Eng composition

Running head: ANALYSIS OF TO MY DEAR AND LOVING HUSBAND 1

ANALYSIS OF TO MY DEAR AND LOVING HUSBAND 2

Poetry Analysis of “To My Dear and Loving Husband” by Anne Bradstreet

Love and attachment in society today are terms that often feel extinct. People do not

persevere through trials of life together in marriages as they did in the past. Can one imagine a

love so deep that they pray for it to last through the afterlife? "If ever two were one, then surely

we. If ever man were loved by wife, than thee"(Bradstreet, 1678, lines 1-2). These are the first

two lines that introduce the amount of love for a husband in the writings of Anne Bradstreet's

poem, "to my dear and loving husband". This poem is a beautiful love letter to her husband that

many could only dream about in society today. Anne Bradstreet uses multiple images to describe

her feelings for her husband in a theme of love and attachment throughout the poem.

The first images that are used to describe the amount of Love and attachment that

Bradstreet has for her husband, is in the lines, “I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,

or all the riches that the East doth hold” (Bradstreet, 1678, lines 5 and 6). Bradstreet gives a

vision through her words of "gold" and "riches", that her love for her husband is more valuable

to her than any expensive earthly possessions or materials. Bradstreet proves an infinite amount

of love for her husband using the words "whole mines" and "all the riches". Bradstreet seems to

be making sure the reader of the poem understands that her love for her husband is larger than an

entirety of anything else. However, today’s society might have trouble envisioning where

specifically “East” is being referred to.

The second image in Bradstreet’s poem is in the lines, “My love is such that rivers cannot

quench, nor ought but love from thee give recompense” (Bradstreet, 1678, lines 7-8). These lines

give the notion that Bradstreet’s love and attachment for her husband is overflowing. There is the

feeling from the use of the term "quench", that nothing else could satisfy Bradstreet other than

ANALYSIS OF TO MY DEAR AND LOVING HUSBAND 3

the love she has for her husband. The term might be a comparison of her love to that of flowing

rivers as well. The term “recompense” gives the impression that there is no other compensation

or reward that Bradstreet would take over the love from her husband. The line gives the vision of

the love from her husband being significant.

The last image that Bradstreet writes is in the line, “The heavens reward thee manifold, I

pray” (Bradstreet, 1678, line 10). There is a sense that Bradstreet is in hopes of love lasting

through eternity. There is a vision of Bradstreet praying for the “heavens” to reward her with her

husband in the afterlife in this line. Within the lines, “Then while we live, in love let’s so

persever, That when we live no more, we may live ever.”(Bradstreet, 1678, lines 11-12), give a

detailed vision of Bradstreet’s attempt to hold onto the love and attachment to her husband

through all the days of her life. The term “persever” shows the strength of the love that

Bradstreet has for her husband. “Persever” gives the notion that Bradstreet feels that she can live

through all obstacles in life with her husband because of their undying love.

Bradstreet brings love alive for her husband in her poem “To My Dear and Loving

Husband”. In all quatrains of the poem, Bradstreet gives images in order to prove her love and

attachment to her husband is always greater than anything else. It is easy to visualize that her

love for her husband always wins in comparison or in temptation of something else because of

the type of earthly possessions that she has in her poem. Bradstreet even dares other women to

try and compare the love of their husbands to that of her husband, in the lines, “ If ever wife was

happy in a man, Compare with me, ye women, if you can.” (Bradstreet, 1678, lines 1-2). Writing

such a poem would be a true testament to prove the amount of love and attachment for a

ANALYSIS OF TO MY DEAR AND LOVING HUSBAND 4

husband. Bradstreet has successfully brought to life her love and attachment of her husband for

eternity.

References

Bradstreet, A. (1678). To my dear and loving husband. In L.G. Kirszner & S.R. Mandell (Eds.),

Compact Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing [VitalSource digital version] (p. 775).

Boston, MA: Cengage.