16 pages • 32 minutes read
Anne BradstreetTo My Dear and Loving Husband
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1678A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Riches
The key symbolism of riches and materialism allows Bradstreet to contrast worldly wealth against the emotional wealth her marriage provides. These riches are embodied in two symbols, the “whole mines of gold” mentioned in Line 5 and “all the riches” of “the East” in Line 6. In insisting that she “prize[s]” (Line 5) her husband’s love more than the world’s wealth, she identifies herself both as a loyal wife who values marital connection above all else and as a Puritan who believes that all worldly goods are mere transient vanities.
Balance
The ideal of balance is an important motif in “To My Dear and Loving Husband.” The speaker emphasizes that the love within her marriage is, above all, mutual: Both spouses nurture a deep affection for one another and give one another happiness and fulfillment. The motif appears in the opening lines, which celebrate the fact that “If ever man were loved by wife” (Line 2), then the speaker’s husband is loved by her, while likewise acknowledging, “If ever wife was happy in a man” (Line 3), then she has also known that happiness. Husband and wife function as “two” (Line 1) separate people united as “one” (Line 1), thanks to their steady reciprocity.
The Heavens
“The heavens” (Line 10) refers to Heaven, the realm of the Christian God. Such spiritual ideas and language form a motif, highlighting the theme of The Connection Between Love and Spirituality. However, this is a multifaceted device. On a close-reading level, the phrase is an instance of metonymy, a word or expression that signifies something else with which it is closely associated: “The heavens” is a metonym for, or signifies, God. In invoking the heavens and asking them to “reward [her husband] manifold” (Line 10) for his love, the speaker is calling upon God to witness how her husband has performed his duties as a Christian husband faithfully and well. As both motif and metonym, “[t]he heavens” accentuate the marriage’s spiritual dimension, which culminates in in the closing lines’ expressed hope that the speaker and her husband will “live ever” (Line 12) even after their deaths.
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