The Author to Her Book response

I am a person who truly appreciates a beautiful and creative piece of literature much
like a poem. The Author To her Book, is by far one of the most well thought out,
compelling, and analytical poems I have read by far. Understanding the poem requires
deep thought and understanding which really appealed to my logic. The Author to Her
Book is a poem that tells about a young woman’s relationship with her father, mother,
and the streets of which she will soon be forced to live. Throughout the entire poem she is
explaining to readers how she feels it is her fault that her father left, leaving her mother
for poor. “Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain, who after birth my side remain”.
(Lines 1 and 2). Here she is saying that as an infant her brain was feeble, basically saying
she did not have much knowledge and was not capable of doing anything stupid or
offensive to her family, this is why her father remained at her side. In lines 8 and 9 she
refers to herself as a brat, which she explains as being the reason her father would not
return home, even for her mother’s call. She didn’t feel her father was fit for light, so she
chose to view him in the dark therefore masquerading the scars which she metaphorically
used his face to display them. “I washed thy face, but more defects I saw, and rubbing off
a spot still made a flaw.” The young girl is stating that her father has so many flaws and
problems, that by removing one in turn you are surfacing another; if she could mend his
scars she would, but she knows that deep inside the scar must be internal. “I stretched thy
joints to make thee even feet, yet still thou run’st more hobbling than is meet.”
Apparently she is stating that she has been bending over backwards to keep her father
from running away from her again, by stretching his joints she is saying that she is trying
to better the problems that exist, it’s kind of like putting someone’s head on strait, you
don’t actually physically do it. “In critic’s hands beware thou dost not come, and take thy
way where thou art known; if for thy father asked; say thou art known; and for my
mother, she alas is poor, which caused her thus to send me out the door.” This is one of
the most powerful lines within the poem. This is the ending where she is no longer
reflecting on her past. She is stating that her father is ashamed to be critiqued by his peers
and neighbors, and flees to a place where he will not be known leaving behind his wife
and daughter. Her mother is poor, and has no job, and cannot afford to maintain her
daughter. Deciding that her daughter is old enough to fend for herself, she forces her
child, life, soul, and offspring into the cold night.

This poem is short, however is very powerful, and well written. One very well used
literary device used throughout the entire poem, is foreshadowing. Reading the poem the
events that are occurring are not happening as the reader in reading along, she is
foreshadowing on past events so that the readers will understand her better at the ending
when she reveals what actually ends up happening in her life. Thus the title The Author to
Her Book. She is narrating her own life; she is the author to her own life. Everyone has a
life, just like everyone’s life is different; this is much like a book. Everyday we write a
new page in our lives, and hope that one day we’ve written it well enough that the most
important reader who receives the final copy finds that we have written it well. I guess
metaphorically speaking God is our Editor in Chief and gets the final word. The diction
used in this poem was excellent, and gave the reader a clue of what time period the events
took place. I would say sometime during the Middle Ages, when everyone spoke broken
English. I came to this conclusion by the word choices such as thy and may’st, and the
fact that she referred to her clothes as rags. According to the caste system the lowest
people wore “rags”, while purple and the finest colors and fabrics were reserved for
royalty. The tone of the piece is sympathetic, which correlates to the appeal to our
emotions. You can’t help but feel bad for the young woman whose father has left her life,
and who feels it is all her fault, and whose mother made her leave their home. I know that
she is a young woman, because her mother decided it would be ok to leave at her age.
Surely she wouldn’t put a three year old out, and surely a three year old wouldn’t be able
to speak with great emotion and understanding, also she had already reflected on the
younger years of her life. This makes the author very credible although this poem is a
piece of fiction, but based off of true emotions, it is more believable to have a young
woman narrate her story, then have a three year old narrate her life, when three year old
has not received much education to even know what’s a narrator. Overall I felt that this
was a great piece of literature, and I recommend it for anyone looking for something
stimulating, and beautifully written to read.