Analysis of to My Dear and Loving Husband

Stephanie Beckett
ENG 123
September 28, 2011
Response paper 4

To My Dear and Loving Husband

The poem “To My Dear and Loving Husband” by Anne Bradstreet is a beautiful poem written from the perspective of a wife. The poem is a woman speaking lovingly to her husband making me feel the poem is private. She states the amount that she loves him and gives many examples of how much and also she prays that it never ends.
      Anne Bradstreet was one of the very first female poets. Anne Bradstreet was born Anne Dudley in England in 1612. She married Simon Bradstreet when she was 16 and they both sailed with her family to America in 1630.They lived a long and happy life with eight children. This makes the poem even sweeter. It is commonly believed that young love doesn’t last but this poem is a beautiful example of when it does. This poem is very relatable for anyone who has ever loved someone, especially a wife.
The meter of the poem is iambic pentameter. This meaning there are five iambic feet per line. I also found that it has a very steady rhyme scheme, every following line rhyming with the previous in couplets. I feel this makes the poem very pleasing to read. The steady meter and rhyme makes it almost like a song. The tone of the poem is most definitely adoration. She seems to feel that nothing can sum up her love for her husband.
Bradstreet states, “If ever two were one, then surely we. If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;” (1-2) She is stating that she feels they are one, their love is so strong that their hearts have fused as one. That if there ever was a man loved by his wife then he was that man. She goes on to say “If ever wife was happy in a man, Compare with me ye women if you can.” (3-4) here she is saying that she is the happiest woman and if he thinks there are happier women, he can compare them to her.
In the next few lines, “I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold, Or all the riches that the East doth hold. My love is such...