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Paper Instructions:

Talk about the tone in each of Bradstreet’s three poems about the deaths of her grandchildren (pp. 241-42). Many scholars note that the tone of the early poem (from 1665) is more accepting while the later poems (from 1669) express more bitterness. How does Bradstreet’s word choice (diction) change to express a harsher tone in the later poems? Provide specific examples from each poem to help you support your claims. Quotations do not count towards your final word count. What has brought about this change in tone? Is this an example of where we can see “Anne,” Bradstreet’s private voice, becoming more prominent at the expense of “Mistress Bradstreet,” the voice that toes the Puritan party line?  Explain.