TO MY DEAR AND LOVING HUSBAND

INTRODUCTION
Anne Bradstreet was America's first published poet, and when you consider the fact that she was
a woman living in the seventeenth century, that's quite a feat. After all, female poets back then
were thin on the ground.
In fact, the more you learn about her life, the more impressive she is. Bradstreet was born in
England in 1612 and emigrated (left her home country) to America in 1630, about ten years after
the first pilgrims came over in the Mayflower. Yeah, we know! Back then, Boston was little more
than an outpost in a wild country, where everyone struggled just to survive.
Our girl was lucky, though. She came from a pretty good family, and was very well-educated as a
child (most women at the time were not). She read widely (religious books, poetry, history),
knew several languages, and was all-around a pretty smart lady. So it's no wonder, then, that she
turned to poetry in her free time, which can't have been all that plentiful considering she had
count 'em eight kids.
Eventually, though, she had enough poems to fill an entire book. Either she or somebody else
(we're not sure) named the book, The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung up in America. Okay, that's not
entirely true. The actual title is The Tenth Muse, lately Sprung up in America, or Several Poems
Compiled with Great Variety of Wit and Learning, Full of Delight, Wherein especially is
Contained a Complete Discourse and Description of the Four Elements, Constitutions, Ages of
Man, Seasons of the Year, together with an exact Epitome of the Four Monarchies, viz., The
Assyrian, Persian, Grecian, Roman, Also a Dialogue between Old England and New, concerning
the late troubles. With divers other pleasant and serious Poems, By a Gentlewoman in those
parts. Yikes! It just might take the cake for longest title ever, but Shmoop is not about to find out.
So from here on out, we'll just call it The Tenth Muse.
In the literature of ancient Greece and Rome there were, traditionally, ninemuses, mythological
figures who were thought to inspire art and poetry. The title of Bradstreet's book adds a tenth to
the list, and boldly claims that Bradstreet herself is the tenth muse the American one.
This is a very brave move: It would have been like adding yourself to the list of "founding
fathers." But then again, Bradstreet herself wasn't planning on publishing the book. Her brotherin-law snagged a copy of her manuscript, took it to England with him in 1647, and had it
published in 1650, apparently without her knowledge. The Tenth Muse was the first book of
poetry published by someone living in the New World, giving her the unique distinction of being

America's first poet. You go girl. The Tenth Muse was Bradstreet's only publication during her
lifetime. After her death in 1672, a second edition was printed, which contained more poems than
the first edition. "To My Dear and Loving Husband" first appeared in this second edition, which
came off the presses in 1678.
Bradstreet loved her husband very much, and wrote scads of poems about him. In many ways,
despite the fact that it's two lines short of being a traditional sonnet (which has fourteen
lines) "To My Dear and Loving Husband" reminds us of many classic love sonnets by, say,
Shakespeare. All you need to do is compare "my love is such that rivers cannot quench" (7) with
Shakespeare's remark in Sonnet 23 about the power of his love: "And in mine own love's
strength seem to decay, / O'ercharged with burthen of mine own love's might." See? It's pretty
clear that Bradstreet is working in a long tradition of love poems, and she can totally hold her
own against the big guys.

SUMMARY
"To My Dear and Loving Husband" begins by describing the compatibility between the speaker
and her husband (and boy do we mean compatibility!). The speaker then describes how much she
values her husband's love, how strong her love is, and how she will never be able to repay her
husband for his love. Aww. The poem concludes with the speaker urging herself and her husband
to "persevere" in their love for another so that they can live forever. Wouldn't that be nice?
Lines 1-2
If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee;

The poem opens with two "if/then" statements, which sets up quite a logical tone. Except
the subject isn't logical at all: it's love.

In the first statement, the speaker says that if ever two people were one person, then she
and her husband surely are.

In the second, she says that if ever any man has been loved by his wife, he (her husband)
has been. He's quite the lucky guy.

After "we" in the first line, you have to supply "are." The same is true with "thee" (an old
word for "you") in the second line. (So it would read:"If ever two were one, then surely
we [are].")

What's all this "two were one" business? Sometimes people feel such a powerful
connection to one another that they feel like they are one person. It works with dogs, too.
In any case, from these two lines alone, we get the idea that these two lovebirds are the
ultimate couple.

And here's one more thing to remember. While "thee" sounds like an overly formal way
of saying "you," in Bradstreet's day it actually implied familiarity or intimacy. It would be
exactly the word to use in referring to a husband you love so darn much.

We would be remiss if we didn't point out the rhyme. These first two lines are called a
rhyming couplet, which means they are two lines that repeat the same sound at the end.
As you'll soon see, this poem consists of six of these couplets, and it's as relentless with
its rhyme as our speaker is with her love.

Oh, and one last thing: these first couple lines (and maybe the ones that follow) make us
think about the Book of Genesis and the creation of Adam and Eve. Do you agree? Do
you think Bradstreet was thinking about this when she wrote her poem?

Lines 3-4
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.

