The Prologue questions and answers
THE PROLOGUE MARKS,-5
Short Essay Type Questions with Answers
Q. 1. What is the connection between the form and the content in The Prologue by Anne Bradstreet?
Ans. Anne Bradstreet, one of the primary poets of the Puritan era, seems to be ironic in this poem. Here we notice that Bradstreet’s content rejects the idea that men are “superior” to women. In stanza five, Bradstreet outwardly rebels against the traditional female rolea move that was rather brave for her day. There is an irony in stanza seven as she defers to men. She says that men possess superior talents in writing to those of women.
She seemingly plays down her own talents, expressing that she surely cannot write better than the Greeks with her “mean” pen. The word ‘mean’ here stands for‘mere or ‘ineffetive’. In terms of poetic form, Bradstreet further rebels against the idea that her verse is inferior by composing finely-crafted lines, each of which contains ten syllables. The predominant meter throughout is iambic pentameter. This is one of the most common meters in poetry, consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable so that each line has five stressed syllables. We can see the example below, wherein the words or letters in all caps receive the stress when the poem is spoken:
TO SING of WARS, of CAP-tains AND of KINGS Of CIT-ies FOUND-ed, COMM-on WEALTHS be-GUN
There might be a bit of variation in some lines, but the dominant pattern is iambic pentameter. We should also note that the last two lines in each stanza consist of a rhyming couplet. Thus, Bradstreet echoes her content arguing for the talents of women by composing a tightly crafted poem that proves her case.
Q. 2. In the poem The Prologue how does Anne Bradstreet rationalize and legitimize her role as a female writer?
Or,
I am obnoxious to each carping tongue Who says my hand a needle better fits?
– Explain the lines with reference to the context.
Ans. This is perhaps the best illustration from this poem by Anne Bradstreet of her rejection of the idea that she, as a woman, should listen to the “carping tongues” of those who feel she would be better occupied in sewing than in sharing her opinions as a writer. In this poem, Bradstreet openly acknowledges that she is by no means infallible: she states in the opening stanza that she has only a “mean Pen,” poorly equipped in her “poor lines,” when she is contrasted with the output of “Poets and Historians.” However, the initial two stanzas of the poem do not mention her gender at all. On the contrary, in these stanzas the humility she expresses has nothing to do with her womanhood at all.
Bradstreet is evidently unwilling to accept any suggestion that she, as a woman, is less capable of capable commentary than other humans of any gender. However, she does attempt to preempt critical commentary from readers by noting that “From School-boy’s tongue no Rhet’ric we expect.” She then describes her own “Muse” as “blemished” and notes that it cannot be expected, therefore, to produce perfect notes, as could be expected from a broken instrument. Bradstreet therefore elicits audience sympathy and engagement by comparing herself to an innocent schoolchild-notably, a boy.
Bradstreet is unrepentant in her commentary that any scorn cast “on female wits” will fall upon deaf ears in her case. She states that “men have precedency and still excel / It is but vain unjustly to wage war.” This suggests, first, that men get angry about female intelligence out of sheer vanity, as they already have more power; it also indicates perhaps that this anger is driven by a fear that, should they not “wage war,” women’s intelligence might push them toward equality. At the end of this stanza, Bradstreet asks simply that men “grant some small acknowledgement” of the intelligence of women.
Q. 3.Assess Anne Bradstreet’s The prologue as a lyric.
Ans. A lyric is a kind of poem usually short and personal expressing the poet’s personal feelings and emotions rather than telling a story. This definition of lyric is matched with the characters of the prologue.
In the prologue, Bradstreet expresses her personal feelings and emotions against the attitude of male hegemony. Women were treated as servant in the early puritan society. They wre confined to the home. They were unable to go out of their fixed territory without any emergency. So they were kept in darkness. There is no value of the individual liberty of women. If any woman does something valuable, men say, “She must copy or happen it by chance”. The male society is reluctant to acknowledge women’s artistic excellence. Such kind of harsh attitude of male society cannot be accepted and Bradstreet bitterly criticizes it. The prologue contains the personal feelings and emotions of the poet. So, we can consider the poem as a lyric.
Q. 4. How does Anne Bradstreet criticize the male society in her prologue?
Ans. The Prologue as a poem speaks about Bradstreet’s struggle with being a woman within a puritan society. During this time, women were not meant to speak their mind and were meant to recognize only men’s supposed superiority. As a reference to this is line 40, “Men can do best, and women know it well”. It is noteworthy that the poet uses some literary devices such as irony and sarcasm to make a critique of male hegemony.
She criticizes the male society with her soft tone. She is very mild in her criticism on male dominance which makes it ironical. At the very beginning of the poem, she uses some understatements to make her points clear. She speaks of ‘mean pen’ to indicate her creativity. But ironically it hints at her inability at poetizing. She compares herself with Bartas who had the chance to write whatever he likes. She use an understatement to compare herself with a school boy to criticize the attitude of male society with polite tone.
Though Bradsrteet relegate her position by comparing herself with a school boy, we know that she is the first woman to write a critique on male dominance which is new in the early American scenario. This is much a tribute to writing career of a woman as it is anything else. She once said that unless she writes none can hear her. So she writes in hope of being read, being heard. She is not a man so so that she can speak her mind publicly. So she writes. She uses ‘obnoious’ and ‘carping tongue’ to clarify the hostility of the male world. The men of her society used to say that “(a woman’s) Her hands fit better at needle”. In the next stanza, her critique becomes more obvious. Anne Bradstreet draws the reader’s attention by using sarcastic and ironic expressions.
Q. 5. What are the subject matter or themes of The Prologue?
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The Prologue questions and answers The Prologue questions and answers The Prologue questions and answers The Prologue questions and answers