analyse the three metaphorsin lines 5-7 noting that Bradstreet’s images of
desire—thirst and wealth—are derived from The Song of Solomon.

An iambic pentameteris a line of five iambic feet. Look at the metre ofthis
poem and watchfor any key variations, bearing in mind that generally any
variation from the norm or disruption points to special emphasis. Note in
particular the effect of the irregularity of the first line and that of the extra
syllable in the last couplet, that is, the final twolines.

This poem is written in couplets. Look over the rhyme and find one word
that does not fit the rhyme scheme.It is an example of para-rhyme, also
knownaspartial rhyme, because the sounds almost rhyme. What effect
doesthis variation have?
SPR en af PSEA RES

UNIT 3: ANNE BRADSTREET(c. 1612-1672) 51

Bh

5. When Bradstreet wrote this poem, European adventurers had not given up
their hope of finding a shortcut to the riches of the Indies. This is an
example of allusion, that is, a reference to something with which readers
are assumed to be familiar. Why do you think Bradstreet made this
comparison between love and “the riches of the East,” in spite of the fact
that Puritans rarely mentioned such material purposes and emphasized
spiritual ones?
6. Find the wordsrelated to ownership and then trace the imagery of wealth and
debt throughout the poem. In your analysis, bear in mind that indebtedness
implies a need to repay, either in one’s lifetime or after one’s death.
7. Check the definitions of “ought” (line 8) and explain how twodifferent
meanings of this word may be working together.
8. Explain the paradoxin the last line of the poem. A paradoxis a statement
which appears,at first glance, to be self-contradictory, yet which, on close
examination, reveals an unexpected, valid meaning.

9. Are there any indications in this poem that the author considers her social
role equal or subordinate to her husband’s? Does she declare herinability
to reciprocate her husband's affections? Is there a daminance/submission
relationship, or is the wife’s love balanced against her husband's love for
her? Does the poet convey the idea of mutual love within marriage?
10. To what extent is this poem an expression of individual feeling? Do you find
any unresolved conflicts between the author’s inner feelings and the rigid
tenets of Puritan orthodoxy?

‘Upon the Burning of Our House”

This poem provides a clear example of the tension the poet experienced
between her domestic concerns and herspiritual aspirations. The speaker,
whois once more the poet herself, sadly recalls in detail the prized material
possessionsshelost in the fire which destroyed her house. Bradstreet dwells
on her misfortune for the first 35 lines when, suddenly,in line 36 there is an
abrupt changeof direction. She turns to the Bible and finds comfort in the
promise of a permanent housein heaven.
In this poem the rhyming couplets are also formed by iambs, but each line
has eight syllables, instead of the ten syllables in the lines of the other three
poems in ourselection. If lines formed by five metrical feet were called
pentameters, the ones with only four metrical feet are called tetrameters.
Therefore, the following poem is written in rhymed iambic tetrameters.
52 AMERICAN LITERATURE TO 1900

Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House,

July 10th, 1666

In silent night whenrest I took,

AANMP WN TOWATAMBWNKH DO MDQDAMBRWNHO OCAAINNAPWN

For sorrow near I did not look,

I waken’d was with thund’ring noise
Andpiteousshrieks of dreadful voice.
That fearful soundof“Fire!” and “Fire!”
Let no man knowis mydesire.
I, starting up, the light did spy,
And to my God myheart did cry
To strengthen me in mydistress
And not to leave me succourless.
WHRWWWWWWWNNNNNNNNNN RRR Ree ee ee

Then, coming out, beheld a space,

The flame consume my dwelling place.
And, when I could no longer look,
I blest His namethat gave and took,
That laid my goods nowinthe dust.
Yea, so it was, and so "twasjust.
It was His own, it was not mine;
Far be it that I should repine.
He mightof all justly bereft,
Butyet sufficient forus left.
Whenbythe ruinsoft I past,
Mysorrowingeyesaside did cast,
And here andthere the places spy
Whereoft I sat, and long did lie.
Here stood that trunk, and there that chest;
There lay that store I counted best.
Mypleasant thingsin asheslie,
And them behold no moreshall I.
Underthy roof no guest shallsit,
Noratthy table eata bit.
Nopleasanttale shall ’ere be told,
Northings recounted doneofold.
No candle e’er shall shine in thee,
Nor bridegroom’s voice e’er heard shall be.
In silence ever shalt thou lie;
Adieu, Adieu; all’s vanity.
Thenstraight I ’gin my heart to chide,
And didst thy wealth on earth abide?
UNIT 3: ANNE BRADSTREET(c. 1612-1672) 53

39 Didst fix thy hope on mold’ring dust?

40 The arm offlesh didst make thy trust?
41 Raise up thy thoughts above the sky
42 That dunghill mists away mayfly.
43 Thou hast an houseonhigherect,
44 Framed bythat mighty Architect,
45 With glory richly furnished,
46 Stands permanentthoughthisbe fled.
47 It’s purchaséd, and paid for too
48 By Him whohath enoughto do.
49 Appice so vast as is unknown,
50 Yet, by His gift, is made thine own.
51 There’s wealth enough, I need no more;
52 Farewell mypelf, farewell my store.
53 The world no longerlet me love,
54 My hopeandtreasure lies Above.

