Explication Poem: Showing a Strong Love toward Someone
Anne Bradstreet is well known for being the first colonial poet to be published. Many of her poems were titled after the things that were most important to her: most significantly her faith and her family, one poem for example, “To My Dear and Loving Husband”, was written between 1641 and 1643. “To My Dear and Loving Husband” is a beautiful poem expressing the love of one spouse to another and the poem offers readers understandings into Puritan attitudes toward love, marriage, and God. Bradstreet’s poem celebrates her relationship with her husband by describing, in detail, how connected the two of them are. The author uses figurative language to give you an idea about how much she cherishes
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her husband’s love. She compares his love to objects that most Americans consider to be rare treasures. She really believes that his love is the rare treasure. She also uses figurative language to clarify how much she appreciates and take pleasures in her husband’s love. The first line of the poem establishes this well by indicating that their connection is unbreakable.
“If ever two were one, than surely we” (1) shows their bond as one that is too strong to break, because they are not two people but one. This brings to the readers understanding for people in love or the type of person to cherish their partner’s love. The next two lines of poetry continue to describe the values of her relationship, saying that no husband has ever been loved by his wife the way that she loves her husband and no wife ever as happy with her husband. These lines help to establish the long life and perfection of Bradstreet’s love using recurrence of a word. The repetition of the phrase “if ever” at the start of each of the first three lines of poetry gives their relationship an everlasting feeling making it a love that will carry on after death. The poem continues using diction when she says “I prize.” She uses the word prize to show how much she takes pride in and is grateful for his love. She wants the reader to understand that a love like his is a rare treasure and it is something to be thankful for. These two lines serve to institute Bradstreet’s relationship as stable, deep, and strong. The poem goes on to describe her husband’s love as one that can never be repaid. Finally, Bradstreet completes her earlier statement idea in the final two lines. She concludes that if she and her husband are stable and unshakeable in their love, than they will be rewarded …show more content…
with eternal life. Undeniable, this poem’s theme is love and all of its never-ending qualities.
Bradstreet’s version of love is one familiar to many people as able to bear the test of time. She has no doubt that they will love one another forever. This theme is stated within each and every line. Bradstreet even describes her husband’s love for her as “such that she can no way repay” (9), but that the heavens will one day repay him for. This gives their love an added aspect of being blessed and faithful to God. She believes God reward him for the love he showed her, after
death. Ann Bradstreet uses compassion to get across to her reader the power behind the love her and her spouse share. She plays on the reader’s emotions so that they may identify with her opinion on love and understand how a husband’s love is so strong and powerful. The word “love” is important because she uses it repeatedly throughout her poem. Every time in describing the emotions she felt for her husband she used the word “love.” Love is a strong emotion that two people feel for each other and is a word used to describe how much someone means to you. This word also strikes to be important because it is a word with meaning that is not used to describe every emotion of the heart. When writing this poem you could tell that Mrs. Bradstreet’s husband means a lot to her. Her tone is one of worship. She really adored her husband and you were able to see that in lines 5 and 6. Works Citied Baym, Nina, Robert S. Levine, and Arnold Krupat. "Anne Bradstreet "To My Dear and Loving Husband." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Vol. A. New York: W. W. Norton, 2007. 207-26. Print.
Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor wrote elaborate poems influenced by their faith and life experiences. Coming from devout Puritans living in newly settled land, both of their writings have similar elements. One shared theme gives insight to the harshness of colonial life. They both used poetry to express their sadness at the death of their children, yet both with a tone of acceptance and hope, trusting that God knows best. Taylor grieved the loss of two infant daughters. He describes them as flowers writing:
One of the most cherished doctrines of the Puritans is the well-known weaned affections. From a Puritan perspective, people must learn to wean their way off of “Earthy possessions” in order to dedicate their attention on God. Puritans were preoccupied with the belief that if people invested themselves in Earthy distraction including relationships, they would struggle to find everlasting-spiritual beauty. In both “The Author to Her Book” by Anne Bradstreet as well as the “Prologue” by Edward Taylor, the authors portray themselves in a struggle to be weaned from their affections.
Bradstreet was a Puritan and was therefore raised with a simplistic view of the world. This, combined with the fact that she was a woman, carried over into her way of writing. Her writing style was not eloquent but plain, humble, and pleasant to read. Her poems dealt with topics such as faith, family, and adversity and were easy to understand. Bradstreet had great faith which she gained through the experiences she encountered in life.
The first part in this poem, "If ever two were one" (1) sets us with expectations to continue with the reading. These words show that Bradstreet and her husband were really in love, that this love could unite two persons and make them one. Bradstreet and her husband think, act, and feel much like they are part of each other. The tone of this poem tells us that she is a very religious, because she speaks of praying and the heavens. We get the impression that she is a very dedicated person, to her family and to God. She...
