Poem reflection: “To My Dear and Loving Husband by Anne Bradstreet.”

In this poem there was many elements of poetic form that I could have chosen however one that stuck out to me was rhyme. This poem is written in closed poetic form and the last word of every line rhymes with the last word in the following line. As I read the whole poem aloud, the last words stuck out in their symbolism and added even more meaning to the poem as a whole.

The poem is short but meaningful as it speaks of a wife’s unrequited love for her husband; “If ever two were one, then surely we./ If ever man were loved by wife, then thee” (Bradstreet line 1-2). The first line of the poem brings about the union of a man and his wife turning two people into one whole entity. Breaking that line down “if ever two were one” which meant to me that if there was ever any two people that were actually one person, figuratively speaking, and the second part “then surely we” meaning then of course that would be me and you. Towards the end the poem reads, “Thy love is such I can no way replay; / the heavens reward thee manifold, I pray” (line 9-10). Those last two words, “repay” and “I pray” are loud, and she is literally telling her husband that for the rest of her life she could never give back in any way, shape, or form his type of love. And the best part is that she is praying for him.

The ending states, “Then while we live, in love let’s persevere,/ That when we live no more, we may live ever” (line 11-12), which I read as if and when we die because we had so much love that we will live on. Persevere and ever are the two last words; they are strong, they stand alone and make points. She wants them to always persevere as well as last “forever”. The poem was strong despite it being short. Bradstreet made a valid and very strong case about a woman loving her husband endlessly and having a love unlike any other for her husband.