How Does Anne Bradstreet Use An Extended Metaphor

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Anne Bradstreet uses an extended metaphor throughout her poem calling the book she wrote a child which she despises. She starts off her poem by calling her book an “ill-formed offspring” (1). This is part of the extended metaphor she uses throughout the poem. She thinks of her book as her child, an ill-formed one something like a mutant child. In the next line she says “Till snatch from thence by friends.” (3) She’s talking about how one of her friends finds her poetry and likes it enough to decide to get it published. “Who thee abroad exposed to public view.” (3) Exposure is her friend’s decision to get the book published without her permission for the public to see. “Made thee in rags, halting to th' press to trudge, Where errors were not lessened all may judge.” (5-6) She’s using personification here to make the book seem like a piece of junk, it’s not dressed nice and neat but instead in rags. …show more content…

She thinks of the book as a rough draft with many errors. She later in the poem says “My rambling brat (in print) should mother call.”(8) Anne’s talking about how her child called her mother, or how the published book had Anne’s name on it which made her blush. She later says the book is “unfit for light” (9) by this she means her book isn’t ready for anyone to read or to be published. She then describes that she despises her child (book) but also has affection towards it since it is like a child to her and it’s her creation. “I washed thy face, but more defects I saw, And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.” (13-14) Anne’s talking about how she tries to clean the metaphorical dirt of the child but she only made it worse finding more flaws. She’s trying to fix her book but finds more things wrong with it in the

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