How Does Anne Bradstreet Present Her Husband

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Recommended: The Cambridge History of American Literature VI

As the poem is a devotion to her husband, Bradstreet describes her relationship as strong and eternal. “Each heroic couplet is its own logical unit in the argument the poem sets forth” (Lambeth). To delve into this thought, every couplet has a changing shift in tone to offer imagery and context of her love. The first couplet uses anaphora to show many pieces; one is their relationship makes them a whole entity (Bradstreet 1,2). It conveys her husband’s affections for Anne. The anaphora also introduces the theme of how love is affected by time. In the second couplet, Bradstreet dares to compare with other women about their love for their husbands(Bradstreet 3,4). Though this poem is devoted to her husband, she addresses other women to compare their love in marriage. …show more content…

To portray her love for her partner, Bradstreet uses metaphors, in the next couplet, to show she loves him more than “whole mines of gold” and “all of the riches that the East doth hold” (Bradstreet 5,6). She expresses her love for her husband over unimaginable wealth. Then, we see a tone shift occur, in the fourth couplet, where she switches from using materialistic metaphors to using metaphors and a paradox to show giving and fulfillment. Her love cannot be dried out by rivers, indicates paradox, that love can quench anything except for their love(Bradstreet 7,8). With the word recompense, it is a metaphor that connects relationships as a business deal. Bradstreet believes when someone gives you love, they have an obligation to give something in return to the other person. She has a willing obligation to love her husband back. With the fifth couplet, Bradstreet says “thy love is such I can no way repay” is symbolism for her husband’s love for her(Bradstreet

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