How Does Anne Bradstreet Present Her Husband

423 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

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

Show More
Related

  • Comparing and Contrasting the Beliefs of Jonathon Edward and Anne Bradstreet

    660 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Anne Bradstreet And Margaret Fuller

    1025 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Anne Bradstreet And Upon Wedlock And The Death Of Her Children

    747 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Emily Bradstreet's Poem The Author to Her Book

    527 Words  | 2 Pages

    While Bradstreet takes ownership of her book at the beginning of line eleven, by the end of that line, and the beginning of twelve, she is criticizing her work, saying that “at length affection would thy blemishes amend...” Through this, Bradstreet makes a connection to the beginning of the line, as only her love, care and attention can make the piece beautiful. If she gives enough attention to her “child” and corrects it enough, perhaps the book would not be such a shame to her. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so ugly.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Upon the Burning of Our House by Anne Bradstreet

    337 Words  | 1 Pages

    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:

    Read More

  • Anne Bradstreet's Poem, To My Dear and Loving Husband

    295 Words  | 1 Pages

    My reasons for feeling, at first, that Bradstreet’s poem was obvious were largely a result of popular culture. It is now expected of wives to be more autonomous and slightly unattached to their husbands. In Bradstreet’s time, women were not even allowed to vote. Neither were they allowed to work or have important positions in society. Now, however, women can vote, run for “congresswoman,” or own a Fortune 500 company. With this positive change have also come negative effects, however. Women are encouraged to be better than men and things such as “reverse discrimination” happen. Women are now actively discriminating against men, whereas before, men had more of a passive, secret type of discrimination.

    Read More

  • Anne Bradstreet Biography

    579 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...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.

    Read More

  • Anne Bradstreet's Use Of Personification Essay

    394 Words  | 1 Pages

    Additionally, Bradstreet frequently alludes to ideologies to her Puritan background as a way of justifying the burning of her house. After the shock of first seeing her home in flames, she reassures herself that “Far be it that I should repine; / He might of all justly bereft” (18-19). These lines strongly display the devotion Bradstreet has to her Puritan faith. Despite having virtually nothing, she claims the sufficiency of what she does have, and justifies God’s actions of taking away her belongings for her own good. Furthermore additional ideologies are exemplified in the last lines as Bradstreet concludes, “The world no longer let me love, /

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast Anne Bradstreet And Edward Taylor

    1298 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Anne Bradstreet Letter To Her Husband

    622 Words  | 2 Pages

    She writes about her father, loving husband, children, And grandchild. When it comes to poems we notice the puritan influence; And it came to the role women played through Puritan society, it can be expected the women resented the husbands for they were considered more than the women. However, In Bradstreet case, she doesn’t resent her husband for leaving her with all the household needs. She just misses him and wants him back to her as Throughout "Letter to Her Husband, Absent upon Public Employment," she states how she feels lost when her husband is not around and that life is always better when he is around.  

    Read More

  • Figurative Language In Anne Bradstreet's 'The Prologue'

    1029 Words  | 3 Pages

    The most noticeable use of literary device throughout the poem is her consistent allusion to Greek mythology. Bradstreet herself had a great appreciation of the arts. According to the Anthology of American Literature, her father’s station in life allowed her to be schooled in the Elizabethan

    Read More

  • Gender Stereotypes In Anne Bradstreet's Poetry

    2410 Words  | 5 Pages

    Some of her most popular works are, “The Prologue”, “To My Dear and Loving Husband,” “A Letter to Her Husband, Absent Upon Public Employment,” and “The Author to Her Book”. Anne Bradstreet’s “The Prologue” is basically Bradstreet’s apology for her book of poems She wants to apologize that her poems are not so great as the those of the other poets, men. She also includes that she does not want to be this famous poet, she just wants some acknowledgement of her work; with hopes her work will not be judged so harshly. Finally Bradstreet takes a turn and begins to defend her art. She grants the fact that men expect women to practice feminine arts such as needlework, and refuses to recognize any value in a woman’s poem. Bradstreet then concludes her poem by admitting to the superiority of male poets and she asks the men to give some recognition to women’s efforts. In the poem Bradstreet states, “Men have precedency and still excel; It is but vain unjustly to wage war Men can do best, and women know it well.” Bradstreet feels there is no need for the men to feel

    Read More

  • Anne Bradstreet as First American Feminist

    1754 Words  | 4 Pages

    ”The Prologue,” Bradstreet conveys knowledge of recognizing the kind of patriarchy she lives in, in the fifth and sixth stanza.

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis Of Bradstreet's The Prologue

    1505 Words  | 4 Pages

    Bradstreet, in the first half of her poem The Prologue, states her inferiority in comparison to poets, historians, and Greeks in stanzas 1 and 3, but a tonal shift in the stanzas 5 and 6 indicates her declarations of humility are said only in spite and sarcasm. By using a strict poetic meter and frequently referencing historical and literary fact, but still calling herself unworthy, she mocks society’s expectations for women to stay humble. She signals to the readers through her inconsistency that her goal is to mock how the world wants her to be versus her actual merit. Bradstreet uses each stanza to her advantage by creating a push and pull effect between her demonstrated wit and knowledge of history and poetry in contrast to her declarations

    Read More

  • True Love Does Exist

    2243 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about How Does Anne Bradstreet Present Her Husband

Open Document