America's first poet

Gustavo Quintero
English 48A
October 9, 2007
Journal #10 Bradstreet Pg 204-217


Quote:
"In this array 'mongst vulgars may'st thou roam.
In critic's hands beware thou dost not come,
And take thy way where yet thou art not known;
If for thy father asked, say thou hadst none;" (Bradstreet 205)


Summary:
In this block quote Bradstreet is telling the reader that she is the writer of this poetry. She is making it sure that anyone who reads her poetry knows that it was not written by a man. She is taking credit for her work at a time when no woman were published. This is a very bold and revolutionary statement for her time.


Response:
When I first read Bradstreet I found it somewhat difficult to read and understand her poetry. I was not very excited nor interested in her poetry as I read it. After we discussed her in class and examined her poetry I can now truly appreciate and enjoy her writings. What she did during her lifetime is a huge complement to her strength and character as a woman. By taking a close reading of her poetry we were able to fully comprehend and get an idea of just how complex and deep her poetry. At first glance when one reads,"The Author to Her book", one might think that she is a very humble person. I like to think that she is writing in a sarcastic tone, as Scott brilliantly pointed out. After you read the poem using Scott's point of view you really see just how clever and excellent Bradstreet is with her poetry. As we discussed in class the reason Bradstreet sounds humble in her poem is because she wanted everyone to read her poems. If she used a boasting tone surly the men that read poetry would not have read her. She would have cut off a large demographic that she was trying and did appeal to. Yet the clever Bradstreet is still able to sneak in a little bit of boasting. She says,"If for thy father asked, say thou hadst none;", she is putting it very bluntly that this poem was written by her not a man. Surely no one would have thought such beautiful and perfect poetry was written by a woman. Yet she makes it a point of hers to let everyone know who the true author is. For this I congratulate her. During her lifetime woman authors were not published or celebrated. For her to break this mold and top become the great poet that she became is a true celebration.

Her poetry has such smooth flow and beautiful rhyming. To be read this 300 plus years later and still be able to find meaning in her poems shows just how far ahead she was for her time. Her title of "America's first poet" is well deserved.