She writes a letter to husband, almost instructing him on what to do after her death. Unlike other demure housewives of her time, she acknowledges the risk birthing her child brings by saying, “And when thy loss shall be repaid with gains / Look to my little babes, my dear remains” (107). Bradstreet also approaches a taboo subject by acknowledging that her husband might remarry. Bradstreet does not tread lightly on this subject either by writing, “And if thou love thyself, or loved’st me, / These o protect from step Dames injury” (107). In this poem, Bradstreet faces the possibility of not only the loss of her life but the loss of her husband’s love. Bradstreet challenges Puritan beliefs by showing that she will still be concerned with her earthly life after her
The components of marriage, family and loss has played a big role in Anne Bradstreet’s writing of “Before the birth of One of Her Children”, “In Memory of Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet”, and Edward Taylor’s “Upon Wedlock and the Death of Children.” In, these writings both authors Puritan culture and their faith plays a big role. In these poems one author starts questioning their God and the other to take honor in their God throughout their grieving process, while both showing different aspects of their everlasting union with their spouse, and the love for their children.
Anne Bradstreet loves her children so much because she raised them all with pain and care. Bradstreet often talks about her children loving people, and people loving them, “And with her mate flew out of sight” (14) and out of her reach so she can not watch over them. Bradstreet’s strong Puritan heritage gives her unquestionable belief that God is watching over her children for her, and her children are watching for God. With this relationship between her and God, Anne Bradstreet accepts the departure of her children. In this poem Anne Bradstreet talks about success, “Coupled with mate loving and true” (23) this is Bradstreet’s idea of success for her children in this poem. Anne Bradstreet’s idea of success is so much more than just this line, in the fact that she wants her children to be educated, and live good productive Christian lives. All of these things are implied in the poem as simple as finding a mate and “flying” off.
God; whereas Taylor wrote solely on his love for God. Bradstreet was a pioneer in the idea of writing about loving your husband and self. This was one of her greatest achievements and also greatest gifts to the world, even though it was not appropriate to write about such subjects she did anyway. The combination of Bradstreet and Taylors poetry about love prove to the world that love can exist in any part of life and should be appreciated and
Anne Bradstreet, whom most critics consider America’s first “authentic poet”, was born and raised as a Puritan. Bradstreet married her husband Simon at the tender age of eighteen. She wrote her poems while rearing eight children and performing other domestic duties. In her poem “Upon The Burning Of Our House, July 10th, 1666”, Bradstreet tells of three valuable lessons she learned from the fire that destroyed her home.
Anne Bradstreet was born in 1612 to Thomas and Dorothy Dudley in Northampton, England. Her father and a young man named Simon Bradstreet were chosen by the Earl of Lincoln as stewards to manage the Earl’s affairs. Anne, unlike many women of her time, was well educated and it is presumed that she had access to the Earl’s vast library during this time. The Earl’s residence was known for its romantic background and this proved true in 1628 when Anne and Simon married. She was only sixteen to his twenty-five years but they were known to have a happy marriage as evidenced in “To my Dear and Loving Husband” where Bradstreet laments, “If ever two were one, than surely we” (125). In 1630, the Dudley’s and the Bradstreet’s, along with other Puritans, sailed aboard the Arabella to settle the Massachusetts Bay Colony. These families journeyed to America as many Puritan settlers had before them, in the hopes of religious freedoms unattainable in England. In the colonies, Anne’s husband was frequently absent. Bradstreet still found time to write her poetry while raising her 8 children and carrying on the strenuous duties of colonial life.
...e from her love to the world. Perhaps, she believed that in this love of her, she became God-like and God thus punishes her. Nevertheless, the presence of God in her poems is more than clear. Perhaps, it was due to religious beliefs that she though that it was wrong to feel too strong feelings to world and she considered herself to be a sinner who deserves punishment. Today, there are few followers of Bradstreet, but she, her ideas and her thoughts about sufferings still remain in modern books.
When Bradstreet’s next grandchild, Anne, passed away, she was unable to resist it. She lost her control and become disappointed. She wrote a poem under “In Memory of My dear Grandchild Anne Bradstreet, Who Deceased June 20, 1669.”5 The poem starts with the speaker
Anne Bradstreet starts off her letter with a short poem that presents insight as to what to expect in “To My Dear Children” when she says “here you may find/ what was in your living mother’s mind” (Bradstreet 161). This is the first sign she gives that her letter contains not just a mere retelling of adolescent events, but an introspection of her own life. She writes this at a very turbulent point in history for a devout Puritan. She lived during the migration of Puritans to America to escape the persecution of the Catholic Church and also through the fragmentation of the Puritans into different sects when people began to question the Puritan faith.
Up until the early 17th century, American literature was chiefly about politics, religion, and recorded events. These writings were very dry and lacked insight into the everyday lives of the authors. To put into writing any individual spiritual reflections that strayed away from the religion of the colony could be dangerous at that time; possibly resulting in banishment from the colony or worse. Likewise, any writing that did not serve at least one of the purposes listed above was considered to be a waste of time that would be better spent praising God. Anne Bradstreet defied the rules of her time by writing about whatever she wanted including personal thoughts, reflections, emotions, and events. Bradstreet was the first to write about personal matters, which is her greatest literary contribution in early American literature.
The sonnet goes on to prove how everlasting true love can be when Bradstreet states, “.when we live no more, we may live ever”(12). She wishes to be in love with her husband eternally, even after they both die.... ... middle of paper ... ... Bradstreet, Anne. A. “To My Dear and Loving Husband.”