Art and the Artist

“The Author to Her Book” is an apostrophic poem, meaning the speaker addresses something that can’t answer back. The poet uses this device to explore the relationship between herself and her work, or the relationship between artists and their craft in a wider sense. In the opening line, the speaker refers to their book as an “ill-form’d offspring” (Line 1); this establishes the poet’s derision as well as their begrudging affection. This relationship reflects the complex and often ambiguous dynamic between artists and their work. The speaker goes on to lament the book’s glaring flaws, which are naturally more obvious to her than to anyone else. She remarks that “Thy Visage was so irksome in my sight; / Yet being mine own” (Lines 10-11), her affection ultimately overcomes her distaste. When an artist is dissatisfied with their work, that perceived failure...