Anne Bradstreet To My Loving And Dear Husband

As Wendy Martin says “the poem leaves the reader with painful impression of a woman in her mid-fifties, who having lost her domestic comforts is left to struggle with despair. Although her loss is mitigated by the promise of the greater rewards of heaven, the experience is deeply tragic.” (75)

I would like to end my analysis of this poem by stating a paradox that can be found at the end of the poem in lines 11-12. Her love for her husband is on such a level that she wants to preserve it while they live and even after they die. It's amazing to me how much love one can have for a person. The poem's main idea is not just centralized on how much Bradstreet loves her husband, but also on a Puritan woman who takes the initiative to show her love to her husband which was very uncommon back

Many authors from the 1600’s and 1700’s base their works on religious views, but there are many differing views on God. “Upon the Burning of Our House” and “To My Dear and Loving Husband” are both by Anne Bradstreet, and are excellent writings that show half of the Puritan beliefs. The other piece is “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards that show a darker side of the Puritan ideals. The authors show what they think by using literary devices, like tone (word choice and details), or figurative language. Bradstreet believes in a God that is loving and caring, while Edwards believes in a strict, controlling God. The tone, in which they use through the stories or sermons, reflects this, and also, the figurative language that

She humbly asks him to commemorate her virtues and to forget her faults once her time has come. In this section, Bradstreet is aware that the odds are not in her favor, and that she might not survive this natural but daring event. She knows that when she dies, memories will be all that will endure, and therefore asks that her virtues “live freshly in thy memory”(Line 18). This specifically shows the author´s passion and care for her husband, because she directly asks him to remember her. She wants him to look up to her and think about all the good things that made him fall for her. For that reason, this part of the poem makes me believe that the author felt true love for her husband, despite the fact that her religious doctrine did not encourage such love for the significant other. Her ultimate goal is to maintain this love beyond the inevitable death, indirectly asking him to return this affection by remembering her in a dear

Anne Bradstreet was not only the first English-speaking, North American poet, but she was also the first American, woman poet to have her works published. In 1650, without her knowledge, Bradstreet’s brother-in-law had many of her poems published in a collection called The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up In America. Although these poems did not reflect what would be her best work, they did emulate what would be the greatest influence on all of her writing. Anne Bradstreet’s Puritan life was the strongest, and the most obvious influence on her work. Whether it was her reason for writing, how she wrote, or what she wrote about, Bradstreet’s poems would reflect the influence of Puritan life and doctrine.

Puritan literature captures not only their beliefs as a religion, but their beliefs as individuals. All Puritan literature is utilitarian, meaning it is useful, purposeful, and reflecting a non-ornate style of writing. One of the most prominent of early English poets was Anne Bradstreet. Her poems reflect the utilitarian style, but do so in a way that is entirely unique to herself and her emotions. Anne Bradstreet opens the bridge between her faith and her personal experiences in her poetry. In her poems “Upon the Burning of Our House” and “In Reference to Her Children” she reflects utilitarianism by recounting the conflicts between her love of her worldly things and her devotion to God’s eternity.

These material items have become physical representations of the memories Bradstreet created with them so the loss is a tragic psychological event. This quote also represents the struggles that the author had with the non-materialistic Puritan lifestyle. She has put so much emphases on her material possession that she has lost sight of what is truly important, which is God. The content expressed in this poem mirrors the materialistic struggles most Puritans felt with their faith at one point or another.

Repetition is another literary element that Bradstreet utilized in the first three lines of the poem. "If ever two were one, then surely we. If ever man were loved by wife, then thee; If ever wife was happy in a man,..." (1-3). Bradstreet gives their relationship as an example to others and tells the reader that if ever a couple was the most devoted to each other, it would be her and her husband. By using anaphora, she attempts to prove that the depths of her feelings are beyond compare to anyone else's.

women are still fighting for equality every day. In the time of Anne Bradstreet, women had few

Taking a closer look at the piece one can pick out that these three lines could be a hyperbole. As a puritan Bradstreet had no use for mines of gold or riches, so in fact this is an obvious exaggeration.

Anne Bradstreet emphasizes romantic love and eternal love in her writing, which are not typical puritan beliefs. In her poem “To My Dear and Loving Husband”, she expresses her unconditional love towards her husband, which makes the readers assume that, for her, the most important person was her husband. Anne Bradstreet emphasizes romantic love in her writing, which is not a typical puritan belief. Free Reformed Churches of North America states that puritans “emphasized that married love should always be subordinate to the love of God” (Rev. C. Pronk) meaning that it was not appropriate for Anne Bradstreet to have these strong emotional feelings towards her husband because they were bigger than her feelings towards God. She uses different literary devices to manifest her love, like hyperboles and metaphors.

There are many aspects of the poem To my Dear and Loving Husband which set it apart from most of Bradstreet's other poetry. The poem begins with one solid, short and concise sentence, this is far different than most of her poems which begin with a vague idea or a much longer complex statement. This shows a change in writing

Shakespeare’s sonnet “Let me not to the marriage of true minds” elucidates Shakespeare’s thoughts and opinions on the theme, love. The poet describes how true love is eternal, how it can stand up to time and the way it resists negative inducement. During the sonnet, the poet changes the mood and atmosphere from somber to emotionally positive. Shakespeare uses many language techniques -such as metaphors, repetition and enjambment- to do this.

The title of the poem “My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun” suggests that the speaker is not in love with his ‘mistress’. However, this is not the case. Shakespeare uses figurative language by using criticizing hyperboles to mock the traditional love sonnet. Thus, showing not only that the ideal woman is not always a ‘goddess’, but mocking the way others write about love. Shakespeare proves that love can be written about and accomplished without the artificial and exuberant. The speaker’s tone is ironic, sarcastic, and comical turning the traditional conceit around using satire. The traditional iambic pentameter rhyming scheme of the sonnet makes the diction fall into place as relaxed, truthful, and with elegance in the easy flowing verse. In turn, making this sonnet one of parody and real love.

Poetry in Elizabethan time was based on courtly love conventions which included conceits and complements. Themes such as the unattainability of the lady, sleeplessness, constancy in love, cruelty of the beloved, renunciation of love, fine passion of the lover versus icy emotions of the beloved, praise of the beloved’s beauty and eternalizing her as being subject of the poem; these all are