What is the tone in the poem ” In Reference to Her Children”?
scarletpimpernel Teacher High School – 12th Grade There is no one word to describe the poem’s tone because Bradstreet uses tonal shift to advance her theme. In the beginning of the poem, the mother bird speaks of each of her brood (children) and how many of them have flown the nest to make lives for themselves. For this part of the poem, a good tonal word is “nostalgic” and “possessive.” While the mother bird is proud of her children and their accomplishments, she misses the time when she was in control of them and they were dependent upon her. She does also come across as being rather possessive. As some of her children leave the nest, she yearns for their return and finally gets them to come closer to home. She, like most humans, is experiencing “empty nest” syndrome. For most of her life, she has been busy at being a mother, but now she doesn’t feel needed as she was when her children were young. In the middle of the poem, as Bradstreet begins to list the lessons that the mother tri
