"To My Dear and Loving Husband"
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 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 persevere
That when we live no move we may live ever.
For a relatively short poem in length, Anne Bradstreet's "To My Dear and Loving Husband" is rich with symbols with meanings beyond the denotation. Bradstreet constitutes gold as less valuable than love by saying, "I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold" (Lines 5-6). This establishes money symbolically. Bradstreet turn money's usually powerful, motivating force and devalues it, making it only a material. She sees past its mask of supposed happiness and looks to the priceless things in life, like love, for bliss. Bradstreet abides by the Puritan belief that money was gift from God and should be used to honor Him and not earthly possessions. Through expert use of symbolism, Bradstreet doesn't have to write exactly what point she is trying to convey, rather she implies the meaning through descriptive vocabulary and a passionate subject of love.
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 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 persevere
That when we live no move we may live ever.
For a relatively short poem in length, Anne Bradstreet's "To My Dear and Loving Husband" is rich with symbols with meanings beyond the denotation. Bradstreet constitutes gold as less valuable than love by saying, "I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold" (Lines 5-6). This establishes money symbolically. Bradstreet turn money's usually powerful, motivating force and devalues it, making it only a material. She sees past its mask of supposed happiness and looks to the priceless things in life, like love, for bliss. Bradstreet abides by the Puritan belief that money was gift from God and should be used to honor Him and not earthly possessions. Through expert use of symbolism, Bradstreet doesn't have to write exactly what point she is trying to convey, rather she implies the meaning through descriptive vocabulary and a passionate subject of love.
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