Poem #1: Response to "To My Dear and Loving Husband" by Bradstreet

Poem:

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 ought 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 persever,

That when we live no more, we may live ever.

Response:

Bradstreet states in line five, "I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold". Coming from the point of view of a woman in love with her husband, I first thought this poem was going to end in tragedy. We are greeted in the beginning of the poem with this woman who confesses her love headstrong. However, most poems usually transition into something like good to bad or bad to good. I thought it was interesting to note this because this poem didn't transition at all. Reading the title, "To My Dear and Loving Husband", I thought this would be some sort of breakup poem written to her husband. However, the poem seemed to stay consistent with how the woman felt from beginning to end.


The poem definitely revolves around the theme topic of love, dependency, and selflessness. For my theme statement, I actually wrote, "When a woman who stays committed to her endless love for her husband, the result may be an everlasting love that lasts for a lifetime". In the poem, the speaker confesses this love and seems so dependent on this love that her husband gives her by stating, "Thy love is such I can no way repay" (line 9). The speaker seems to have all her attention on her husband, which can sometimes be a good and bad thing. I noted how the poem is only in the point of view of the wife and not the husband. Looking back on all of the other past novels and poems we read, they were always about the woman loving the man and not the other way around. This poem can then focus on feminism and how woman are portrayed to be more involved in their relationship then men are. It's also interesting to note that the man's feelings towards the woman are never mentioned either, yet again creating a feminist tone to the poem. Overall, the poem's theme seems to revolve around this idea of women depending on their husbands to take care of them thus creating this feminist poem.