ENGL 201
Anthony Smith
OESSAY UTLINE
Thesis statement: Anne Bradstreet’s “The Tenth Muse: To My Dear Loving Husband” is
one of the most important and groundbreaking books of the colonial period.
I.“The Tenth Muse, My Dear Loving Husband” is a book about Anne Bradstreet’s
unyielding love for her husband above all things, including treasure, possessions, and
country.
a.Anne regards her husband as her compliment, the one who completes her. His
love is more valuable to her than all the riches in the world.
b.Her love for him can never be exhausted. In the poem, images of wealth; gold,
riches, recommence, pick up on the pun of “dear” in “dear and loving husband”
(not just loved, but valuable to her in a way that exceeds monetary value)
II.Anne Bradstreet is an early colonial poet, and the first person in America, male or
female, to have a volume of poems published. She was not born in America, but part
of a group of early English settlers in Massachusetts in the 1630’s. The language of
the poetry is relatively plain, but analysis sheds light on the meaning of her poetry.
a.“If ever there were two, then surely we. If ever a man loved by wife, then thee; if
ever wife was happy in a man, compare with me ye women if you can. Nor aught
but love from thee give recompence. Thy live is such I can no way repay; the
heavens reward thee manifold I pray. Then while we live, in love lets so preserver,
that when we love no more, we may live ever”. Her poetry is simple, yet very
powerful in that she is suggesting that her love for her husband is so important to
her that she puts him above all things.
ENGL 201
Anthony Smith
IV.
III.
b.Anne praises her dear loving husband, whom she regards as her compliment, the
one who completes her. This statement is powerful in that she is not complete
without her husband and would probably be in a very different state of mind
without him by her side. She puts all faith in him, and their marriage.
Bradstreet and her husband lived in the mid-Seventeenth century when life was hard.
It was a civilization still developing. Hardly surprising that love would be worth more
than gold during this difficult and trying time of uncertainty and doubt.
a.Bradstreet joined her husband with her through their marriage but does so in a
self-effacing way. Rather than coupling herself with her husband through rhyming
me with thee, she uses the collective we. This signals that she sees them as one
unit. One she depends on to get through these times of unease, uncertainty, and
unknowns.
b.She is one of the least egotistical poets. Social conventions of the time meant
women were to be subordinate to their husbands, following the Christian idea of
the father and husband as the head of the household. There is no “me” in the first
couplet of the poem, yet the coupling that line describes could not exist without
her. But she- that is, me, doesn’t figure into the rhyme.
The closing of the poem declares that if they are true to each other in this world, she
and her husband will live together forever in heaven.
a.“Then we live in love lets so preserver, that when we love no more, we may live
ever”. She is suggesting that if their marriage is as she sees it, then they shall be
together in this world and the next. To me, her wording suggests she has
ENGL 201
Anthony Smith
absolutely no doubts about this fact. They will be together on earth, and in
Heaven.
b.‘Live’ is used three times in the poem, but each time is used differently. First of
all, to refer to their earthly life, then to refer to their time of death (‘live no
more’), and finally to refer to eternal life (‘live ever’).
V.The poem is both a personal address to her husband and a poem about married love in
a Christian society. It speaks for both Bradstreet and for many wives of the time, both
at home and in the colonies of America. That may help to account for Bradstreet’s
popularity in England, when her poems were first published in England in 1650.
References or Works Cited:
Bradstreet, a (1678) “The Tenth Muse, My Dear Loving Husband”
Published by William London 1650: London, England
.
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