Review of "Before the Birth of One of Her Children" by Anne Bradstreet

Before the Birth of One of Her Children by Anne Bradstreet (1612 - 1672) (pictured), one of the first English- language poets to be published in the New World, was offered by Poets.org's Poem-A-Day on May 11, 2013.  Before is a long poem of rhyming couplets, some of which are awkwardly written (but perhaps only by today's standards).  Ms. Bradstreet waxes doggerel at times as she laments that everyone must eventually die, and that her own death (presumably in childbirth) may come sooner rather than later.  She implores the reader of her verse to take care of her orphans and to guard them from the evil plots of a wicked "stepdame."