Line 2. Look: expect.

Line 4. Shriek: a loud, piercing cry.
Line 7. Spy: watch, catch sightof.
Line 10. Succourless: helpless, withoutaid.
Line 11. Beheld a space: watched for a short period of time.
Line 14. “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job
1:21).
Line 18. Repine: complain.
Line 19. He might have taken everything from us with good cause.
Line 24. Oft: often. .
Line 36. “Then I looked onall the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labourthat I
had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was
no profit under the sun” (Eccl. 2:11).
Line 37. Chide: scold.
Line 40. Arm of flesh, see “With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to
help us, andto fight our battles” (2 Chron. 32:8); “Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the
man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from
the Lord” (Jer. 17:5).
Line 42. Dunghill mists, see “ye shall be cut into pieces, and your houses shall be made a
dunghill” (Daniel 2:5). “Also I have made a decree, that whosoevershall alter this
word let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged
thereon; and let his house be made a dunghill for this” (Ezra 6:11). “He raiseth up the
pooroutof the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill” (Psalm 113:7).
Line 43. House on high erect, see “For we knowthat if our earthly house of this tabernacle
were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in
the heavens” (2 Cor. 5:1).
Line 48. To do: to do it, to pay forit.
Line 52. Pelf: wealth, property, possessions.
54 AMERICAN LITERATURE TO 1900

Line 54. Treasure lies Above, see “Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags
which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief
approacheth neither moth corrupteth, For where yourtreasure is, there will your
heart be also” (Luke 12:33-34).

. How does Bradstreet evoke a particular setting in this poem? Analyseits

descriptive elements.

. How does Bradstreet explain what happened? Analyse the narrative

elements of this poem,

. Analyse how the author grieves for the home and worldly goods she haslost.

What comparisons does Bradstreet make in this poem?

Comment onthe repetitive use of negatives throughout this poem.

As a Puritan, Bradstreet was deeply influenced by the Bible. How do the

biblical references function in this poem?

All events were interpreted by Puritans as divine messages and all

disappointments could serveas corrections for one’s faults. Thus, Bradstreet
toakherillnesses as evidence of her need for punishment from God for her
“pride and vanity.” Analyse “Upon the Burning of Our House”in the light
of this doctrine.

Whatare the main differences betweenthefirst part of the poem(lines 1-

35) and the second(lines 36-54)?

. How well did the author express the struggle between her love of this
world and herreliance on the next? Do you think that Bradstreet finally
resolved the conflict between hernatural attachmentto earthly things and
the awareness that material goods are not worth one’s attention when
comparedto eternal values? oe
10, Whatis the author trying to communicate in this poem? Does she seek to
influence or change the way her readers think? Commenton the poet’s
overall intention. a
UNIT 3: ANNE BRADSTREET(c. 1612-1672) 55

“On My Dear Grandchild Simon Bradstreet”

In Classical times, an elegy was any poem on any subject (death, war, love,
etc.) written in elegiac metre.’ Since the Renaissance, however, an elegy
has been a meditative poem on the death of a person. Although mostelegies
focus on the deeds and accomplishments of the deceased person, elegies on
infant deaths cannot dwell on such events for obvious reasons and,
consequently, form a class apart. Bradstreet’s poems mourning the deaths of
her grandchildren resemble Elizabethan elegies such as Ben Jonson’s “On My
First Son.” Bradstreet does not break abruptly with the tradition of Christian
elegies, which are supposed to close with consolation and the affirmation
that death is part of a divine plan, but she does not easily accept with pious
resignation the death of her own grandchildren as part of the providential
scheme. Each oneofher elegies expresses in a different mannerthe internal
conflicts which the author experienced when she had to confront the
frightening and sorrowful reality of infant mortality.
In the elegy to her grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet, who died in 1665 at the
age of “a year and a half,” the author compares the death of old people to that
of babies by evoking full grown trees and ripe fruit in contrast with new
plants and buds prevented from achieving their natural cycle. The elegy
written in 1669 in memory of another grandchild, Anne Bradstreet, at the age
of “three years and seven months,” showsan even deepergrief, but the poet
finally seems to be able to control her sadness thanks to the expectation of
immortality. In one of Anne Bradstreet’s last poems, “To the Memory of My
Dear Daughter-in-Law, Mrs. Mercy Bradstreet,” the author admits that her
intellect is unable to make sense of Mercy’s death, which occurred a few
days after giving birth to a girl, whoalso died.
In the elegy we haveselected, the author expresses how hard it is for her to
reconcile the deep love she feels for her deceased grandson and her duty to
maintain her faith in spite of her suffering. In the first stanza, she reveals a
sorrow which threatens to overwhelm her because she seemsto be left alone
to struggle with despair. In the second stanza the poet appears to be able to
master her grief and accept the divine will, although it could be argued that
such acceptanceis not really complete. If the irony of the poem is emphasized,
it can be interpreted as a direct criticism of the goodness of God.
This elegy is written in rhymed iambic pentameters.