In repeating the phrase "If ever," line 3 continues the anaphoraBradstreet began in lines 2
and 3. She says that, if there was ever a wife that was happy with a guy, it's her. And in
this case, the anaphora underlines the idea that this couple is the perfect couple they
represent the ideal of love.

The word "compare" here means something like "rival" or "compete with" (source). The
speaker is telling other women to try to be as happy with their men as she is with hers.
Good luck, ladies. She implies that nobody can "compare" with her, which means that
she's totally sure that she, of all married women, is the happiest.

What's so interesting about these lines is that in a poem that is for the most part addressed
to the speaker's husband, she devotes a line to addressing other women, asking them if
they measure up. Why do you think she does that? Why not keep the focus on her man?

Oh, and the word "ye" is another old way of saying "you." It's actually the plural of
"thou" and "thee."

Lines 5-6
I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.

The speaker continues to speak about her love for her husband, and continues with
comparisons to prove her point.

She says she loves him more than gold mines and all the "riches" of the "East." Back in
those days, when the rest of the world was first being explored by Europeans, the East
(which most likely refers to Asia here) was seen as a place of unimaginable wealth and
bounty.

One word that jumps out to us here is "prize." It makes us think of winning things, or
receiving a reward for something, which makes sense when you think of how much she
values her husband and his love. But still, it's also a strange word to use because "prize"
reminds us of precisely the things (money, gold, treasure) that the speaker says are less
valuable than her husband's love. Hmmm, what do you make of that?

And finally, just to continue building our old-school Bradstreet glossary, we'll tell you
that the word "doth" is an old form of "does." But doesn't "doth" just sound better here? It
has a grander, snappier ring to it. Try saying the line with "does" to see what we mean.

Lines 7-8
My love is such that Rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.

Now our lady takes a turn from wealth to nature, and describes her love in more elaborate
terms.

It is so great that not even a river can "quench" it, and the only thing that can give her
"recompense" is love from her husband.

The word "quench" means lots of things, which makes it tough to suss out the meaning of
this line. It usually means to extinguish, put out, or satisfy. We often say, for example, "I
need to quench my thirst with a glass of water." So does she mean that her love is like a
giant fireball that not even a river could put out? Or does she mean that her love for her
husband is so powerful that it (and she) can never be satisfied, no matter what? Of course

no river is about to pour down on her sitting at her writing desk, so we'll take this to be a
metaphor for anything that might (but can't) satisfy her love.

"Recompense," on the other hand, has only one meaning: compensation, or payment for
something, often as payback for a wrongdoing. Based on this, it's safe to assume the
speaker is suggesting that she will only be satisfied if her husband loves her in return. So
at least we know there's one thing that can quench her thirsty love her husband's
reciprocation. It takes two to tango.

And before we forget, "ought" is an old word for "anything."

Lines 9-10
Thy love is such I can no way repay.
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.

The speaker now shifts gears and starts to talk about her husband's love for her. She says
she has no way of repaying him for his love, and she prays that the "heavens reward"
him. This chick means business.

First, the phrase "thy love is such I can no way repay" is a way of saying "your love is so
awesome that I don't know how I can ever repay you for it." You're lucky if you know
that feeling!

And "Manifold" means "in many ways" or "many times." So she's hoping that, while she
can't ever repay her husband, the heavens that is, God will.

One thing you might want to note is that the second line is in reverse order. She means "I
pray [that] the heavens reward thee manifold." It makes the sentence a little wonky to
read, but poets who are working in rhyme and meter often rearrange their sentences to
make them fit the form they've chosen. Tricky!

Lines 11-12
Then while we live, in love let's so persevere
That when we live no more, we may live ever.

The speaker concludes the poem by saying that she and her husband should love each
other so strongly while they're alive that they will live forever.

(The icing on the cake is the lovely alliteration of "live, in love let's." Beautiful sounds
for a beautiful idea.)

Okay, that's romantic and all, but how exactly are they going to live forever just by
"persevering" in their love? Well, it's possible that the speaker means they're love will be
so strong and admirable that other people will remember them and speak about them. In
this way, they will "live ever." But she could also be suggesting that immortality a life
in heaven is somehow dependent on how strongly one loves while alive.

The word "persevere" is interesting here. It's a strong word, and we tend to use it more
when talking about striving against difficulties to reach a goal. So is her marriage
difficult? Or does she just mean that she and her husband will stick together through
whatever hardships they might face in their lives, and that as long as they remain in love,
they'll be fine?

Some versions of the poem spell "persevere" as "persever." This is because, in the
seventeenth century, many people pronounced the word that way. Note how that
pronunciation makes the word "sever" (a word that means to break or cut off) much more
audible (just like in the name Severus Snape). Plus, pronouncing it this way makes it
rhyme with "ever," which is a shortened form of "forever."

What's so great about these last two lines is that they are, in a way, a new version of the
first stanza's "if/then" statements. Her final "if/then"? If we love each other steadily for
our whole lives, then we will be rewarded with eternal life after death.