Anne+Bradstreet


==== This poem is talking about a mother and her struggle with her upcoming birth. She is about to have a baby, but she is about to pass away. The poem, as I read it, is more of a reflection on her loved ones. She discusses how she loves her friends and family, and how she will lose her destiny with her husband. She talks about how she hopes her husband can forget her faults, and **lover** her even though she is gone. Also, you pick up that she is extremely religious because she said that she is not her husband’s anymore, but God’s. She said that she wants her husband to protect the woman that watches over her child. At the end, she wants her husband to kiss the paper because the poem is the last thing her husband has to remember her by. ====


==== The theme that I picked up on, while reading this poem was death. The poem is centered on the author’s ability to deal with her own demise. She discusses her love for her friends and family, but she always brings it back to her death. Like in the first few lines she says she loves her friends and family but then in line five she says, "But with death's parting blow is sure to meet." This is basically saying that she is still going to die. Also, a main subject she brings up when she talks about her death is her husband. She feels like she has only lived half a **life, and will mi**ss a lot of valuable time with her husband. Like in lines 13 and 14 she says, "And if I see not half my days that's due, what nature would, God grant to yours and you." This is saying that she has only lived half a life, and she wants God to give those days to her husband. Her love for her husband is great, even in the face of death. She also discusses her daughter a great deal. She wants to make sure that she will be taken care **for**. She says "And if thou love thyself, or loves'st me, these o protect from Dames injury." In laymen’s terms, this is saying that if you love me, you will protect the woman that watches over our children. That is a v__ery noble thing for her to thin__k of, to want her husband’s new wife to be well taken care of. Finally, she wants her husband to remember her. She is fine with her husband re-marrying and moving on, but she wants to live in her husband’s heart. In the last lines she says, "And kiss this paper for thy paper for thy loves dear sake, who with salt tears this last farewell did take." This is saying that she wants her husband to kiss this paper for her sake because it is the last thing she gave him. Although the main theme of this poem is death, a lot of the poem has to do with her dealing with her death, and accepting it. ====


==== I felt that "Before the Birth of One of Her Children" was an intriguing, and very reflective of the average person. When a person is told they are about to die, more often **then not** they worry about their loved ones. They want to make sure that their loved ones are going to be okay. Like in this poem, there is not too much self-pity; she talks mostly about her husband and daughter, and hardly at all about herself. These observations are my own, but that’s what seems to occur. The family around the ill is the one you see crying and grieving, and not as much the person about to die. __You hear too much about the selfishness of the human psych**e, and** don’t hear the positive things.__ The woman in this poem is a perfect example of a good mother and spouse. Instead of __groveling__ in self-pity, she spent her time trying to get her affairs in order. She wanted to make sure that her daughter would be okay; and make sure that her husband knows it’s okay to re-marry. That is a very noble thing to be so un-selfish. This book helped me see one of the very noble and un-selfish aspects of the human psyche. ====


==== This poem discusses the author’s love for her husband. She discusses how she feels that she and her husband are one. That is a pretty powerful thing. She also talks about what their love means to her. She said that their love means more to her than a mine of gol**d, or** all the riches that the East holds. She feels that their love is a gift from the heavens. At the end she says that their love is so strong that they will love forever. She obviously loves her husband very much. ====


==== The theme of this poem was love. The theme of this poem is so obvious it's not even up for discussion. Throughout the poem the only thing she talks about is her love for her husband, and how much this love means to her. In the first line she says "If ever two were one, then surely we." This is saying that if there ever were two people that were one, it was us. This is a really powerful **thing**. **That she has so much love for another human being that she feels they are one person- FRAG!**. You hear all the time people saying they love something, but she has such a love for her husband, she views him as part of her soul. She also discusses how much their love means to her. She Says, "I prize thy love more than the East doth hold." This is saying that their love means more to her then all the riches in the eastern part of the world. Not too many people can say that they value something that much, and the fact that she says that in reference to her love for her husband, that means something. Finally, at the end of the poem she says, “Then we live, in love let's so persevere that when we live no more, we may live ever." She is saying that their love is so powerful that even when they are dead they will live forever through their love. That in itself shows how much she loves her husband, and is the perfect example of the theme. ====


==== When reading this poem I could relate it to the world. People everywhere in the world have a love for something, maybe not as strong as the author’s in the poem, but love nonetheless. __Even the coldest and most cutthroat human beings care and love something- an interesting observation.__ It’s what makes a human a human. We are not robots that just go through the motions of life without showing emotion or getting attached to something, iIt's our ability to love something, and care for that with all our souls. This poem is a perfect example of how a marriage should be. It's not based **off of** looks**, or an**y other superficial thing. It’s based on **their - whose? no antecedent** true and e**ver last**ing love for each other. I think this is lost in a lot of marriages today with the divorce rate at an **all time** high. But there are people in this world with love this strong, and those are the people I’m connecting this poem too. When you have people that love this much in the world it makes it a better place. These people accept other for who they are and empathies with them. Every one in the world loves something to some degree, which shows there is good in everyone. ====