1 Classical elegiacs were usually written in strophic units of two rhymed lines, of different
lengths, expressing a complete idea. The typical couplet of such elegies was the distich, a
rhymed couplet comprising a dactylic hexameter followed by a dactylic pentameter. A
dactyl is a metrical foot consisting of one stressed syllable followed by two unstressed ones.
56 AMERICAN LITERATURE TO 1900

On MyDear Grandchild Simon Bradstreet,

WhoDied on 16 November, 1669,
Being But a Month, and One Day Old

No sooner came, but gone, andfall’n asleep.

Om INN BRWN

Acquaintance short, yet parting caused us weep;

Three flowers, two scarcely blown, the last i’ th’ bud,
Croppedby th’ Almighty’s hand; yet is He good.
With dreadful awe before Him let’s be mute,
Such wasHiswill, but why,let’s not dispute,
With humble hearts and mouthsputin the dust,
Let’s say He’s merciful as well as just.
Hewill return and makeupall our losses,
10 And smile again after ourbitter crosses.
11 Go pretty babe, go rest with sisters twain;
12 Amongthe blest in endless joys remain.

Line 7. “He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope” (Lamentations 3:29).

1. How doesBradstreet bring to the surface the most important features of her
grandson? What comparisons does she make to get at the essential
attributes of the baby?
2. Analyse the first two lines of this poem. Why doesit begin so harshly? What
is the overall effect of this opening?
3. Comment onthe repetitive use of the exhortative “let’s.”
4. Apostropheis a figure of speech in which thing, a place, an abstract quality,
an idea, a dead or absent person is addressed as if present and capable of
understanding. Can you find an example of apostrophein this elegy?
5. Explain the relationship between the speaker and thelistener (the character
to whom thespeakeris talking) in this poem.
6. It has been suggested that biblical allusions in Bradstreet’s elegies offer
comfort and reinforce trust in God, whereas natural imagery emphasizes
mortality. Can you find any evidence that supports this theory?
7. There is ambiguity when more than one meaningor interpretation is possible.
Ambivalence means that more than oneattitude is being displayed by the
poet. Can youfind any evidence of ambiguity and ambivalencein this poem?
UNIT 3: ANNE BRADSTREET(c. 1612-1672) 57

8. Pathos is the quality in a work of art which evokes deepfeelings of

tenderness, pity, or sorrow. Commenton the pathosof this elegy.

Does Bradstreet express any feelings of rebellion against divine authority in

this poem? Study lines 4-10 and indicate the statements that may support an
interpretation of the poem as the expression of both a submission to God’s
poweranda lack of faith in God’s goodness.

10. Reread the whole poem and explain why you acceptor reject the view that
Bradstreet demonstrates the need to be resigned and to keepfaith in the
redemptive future, since human reason cannot explain God’s will.

_ Now, reread the four poems2 danswerthe followingquestion

. Look for the theme, that is, the central idea or statement of each poem,
which may be stated directly or indirectly. How would you describe
Bradstreet’s handling of her themes?

. Try to indicate the atmosphere of each poem. By atmosphere we

understand the prevailing mood and feeling evoked by the poem: joy,
delight, happiness, hope, sadness, fear, anxiety, terror, loss, longing, anger,
despair. The atmosphere of a poem (an attempt by the poet to make the
reader feel in a certain way) should not be confused with the tone of a
poem (howthe poetfeels).

. To what extent does Bradstreet’s poetry reflect Puritan thinking? Can you
find any explicit evidence of Puritanism in her poems? Doeshervision also
express a departure from conventional Puritan thinking?

