"To My Dear Loving Husband" by Anne Bradstreet

Upon one’s first reading of Anne Bradstreet’s “To My Dear Loving Husband,” one may see it as a generic, garden-variety love poem. Indeed, it contains many elements of the traditional love poem, but through structure and language, Bradstreet brings to her description of her feelings for her husband a strong message of constancy and unity that one does not usually find so emphasized in romantic poetry.

Bradstreet’s poem is unremarkable in rhyme and rhythm. Its twelve lines follow an AA BB CC DD EE FF rhyme scheme, and the beats are arranged in rising iambic pentameter. This presents a very natural rhythm and a classically 'poetic' sound. Also, as one might expect, she uses dramatic images to depict her views of both her love and her husband’s love for her, such as “whole mines of gold” to represent how much she values her husband’s love.

The entire poem is also very organized. The first four lines form two complete sentences and are a statement by Bradstreet of the strength of the love between her husband and she. Verbs like “were” and “was” also appear frequently in this sentence, for example, “If ever man were loved by wife, then thee,” demonstrating the couple’s ongoing love from the past. The next four lines, also containing two sentences, use words like “prize,” “doth,” and “cannot,” present-tense verbs expressing the poet’s current feelings toward her husband and their love. In the last four lines, Bradstreet looks to the future, saying, “The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray,” and “…let’s so persever.” She states her hopes that they may continue to share their love as they have done, and that one day in heaven her husband may be repaid for all the love he has given her.

This organization is very neatly cut, and seems to contribute to the poem’s generic qualities, but even though clearly separate parts do exist, the poem is not divided into stanzas. Past, present, and future are melded into one. This could mean Bradstreet desired to convey a sense of oneness, wholeness, and steadiness regarding her relationship with her husband, which is supported by the way she begins and ends the poem. It begins, “If ever two were one, then surely we,” and ends again in a collective first-person voice, “That when we live no more we may live ever.” The ‘borders’ of the poem, the beginning and the end both speak of “we,” sending a strong message of unity. Bradstreet sees herself and her husband as one unit, irrevocably bonded through and through by love. She sees this love as more precious than “mines of gold” and strong enough to withstand mighty rivers. Also, there is no significant change in tone or emotion from the beginning to the end of the poem, implying constancy and steadfastness.

Elements such as the common rhyme scheme and meter, use of grand images, and clear, simple organization may at first lead the reader to assume he or she is reading a rather formulaic love poem, but on closer inspection, one notices that whereas traditional love poems often include a speaker praising the qualities of a lover or describing love from one side of a relationship, Bradstreet’s “To My Dear Loving Husband” exalts the bond of love that has made her husband and she one inseparable unit, now and forevermore. It is this perspective of unity that makes this piece of poetry and its message stand out in the much-studied genre of romantic poetry.