To My Dear And Loving Husband - Anne Bradstreet

Question 1

Structure

Answer 1

• suggests control and conformity
• DD is a slant rhyme
• written in heroic couplets
• written in iambic pentameter,often reserved for noble, monumental subjects
  
  • implies the speaker is asserting her marriage is of the highest quality
  • woman taking on such a prestigious form would be controversial

Question 2

‘If ever two were one, then surely we
If ever man were lov’d by wife, then thee.
If ever wife was happy in a man,’

Answer 2

‘If ever… then’ - ‘If’ followed by ‘then’ - hypothesis and conclusion, ‘if’ has to be complimented by ‘then’ otherwise wouldn’t make sense, structure and balance could reflect their marriage, idea that they need each other
- inflating his ego, demonstrating control, under subject of love
Anaphora of ‘if ever’ - indicates she is measuring their marriage against all others
- almost binds the lines together as its becoming a single argument, adding power to her assertion of how unique their marriage is
‘we’ ‘thee’ - assonance

Question 3

‘Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,’

Answer 3

‘East’ - Asia and Middle East, people thought the East to be a place of opulence and sensuality, which again perhaps exhibits notions against of how women in marriages were supposed to act and behave
‘ rivers cannot quench’ - rivers cannot satisfy her, perhaps a reference to ‘scientific beliefs’ where it was believed that women had ‘colder, wetter’ bodies, often criticised by the liquidity of their bodies, seen as a failure, she is essentially rejecting male criticisms of the female body and the theory of the four humours.

Question 4

‘Thy love is such I can no way repay.
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.’

Answer 4

‘I can no way repay’ - adheres to puritanical ideology, he is all to her and she will spend her life making him happy
‘The heavens reward thee manifold’ - mention of God, ‘reward’ emphasises the ‘triangle’ (The Aristotelian theologies)

Question 5

Last four lines
‘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.’

Answer 5

• solidifies her love, making it holy and pure
• bold claims about marriage, first octave discuss/manage love in ‘earthly terms’, doesn’t mention puritan ideals, final quatrain asserts her marriage will help her and her husband achieve salvation.
• opposes puritan poets who argue that you must relinquish earthly love in favour of divine love, speaker believes the two are closely linked.