Do you anything about Anne Bradstreet's TO MY ...AND LOVING HUSBAND?

Question

I must write a paper about Bredstreet's that poem,actually I forget that name!so I want to get some information about appreciation,could you give me some web or article about that??!!Thanks so much!

my teacher ask me to appreciate this poem , I don't know how to start it?

Answer 1

There are excellent study questions and notes on the poem at the site below. They will lead you step by step through 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,
Compare with me, 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 ought 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 persevere
That when we live no more, we may live ever.

I think you might organize an "appreciation" of the poem (if that is what your teacher requires) around three main ideas: (1) Ms. Bradstreet's assertion of the incomparability of their marriage in the repeated "if" clauses of the first four lines; (2) the conventional, high-flown metaphors for their love for each other in the next four lines; and (3) the plea in the last two lines, which is almost like a prayer, that they should so persevere (pronounced to rhyme with "never") throughout their lives that, even after their deaths, their love will live on.

It is important to note that, first of all, Bradstreet's poem is a strong assertion of faithful love: "If ever two were one, then surely we"; "I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold"; "My love is such that rivers cannot quench"; "when we live no more, we may [through our love for one another] live ever."

On the other hand, there is an unstated, probably unintentional, perhaps even unconscious sense of uncertainty or doubt. Love is always fragile, and in her open avowal of the incomparability of their love, she shows a realization that love can always be lost or undermined. Evidence of this in the poem, I think, are (1) the repeated "if" clauses; for example, "If ever man were loved by wife, then thee" [you are loved by me], but of course the if clause leaves open the possibility than no man in this finite, temporal world can ever by completely, idealistically loved by a woman as, say, a Puritan would think a person is loved by God; (2) the assertion of the comparable value of their respective love for one another; that is, that the only way she can be repaid for her great love for him is a return of his love for her, and likewise his love for her is so great that she cannot adequately repay him, except to pray that he will re rewarded by heaven (it seems to me that the conventional humility of the wife that she expresses here masks some doubt of his reciprocal love for her); and (3) perhaps most important the overt plea in the last two lines that their love should last, "persevere," the very word for which suggests that it could be "severed," or cut off.

So the surface, Puritan reading of the poem would be an ardent avowal of mutual love, but the post-modern re-reading would suggest an underlying threat, or a recognition of the complexity of even the most faithful, marital love: if only earthly love could ever be perfect, if a wife or husband could only ever be deserving of the mate's unselfish love; if only love can be maintained (if it can "persevere") through the vicissitudes of life.

Personally, I think these understandings of the nature of love and the fragility of love make Bradstreet's avowal even stronger than the exaggerated metaphors of the second quatrain. In this language, I think Bradstreet is really saying something to the effect that "I know how delicate love is, but I love you, and I know how tentative men's love for women may be, but I do believe you love me." So a conventional Puritan reading of the poem would recognize no element of doubt; the post-modern re-reading sees the avowal as being even stronger because of its implicit recognition of doubt and uncertainty.

Answer 2

Since you aren't specifying what you'd like to focus on, I can't help much. You know better than anyone else what your instructor is asking for, and you need to examine the poem for yourself. Figure out what her main point is and then look for any objects in the poem that could serve as symbols. Look at all the objects and determine how they fit together to serve the main point.

The poem is a beautiful one, and I think you can figure it out if you try. :)