Point out the elements derived from the tradition of Renaissance humanism
and those taken from the Christian tradition. Note that Bradstreet underwent
a Puritan upbringing in a culturally liberal atmosphere.

How does Bradstreet portray or construct herself in her poems? Bear in

mind that she cultivated her identity through multiple modalities ofself.
Therefore, any attempt to privilege one particular position or role over the
various others she also enacted maylead readers to an oversimplification
of her complex poetry.

Although Bradstreet’s poetry was successful whenit wasfirst published, it was

generally ignored for the next two hundred years until it was “rediscovered”
or re-evaluated bycritics in the twentieth century, including feministcritics.
Whichelements do you think may haveattracted these critics?
38 AMERICAN LITERATURE TO 1900

Subjectivity suggests that a writer is primarily concerned with conveying

personal experience and feeling. Objectivity suggests that a writer attempts
a neutral and detached approach. Whatinstances of subjectivity and
objectivity can youfind in these poems?
Whatrole does femininity play in Bradstreet’s poetry? Is there anything
particularly feminine about Bradstreet’s poetic strategies?

To what extent does Bradstreet use figurative language in these poems?

Note that figurative language mustbe distinguished from literal language
becauseit departs from theliteral meaning of the words used. It is important
not only to recognize figurative language in poetry, but also to understand
the effect it creates by appealing to our senses, our emotions and our
imagination.

10. Compare the metre of the four poems in order to point out similarities
and differences. Can you suggest any reasons why the author used
tetrameters instead of pentameters in one of the four poems?

“The Author to Her Book”

1. The author/speakerof this poem compares her book to

a. a fatherless child.
b. a motherless child.
c. a fatherless and motherless child.
d. a spoilt child.
. Which ofthe following wordsis not used as a metaphorin the poem?
a. offspring
b. birth
c. blushing
d. brat
Which statementbestreflects a modern interpretation of this poem?
a. It is a genuine expression of the deep feelings of inadequacy that
Bradstreet experienced as a writer.
b. It is a poetic display of female power through well-wrought expressions
of powerlessness.
UNIT 3: ANNE BRADSTREET(c. 1612-1672) 59

c. It is a tedious exercise in imitation of various poets in which Bradstreet

did not express any of heractual feelings.
d. It is an extremely original poem based on metaphorsthatstrike readers as
being odd and unusual.

“To My Dear and Loving Husband”

4. Whatis the best restatementof “Thy love is such | can no wayrepay”(line 9)?
a. You love me so muchthat | am unableto reciprocate.
b. Such love as yours deservesto bepaidfor.
c. Such love as mine deservesto be paid for.
d. Your love deservesthat | give you somethingin return.
5. Whatis the main idea of this poem?
a. It is the duty of a married couple to love each other.
b. Conjugallove is a proof ofpiety.
c. Loving one’s spouse maylead to a dangerous attachment.
d. Married couples who love each other passionately without losing sight of
Godwill enjoyeternallife.

“Uponthe Burning of Our House” i

6. Which ofthe following best describes the author/speakerat the beginning

- of this poem?
a. apprehensive
b. sorrowful
c. uncomfortable
d. uneasy
7. Which ofthe following best describes the author/speaker at the end ofthis
poem?
a. apathetic
b. desolate
c. nervous
d. resigned
8. After the loss of her earthly house, recalling the Bible
reinforces the speaker’s first feelings.
aoop

makesthe speaker eager to build a new one in the sameplace.

mitigates the speaker’s pain.
. makes her feel even worse.
60 AMERICAN LITERATURE TO 1900

“On My Dear Grandchild Simon Bradstreet”

9. “Three flowers” in line 3 stands as an example of
a. apostrophe.
b. allusion.
c. paradox.
d. metaphor.

10. In line 11, there is an example of

a. apostrophe.
b. allusion.
c. paradox.
d. metaphor.

this is the firstunit on poetry in our course, we haveuseda |: tg

umber of literary terms, someof which may be new for you. To avoi -
confusion, you mayfind it helpful to write down such terms with the
| definitions given throughoutthe unit. Here is an example of how you Can|
‘start your ownglossary of terms related to metre. Later on, you can expand|
itwith other terms you will need whenever you write about poetry. For|
_ instance, when you deal with rhyme, you will include definitionsfor.
roic couplets” or “rhyming couplets” and“para-rhyme”or “p.

¢ Metre: the fixed arrangement or pattern of accented and unaccented

syllables in verse.
¢ Foot: a metrical unit formed by a fixed pattern ofsyllables.
¢ lambic: a metrical foot consisting of one unstressed syllable followed by
a stressed syllable.
* Pentameter: a metrical line containing five feet.
¢ Tetrameter: a metrical line containing four feet.