Figurative Language, Imagery, and Sound

In this topic, you briefly looked at poetry and some of the elements commonly used in poetry. Although the archaic language and antiquated references in Anne Bradstreet's poetry may have been difficult for you, Bradstreet wrote about very human emotions that are commonplace today. As a female poet who wrote a lot about emotion and family, Bradstreet was unique in her time. She was one of the first published female poets in America. She was also a Puritan, a group of people known for simplicity in their lives and literature, yet her thoughts have lived on and still speak to modern themes. Even though she may have questioned her faith and way of life at times, they both heavily influenced her poems' structures and topics.

In addition to learning about Bradstreet's writing, you also learned how to identify two common parts of sentences used in the English language. An appositive is a word or phrase that redefines a noun. Like an appositive, a prepositional phrase also offers additional information; however, it answers questions which one, how, when, and where. Being able to recognize these parts of sentences can allow you to better understand the meaning of literature from various time periods.