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The Challenge Set by Anne Bradstreet

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In Anne Bradstreet, in the “The Author of Her Book,” challenges her readers to examine their ideas about themselves in ways they may not have before. In the poem the speaker compares being an author to a book, to being a parent of a child. In this poem, The author writes of her experience of getting her first book published. Even though Anne’s first book, published in 1650 without her consent, her emotions, her doubt of the book’s success, and her pride in her work are ways she explains her experience so her readers can interpret what she says and relate it to their own lives. The speaker is very emotional from the publishing of her book and she shows this through comparing her being an author of a book, to becoming a parent for the first time. She draws the comparison between being an author and being a parent in this way because there are a lot of the similar emotions in each scenario. She calls the book “the offspring of my feeble brain.” (Line 1) This shows Anne is afraid that she will not succeed as a writer as many people feel when they become parents. This challenges how readers learn to view themselves because many people feel this way when they have high hopes or when they undergo a change in their lives. There is a part in all of us that wonders if we are going to succeed in the things we do, which is what Anne is showing though her emotions about her book’s publishing. Thoughts readers can take out of this is that we still have to do the things that make us uneasy even though it its makes us nervous and emotional. This makes the speaker come off as anxious, discouraged and uneasy but she uses this to connect to her readers so they can use this poem to reflect on themselves. The speaker is very uncertain about her book because she saw all its flaws and didn’t think her work was good enough to be published, or appreciated. She compares her book to a disobedient child because children are imperfect and and the

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