Bradstreet's Writing Style
Anne Bradstreet's writing followed the literary technique of the Puritans, which was plain style.
The Puritans believed that ornate speech covered up God's truth, so the plain style lacked classical allusions or elaborate figures of speech.
This also reflected the plain style of their lives: sparse, simple, and straightforward.
Although Puritans primarily wrote in the plain style, they still incorporated literary techniques.
Bradstreet used several common types of literary techniques in her poems.
Rhyme
Meter
Tone
Allusion
Parallelism
A rhyme is when two or more words have the same sound endings but different beginning sounds.
For example: Star / Jar
When an author chooses to make certain end lines rhyme with each other, he or she incorporates a rhyme scheme.
• You can identify the rhyme scheme of a poem by looking at the last word of each line.
• Begin with the letter a, and place it at the end of the first line.
• If the next line rhymes with the first, then it will be a as well.
• If it does not rhyme with the first line, then you would place the letter b at the end.
Rollover the words to see the rhyme scheme for this poem.
To sing of wars, of captains, and of kings,
Of cities founded, commonwealths begun,
For my mean pen are too superior things:
Or how they all, or each, their dates have run;
Let poets and historians set these forth,
My obscure lines shall not so dim their work.
Explanation: orth and work are known as slant rhymes. A slant rhyme means that not all of its vowels or consonants sounds match those of the rhyming word. This is also known as partial rhyme, off rhyme, half rhyme, and near rhyme.
Now, you try.
But when my wondering eyes and envious heart
Great Bartas' sugared lines do but read o'er,
Fool I do grudge the Muses did not part
'Twixt him and me that overfluent store;
A Bartas can do what a Bartas will,
But simple I according to my skill.
Meter is systematically arranged and measured rhythm in verse. It is the regular pattern of strong and weak stress.
Bradstreet used iambic pentameter in her "Prologue."
This is a line of verse that consists of five iambs; an iamb is one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed.
To sing/ of wars, / of cap/ tains, and/ of kings.
Listen to the sentence.
Now, you try. First, identify all the stressed syllables in the line below; then identify all the .
Of ci/ties found/ed, com/monwealths/ begun.
My fool/ish, bro/ken, blem/ished Muse/ so sings
Stressed Syllables:
Found, beGUN, FOOl/ish, BRO/ken, BLEM/ished, MUSE, so SINGS,
Of ci/ties found/ed, com/monwealths/ begun.
My fool/ish, bro/ken, blem/ished Muse/ so sings
Tone is the author's attitude toward a subject.
You can recognize the tone by the word choice the author uses. The language the author chooses reveals the author's opinion of the subject. Of course, this can be positive or negative.
Read the stanza below.
But when my wondering eyes and envious heart
Great Bartas' sugared lines do but read o'er,
Fool I do grudge the Muses did not part
'Twixt him and me that overfluent store;--
A Bartas can do what a Bartas will,
But simple I according to my skill.
Answer the following questions:
Would you describe the tone of Bradstreet's stanza as angry, detached or humbled?
Answer: Humbled, Bradstreet says she isn't as good as the French poet Bartas, but she does have skill of her own merit.
What words in the stanza suggest this?
Answer: The first three lines are parallel becasue they all begin the same way: with a dependent clause, "If ever."
Why are lines 1 - 3 parallel?
“If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;
If ever wife was happy in a man…”
Answer: The first three lines are parallel becasue they all begin the saem way: With a dependent clause, "if ever."
Look at Romeo; he has all the ladies listening to him.
My dad is Scrooge; he won't buy me a new cell phone.
Kevin better be glad he isn't Pinocchio, or his nose would be extremely long right now.
What do all three of these sentences have in common?
Answer: They are allusions.
An allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference to a person, place, event, story, or art from literature, music, pop culture, etc.
What is the allusion in the line below?
"Great Bartas' sugared lines do but read o'er"
Answer: Great Bartas
Vocabulary is rich and meaningful. Authors choose words carefully. Identify and fill in the blank the word that you will see in Bradstreet's poems to the sentences where they best fit.
recompense
manifold
Nestasia bought my popcorn when it was buy one get one free; do you think that is a fair ____ for me buying her movie ticket?
Disney World has ____ attractions and activities for my whole family.
Use the Merriam-Webster dictionary if needed.
Answer: Recompense, manifold
Identify and fill in the blank the word that you will see in Bradstreet's poems to the sentences where they best fit.
Use the Merriam-Webster dictionary if needed.
persevere
requital
I loaned my brother Ben lunch money, and his ____ was more than enough to buy that shirt I wanted.
If you want to become successful at anything, you must ____ and not give up.
Answer: requital, persevere
Identify and fill in the blank the word that you will see in Bradstreet's poems to the sentences where they best fit.
Use the Merriam-Webster dictionary if needed.
deign
carping
precedency
Critics from both sides are already _ _ about how the football player's arrogance.
Jordan's group has set a _ _ for what I am expecting in behavior.
The star pitcher would not _ _ speak to the pitcher of the rival team.
Answer: carping, precedency, deign