Before the Birth of One of Her Children (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Anne Dudley
- First Published: 1678
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
The Poem
In Anne Bradstreet’s “Before the Birth of One of Her Children,” set in seventeenth century New England, a pregnant woman, fearing death in childbirth, writes a farewell message for her husband. While the speaker emphasizes the reality of the physical separation that death will bring, she also finds the one way to cross over the barrier of death, leaving her manuscript, her words, with him.
The poet’s first six lines assert that “death’s parting blow” separates one from all bonds with friends and that death is universal, “irrevocable,” and...
[The entire page is 1537 words long]
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