At thy return my blushing was not small, my rambling brat (in print) should mother call, i cast thee by as one unfit for light, the visage was so irksome in my sight; refer to explorations in literature for a complete version of this poem. how does bradstreet’s use of figurative language in these lines affect their meaning? by comparing the speaker’s book to a sickly child, bradstreet builds sympathy for the book and antipathy toward the speaker. by comparing the speaker’s effort to hide the book to a parent’s attempt to lock a child in his room, bradstreet implies that writers are cruel. by comparing the cover of the speaker’s book to the face of a bratty child, bradstreet indicates how foolish it is to judge a book by its cover. by comparing the speaker’s book to an unruly child that embarrasses his parent, bradstreet conveys the idea that writing can be a and unpleasant task.