, Research Paper
In Anne Bradstreet?s poem, "To Her Father with Some Verses", the speaker expresses to the reader the feeling of never being able to repay her "Father", God, for the gift of life He has offered to her. The feeling of never being able to repay her "Father" is shown through the use of repeated symbolism and the "Father" is represented as God through the use of diction.
In the poem the speaker refers to her "Father", this "Father" figure is portrayed as God through the use of diction. In her first reference to her "Father" she uses the words "honored" and "dear", "Most truly honored, and as truly dear," (1). This puts the "Father" on a higher platform than the speaker, exactly how God is characterized as a mighty, perfect being, who is honored and admired by everyone. The speaker utilizes the phrase, "your worthy self"(4), which also portrays the "Father" being as God. And by referencing death in the last line, "Yet paying is not paid until I die." (14) the speaker again references God because He is also connected with death, in that you go to see Him after you die and live with Him for eternity in Heaven.
The speaker uses repeated symbolism in "To Her Father with Some Verses" to express the feeling of never being able to repay God for the love and the life that He has offered to her. Money is the symbol used repeatedly to show the inability of the speaker to repay God for the gift of life. The speaker declares that she does not know how to indemnify God for the life and love He has offered to her, shown through the line, "My stock?s so small I know not how to repay,"(7). So, the speaker figures that she can return God?s love back to Him a little by little, by either praying to Him or showing love to other people. The "simple mite" in the line, "Yet for part payment take this simple mite."(9) symbolizes these little installments. This installment plan, in which the speaker is trying to repay for God?s gift, is also evident in the lines, "Such is my debt I may not say forgive, / But as I can, I?ll pay it while I live." (11/12) At the end of the poem, the speaker says that the debt she owes to God is one that only she can payback or disavow, "Such is my bond, none can discharge but I," (13). She also says that she can never fully compensate God for the life He has given to her until she dies, "Yet paying is not paid until I die" (14).
In this poem the speaker informs the reader about the precious gift of life from God. She uses diction to show the reader that the "Father" figure is God and she utilizes the symbol of money to convey the feeling of not being able to repay God for the gift of life. Throughout the poem, it is as if the speaker is working up to her epiphany that, unlike a monetary debt which can be repaid, the gift of life given by God is one that takes a lifetime and then some to repay.