Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain, Who after birth did’st by my side

Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain,
Who after birth did’st by my side remain,
Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,
Who thee abroad exposed to public view;
Made thee in rags, halting, to the press to trudge,
Where errors were not lessened, all may judge.
At thy return my blushing was not small,
My rambling brat (in print) should mother call;
I cast thee by as one unfit for light,
Thy visage was so irksome in my sight;
Yet being mine own, at length affection would
Thy blemishes amend, if so I could:
I washed thy face, but more defects I saw,
And rubbing off a spot, still made a flaw.
I stretched thy joints to make thee even feet,
Yet still thou run’st more hobbling than is meet;
In better dress to trim thee was my mind,
But nought save homespun cloth in the house I find.
In this array, amongst vulgars may’st thou roam;
In critics’ hands beware thou dost not come;
And take thy way where yet thou are not known.
If for thy Father asked, say thou had’st none;
And for thy Mother, she alas is poor,
Which caused her thus to send thee out of door.
PART 1: After reading the poem carefully, fill in the following blanks (answers will be posted next week).
“Thou” is the speaker’s _____, which is being compared to a _______. By calling herself “poor,” the speaker is saying that she is an inadequate ______.
Although the speaker tried to improve her_ ________________
after it was publicly “exposed,” she had only limited resources (“homespun cloth”) to do so. “Washing thy face” and “rubbing off a spot” refer to the physical acts of _______ and _____________. “Rags” refers to the ________________ used by the “press.” Likewise, the uneven “feet” that the speaker tried to lengthen refer to the metrical ______ of her “ill-formed offspring,” which is really her__________. The speaker is a “mother” in the sense that she is the creator of a “rambling brat,” which embarrasses her because of defects; consequently, we see her as a self-critical and humble _______ who is witty and likeable.
PART 2: Write two paragraphs analyzing the poem’s content and meaning. Some ideas to consider: What does it tell us about Colonial life and attitudes toward writing and publishing (especially by a woman)? What is the language and diction like? What sense do we get of the (female) author’s mind and approach to art?