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Anne Bradstreet, "To My Dear and Loving Husband"

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Student Reading Responses
Virginia Commonwealth University

My initial response is to say that this is a beautiful poem about the kind of "love" that every person wishes to find in a lifetime. However, doesn't the way we feel about those we love change daily? I wonder how soon after this poem was written that Bradstreet and her "Loving Husband" had an argument? I know that I personally can absolutely adore my fiance, or for that matter, any member of my family one minute and the next they are driving me crazy. My major question about this poem is "Why doesn't Bradstreet discuss the bad in addition to the good in her marriage?" Did Bradstreet really and truly feel this way about her husband or was she trying to convince herself that she really did "prize" her husband's "love more than whole mines of gold"?

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The poem describes the deep and intimate love of a wife for her husband. In the last line, she powerfully describes the immortality of their love by the words,"when we live no more, we may live ever." The romantic tone of the poem is evident in the way she describes herself and her husband as being one person; each is a half of a whole. She uses words such as "happy" and "whole" to describe the relationship she has to her husband. I like the way she portrays her love for her husband as meaning more to her than anything on this earth. I liked the poem since I write romantic poetry at times, also.

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My first impression of this poem is that the speaker, a wife, has an unexplainable love for her husband. He has also given her a love she feels she can "no way repay." This emotion is expressed through words that gives the reader a warm, rich, and peaceful feeling. Words such as "loved," "gold," "riches," "heavens" and "live" paint a vivid picture of the love she holds for him.

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Overall I like this poem because you can tell her feelings are so deep that she feels the need to express them. I feel as though she is strongly trying to convince her husband of the love she has for him because maybe for some reason she feels that he doesn't understand her strong feelings, or doesn't believe she feels this way. However, it made me feel like telling her that words and feelings are so important and need to be expressed, but it is the action that speaks much louder. I felt like telling her if she felt such a strong and deep love for him then serve him, show him—that is the test of true love.

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The author is incredibly in love with this guy! Could this kind of love "that rivers cannot quench" really exist? Is this love too perfect, too good to be true? In reading this poem for the first time I am touched only on the surface. An ideal love such as the one described can only endure temporarily in one's existing life. Not even in the imagination can it survive unstained before something in one's life defaces it. Such an ideal love is very delicate, fragile to the most gentle touch. The poem, because of its serious tone and its overblown expression of love, rings of a certain comedy. The poem defines a paradise created by the imagination. A paradise, a perfection no doubt that can only be looked at through the eyes of a comic or one who imagines. I liked the poem. I give this poem an A+ for being so unreal.

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I can feel the intense Love. The love that only a few lucky persons get to share. I am one of those lucky persons who is deeply in love with their spouse and equally loved back by them. Only in this deep and personal feeling can you really feel as if the two of you must be together for either of you to be a whole person. Without your spouse, you feel incomplete, as if you are missing some part of yourself. I feel that this is what Anne Bradstreet is saying when she writes "If ever two were one, then surely we." She goes on to describe how encompassing her love for her husband is and how it will continue eternally. I can relate to this, as this is how I feel about my husband and feel almost as if she wrote this poem for me to my husband.

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"To My Dear and Loving Husband" had an overall nice effect on me. It is good to read something that seems so heart-felt. The feeling and emotion that Anne displays in her writing are so intense, and the words she uses to describe her love and commitment towards her husband really let the reader know the depth of her emotions. The poem, in general, strikes me personally. If someone wrote this poem to me I would definitely be flattered to know that someone cared about me this much and was so happy to be with me. I have contradictory reactions to this poem. I am struck by the depth of the author's love for her husband demonstrated primarily through her dreamy "voice," and repetitive use of comparisons to treasures, and vast greatness; i.e. "heavens," "rivers," "mines of gold." The sentimental part of my personality likes this poem for its sweet and passionate love theme, reminding me of newly-born love and the euphoric feeling of unison that two people can feel within and through each other. Unfortunately, a small cynical voice inside of me can't help but say "get real, has she been married for five seconds, or what?"!

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Ms. Bradstreet's poem seems to express her depth of feelings with simplicity. The expression is almost common. The last line, "That when we live no more, we may live ever," allows room for interpretation which requires thought and inspires questions. Is love eternal? What creates a relationship which endures time? Eternal relationships, I feel, are instinctive desires of humans.

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Bradstreet effectively conveys her love for her husband into words. I am particularly struck by lines 5 and 6 and I find the comparison very striking. As I continue reading, the poem becomes repetitious. The last lines just seem to restate what she has already stated. I presume that this is an effect, to emphasize the enduring quality of her love. The poem brings to mind my own relationship. When I read it now, I experience understanding, whereas when I first read it a few years ago I experienced a longing for such an overwhelming love.

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The love that the couple shares is what every couple is searching for. The love will be in the hearts of others when the couple is no longer existing on earth. With time and death, the love will be stronger than before. I like the meaning of this poem, because if the love is true, then two people should be able to work out the problems they may have within the relationship.

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I have yet to experience a love that this woman feels for her husband. I would be so wonderfully happy if I could share my feelings with someone I could be lost in. But the time for a love so strong has not come for me yet. I could never imagine writing a poem like this about anyone. In a way I think its a little "cheesy," like something that would be written in a Valentine's Day card. There is something about poems that rhyme that takes any serious aspects of emotions and make them trivial little whims. For some reason poems that rhyme don't command as much respect as normal poems that are expressed more traditionally. Maybe this is because of the way I was taught in school. This poem has very definite deep emotions. I feel it would be taken more seriously if written in another form.

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The overall effects that I feel from this particular poem are ones of happiness and gaiety. I feel the depth of the love that this wife has for her husband; I feel her devotedness to her husband and her concept of what she considers eternity. The line that reads, "That when we live no more, we may live ever," portrays to me an afterlife that this woman believes she will have with her husband when death befalls them. In other words, this relationship for her will endure forever. In her poem she compares herself to other women in ways to her husband that show that her love cannot be overruled by another woman. I love this poem because it is heart-rending and intensely compassionate. It brings to mind that of a happy marriage, a strong and healthy relationship between two people who love each other dearly.

 

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