Friday, November 1, 2013
Anne Bradstreet "Before the Birth of One of Her Children"
I really enjoyed the poem, "Before the Birth of One of Her Children" by Anne because it reflected a topic that we haven't done much discussion on yet in this class, death after giving birth. I interpreted it as her writing to her husband before she gives birth. She is telling him that she wants him to remember her for all of her strengths rather than her weaknesses and mistakes. She says this because she is worried about dying when giving birth to one of her children. Anne also makes it a point to comment on the possibility of a Stepmother after her death. She understands the idea of remarriage but, she wants to be sure that he PROTECTS their children from the stepmother which I found to be very interesting. "And if thou love thy self, or loved'st me/These O protect from step dame's injury." I am curious to know my peers thoughts on the protection from a stepmother because I myself have never been in that experience before.
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I don't have a stepmother, but I do have a stepdad. It's interesting how you bring up this point because I never really thought about my mother trying to protect him from us. Sometimes he's there for me moreso than my mother. I think there are still gender differences in marriage when you think about women as "gold diggers" or being hurtful towards her stepchildren, but I'm sure there are similar cases for men. I can also understand the notion of having a new parent and wanting to protect all of the memories, customs, and traditions that the family had before the parent.
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