The Annotated Edition
Before the Birth of One of Her Children by Anne Bradstreet
Read aloud in ~1 min
Anne Bradstreet wrote this poem as a heartfelt letter to her husband, aware that childbirth could be her last moment.
- Poet
- Anne Bradstreet
- Themes
- death, family, love
§01Quick summary
What this poem is about
Anne Bradstreet wrote this poem as a heartfelt letter to her husband, aware that childbirth could be her last moment. She urges him to hold onto her love, take care of their children, and — if he decides to remarry — to keep her memory alive. This work stands out as one of the most sincere and tender reflections on facing death from the 17th century.
§02Themes
Recurring themes
§03Tone & mood
How this poem feels
The tone is calm, loving, and unwavering — the voice of someone who has come to terms with a genuine possibility and wants to use her time to safeguard those she cares for. There's an underlying grief, but Bradstreet manages it with restraint. The poem stays clear of self-pity or melodrama. Instead of forcing sadness upon you, it evokes a deep sense of sorrow that feels earned, as the speaker is clearly making an effort *not* to make you sad.
§04Symbols & metaphors
Symbols & metaphors
- The paper / the poem itself
- At the end, Bradstreet asks her husband to kiss the paper. The document stands in for her body and presence — the only part of her that can linger after death. It blurs the line between a literary object and a human life.
- The unborn child
- The child about to be born embodies both the possibility of death and the promise of life. This captures the harsh paradox at the core of the poem: bringing a new life into the world can also mean risking the mother's life.
- The stepdame
- The future stepmother isn't a villain; she represents replacement and erasure. What Bradstreet truly fears isn’t death, but the idea of being forgotten and her children left unprotected. The stepdame embodies all the ways the world continues to change.
- Her children as 'dear remains'
- Referring to her children as her *remains* makes them living reminders of her. It’s a powerful image—her body, her love, and her identity continuing in them even after she’s no longer here.
§05Historical context
Historical context
Anne Bradstreet was the first published poet in colonial America, writing in a time when dying in childbirth was a real and common fear. She had eight children and made it through all her pregnancies, but she couldn't have known that would be her experience while writing this poem. In Puritan New England, there was a strong emphasis on being spiritually prepared for death — crafting a poem like this served not only as a personal expression of love but also as a socially accepted way of getting one's affairs in order. Bradstreet's work was primarily published without her direct consent in 1650, under the title *The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America*, which thrust her into the public eye, even though she intended her writing to be private and domestic. This poem, more than nearly any other she penned, reveals the disconnect between her public persona and the intense private emotions she experienced.
§06FAQ
Questions readers ask
She wrote it as a precaution before giving birth, aware that she might not make it. Childbirth mortality rates were high in 17th-century New England, and composing a farewell poem was her way of preparing her husband and children for the worst while she still had the opportunity.
No — she survived all eight of her pregnancies and died in 1672 at about 60, probably from tuberculosis. However, she had no way of knowing she would make it through each birth, which is precisely what adds urgency to the poem.
It is addressed to her husband, Simon Bradstreet, a well-known figure in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The poem reads like a private letter crafted in verse—intimate, direct, and personal, which was quite rare for published poetry at that time.
She suggests that her children represent the part of her that would endure after her death. The term *remains* typically refers to a corpse, so using it to describe living children is a bold choice — it implies that they carry her legacy and serve as her continuation in the world.
She understands her husband would likely remarry if she passed away — that's a common and often necessary aspect of colonial life. She's not upset about it; her main priority is ensuring her children are cared for and that her memory is respected. It's a practical worry, not one rooted in jealousy.
It is written by a devoted Puritan, and her faith forms the foundation of her acceptance of death. However, the poem emphasizes human love and earthly relationships instead of salvation or the afterlife. For a Puritan poet, that's a notably earthly choice.
It’s one of the most impactful gestures in the poem. The paper — the poem itself — acts as a tangible representation of her. She’s asking him to regard the document as he would her, transforming the poem into a sort of body, a presence that endures beyond her lifetime.
Most of Bradstreet's published work focused on religion and followed classical models. This poem is part of a collection of more personal, domestic poems discovered among her papers and published after her death. These are the poems that resonate most with modern readers—they capture a woman expressing her thoughts and feelings in the moment, rather than putting on a pious performance for an audience.
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