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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“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…
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
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.
In the late 1600’s, literature is dissimilar from today’s, such as focusing on being sent into the fiery pits of hell only because one hasn’t converted to Puritanism. There are also different types of writing to display the righteousness and positives of being a converted and loyal to the Puritan culture. Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards are two popular Puritan authors who project different messages and portray a varying energy through a slim number of their pieces. The poems, “To My Dear and Loving Husband” or “Upon the Burning of Our House” by Anne Bradstreet or “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards are fit examples of the Puritan age and what Puritans belive to be religiously
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
Ironically, Bradstreet describes life after her death in her poem “Before the Birth of One of Her Children” and states that husband to look for her love by looking at her children stating, “And when thy loss shall be repaid with gains, / Look to my little babies, my dear remains” (Before the Birth of One of Her Children lines 21-22). She also speaks of her husband’s next wife by stating, “These O protect from stepdame’s injury”, hoping that their step mother does not hurt her children (Before the Birth of One of Her Children line 24). Taylor shows more about planting his seeds in his wife approach when speaking about his children. He writes “One knot gave one tother the tother’s place. / Whence Chuckling smiles fought in each other’s face”, he’s describing the joy of watching his children playing with each other
Bradstreet’s last learned lesson is her wealth does not come from the things she gains on earth but her true wealth lies in heaven. She begins Stanzas 37-42 rebuking her thoughts of what will no longer take place in her ash filled home. Furthermore, Bradstreet gives her depiction of the “heavenly” place in Stanzas 43-48; which is built on permanent grounds and consist of expensive furniture all financed by God. In the last Stanzas of the poem Bradstreet begins focusing on the place where wealth is defined:
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.
Bradstreet tested the boundaries of the Puritan beliefs and chose to write about life as a wife and mother. The love for her husband was more important than what others thought of her. She was proud of their relationship and stated, “I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold, or all the riches that the East doth hold. My love is such that rivers cannot quench, Nor ought but love from thee give recompense” a verse from her poem titled To My Dear and Loving Husband (226). Her poems stood as a movement for all radical feminists that admired Bradstreet and her confidence to express her opinions publicly. Religion was a common topic throughout Bradstreet’s poem, but there was a time as
...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.
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
By reading Bradstreet’s work, a fair sense of what Mrs. Bradstreet was like can be grasped. She clearly stated her opinion of those who objected to her writing: “I am obnoxious to each carping tongue, / Who says my hand a needle better fits.” (Bradstreet,“ The Prologue”155). Bradstreet refused to give up her passion for writing even if it meant going against the opinions of anyone in her colony, including religious leaders. Although Bradstreet referred to herself as being obnoxious, her written works portray an entirely different Bradstreet. She seeks no reward or fame for her writing: “Give thyme or parsley wreath, I ask no bays” (155). Bradstreet seeks no reward for her writing because she doesn’t think her work is very good: “My foolish, broken, blemished Muse so sings” (154). She refers to her writing as her: “ill-formed offspring” (“The Author To Her Book”165). Even after her work is published she is ...
She caught severe disease after only two years of arriving in America. Her sickness and expectation of death strengthened her faith and made her consider each day as being her last day. After she recovered from her sickness, she believed that to be blessing. Her sickness became a turning point and self realization for Bradstreet. She built a strong foundation for her faith as a Puritan woman and overcame all her doubts about the existence of God and started to seek salvation from God. When her husband was a way for business, she missed him because of her true and deep love for him. Yet his absent and severe physical and emotional feeling created inner conflict between worldly desire and spirituality. Her love for her husband competed with her love for God. But by using her writing, she sustained her faith and overcame her physical
According to BellaOnline, Bradstreet was, “married to the governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony and had eight children.” Even though her marriage might have become filled with routines and lost a little passion, the poet never lost the love for her husband. She states that the power of her “.love is such that rivers cannot quench”(Bradstreet, 7). Bradstreet expresses her emotions to be so strong that not even a roaring river can possibly satisfy them. She prizes her husband’s “.love more than whole mines of gold/ Or all the riches that the East doth hold,” (Bradstreet, 5-6) meaning she values his affection more than any amount of money she could obtain.