Login
|
Join PoetrySoup
Home
Submit Poems
Login
Sign Up
Member Home
My Poems
My Quotes
My Profile & Settings
My Inboxes
My Outboxes
Soup Mail
Contest Results/Status
Contests
Poems
Poets
Famous Poems
Famous Poets
Dictionary
Types of Poems
Quotes
Short Stories
Articles
Forum
Blogs
Poem of the Day
New Poems
Resources
Syllable Counter
Anthology
Grammar Check
Greeting Card Maker
Classifieds
Member Area
Member Home
My Profile and Settings
My Poems
My Quotes
My Short Stories
My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder
Soup Social
Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us
Member Poems
Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Random
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread
Member Poets
Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest
Famous Poems
Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100
Famous Poets
Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War
Poetry Resources
Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetics
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
Store
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter
Email Poem
Your IP Address: 3.141.35.238
Your Email Address:
Required
Email Address Not Valid.
To Email Address:
Email Address Not Valid.
Required
Subject
Required
Personal Note:
Poem Title:
Poem
"To My Dear and Loving Husband" by Anne Bradstreet 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, Compare me with ye women if you can. 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 aught but love from thee give recompense. Thy love is such I can no way repay; The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray. Then while we live, in love let's so persever, That when we live no more we may live ever. Anne Bradstreet's poem is decidedly elegant and sublimely beautiful because of its subject, perspective, and tone. The subject is about love; the perspective is that of a wife to her husband; and the tone is one of eternal love and steadfastly-affectionate devotion. Bradstreet's elegantly-expressed love for her husband is admirable, heartwarming, and inspiring. The poem itself inspires one to be a similar kind of spouse for one's wife. But, in a more fundamental way, the poem moves one to be a similar kind of man for any woman in his life with whom he has a relationship, especially relationships of the romantic or loving kind. Because some are unmarried, it is always interesting to see the perspective of a wife to her husband, especially one that is so inspiring, so exalting, and just so plain and awesomely encouraging as the one in Anne Bradstreet's poem. Her words and lines to the beloved are supremely encouraging and ennobling because we live in an era and culture where more marriages fail than survive (according to contemporary statistics) and because we all by and large seek love and potential, life-long mates in an ultra post-modern ethos where wedding vows are semi-casually entered into like a legal contract that can be easily dissolved (shortly thereafter) through divorce at the slightest sign of marital difficulty or trouble. Granted, Bradstreet's poem was written in 1678, in a time bygone and very much different from ours: but her uxorial feelings and sentiments of undying love and devotion are heartening (to us) nevertheless. Perhaps, if more men today were more like Anne Bradstreet's beloved spouse, they would find more similar evocations and expressions of timeless love and affection from their wives and women, as well. The tone of Anne Bradstreet's poem successfully conveys her unalloyed love and devotion to her spouse. Even the poem's title conveys these emotions from the very beginning: the words "dear" and "loving" are used to describe the beloved, the recipient of Bradstreet's poem. Throughout her poem she uses beautiful, poetic language to convey and express the fullness and robustness of her love and faithfulness to him, as in the lines: "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 aught but love from thee give recompense./ Thy love is such I can no way repay;/ The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray." Without doubt, whatever love the beloved may have had for Bradstreet before reading this poem, his love for her would be fervidly stronger and greater after reading it! The combined effect of Anne Bradstreet's poem on the reader is one of sublime encouragement, warmth, and inspiration. Whether Bradstreet intended this effect in other men who might read her poem is unknown. Granted, her poem is directed at her husband. But one can with a fair amount of certainty believe that Bradstreet's beloved spouse would feel what the reader is feeling now—from reading and contemplating her poem—if he were him. In a word, he would grow to love Anne Bradstreet even more for her poem of imperishable love and fidelity (towards him).
CAPTCHA Preview
Type the characters you see in the picture
Required