Anne Bradstreet was the first American woman whose poetry works became the first to be published in the United States. Her place of birth was Northampton Shire in England, born in 1612 (HICKSTUN, 2017). She later moved with her husband to the United States together with her children and became one of the best poem writers whose English verses widely spread into the American colonies. She is believed to be a Puritan who had faith in life after death. This belief is well-grounded in her poem ‘To my Dear and Loving Husband’ in the last two lines, he talks of eternal love (HICKSTUN, 2017). Ann embraced nature and writing in which she inspired many female writers who admired to be recognized for their intellects in the society. Ann, as opposed to the contemporary world, never fought the system of men domination, and this is attributed to the fact that she had a loving father and a caring husband and therefore championed for the rights of fellow women within the context of men hierarchy (HICKSTUN, 2017). This dramatic piece illustrates that perhaps Ann was in a loving marriage in which her husband never oppressed her, but genuinely cared and embraced her. In essence, Ann had a bunch of poetic work, and one of her passionate work that I am reviewing in this multimedia presentation is the poem ‘To my Dear and Loving Husband.’
Reviewing ‘To my Dear and Loving Husband’
In reviewing the setting, the poem offers no explicit hints; however, it attributes Ann’s personal life as a poet-writer, a family woman, and a Puritan who moved from England to America. We can predict that the poem might have been written around the year 1633 in Boston, Massachusetts (Bradstreet, 2017). Considering the poem’s early times, we can imagine a woman sitting in a fireplace alongside her husband enjoying the embrace of their family.
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The poem starts alluding to their marital love. She writes that if two people were to be one, then they sure were. She proceeds to express that her love for her man was solid and that no woman in the world was as happy as her (Bradstreet, 2017). She then compares her love for her husband with material possessions, citing that she prioritizes her love than large mines of gold or the riches that the East doth possessed. This theme of love is very dominant in the poem and sets an example as one of admirable, unconditioned and eternal love. The speaker devotes most of the parts of the poem glorifying their love with her husband which according to her, is so immense that a river cannot quench (Bradstreet, 2017). She finally concludes that their matrimonial love is impenetrable that even death cannot separate them. The poem can be used to assume that a Puritan’s love for a husband is her heaven on earth. However, the poet’s love for her husband seems to outweigh her devotion to God, which is contrary to the fact that Staunch Puritans devote most of their love to God than any earthly possessions (Bradstreet, 2017). She even wishes that her union proceeds after death yet the Christian faith confesses that material things end at death. Many scholars, however, agree that the poet was facing a fierce bodily and spiritual struggle in an attempt to rediscover the earthly indicators of The supreme will.
The poets’ entire theme elucidates the inner fight of the visible and invisible worlds. Though to her, the spirit dominated her existence; the desires of the earthly realm obsessed Ann, which included family, love, fame, and comfort (HICKSTUN, 2017). Even with the hard realities of the world, she prefers the comfort of her home to the precious jewels of the unknown world. In maintaining the inner dialogue of her chain of thoughts, she writes most of her poems in the form of an argument. Ann’s poems take many forms, such as rhymed history, love poems, contemplative poems, and meditations (HICKSTUN, 2017). However, in my opinion, good poems never lay bare its intentions and purpose. In this poem, the elementary questions are addressed, it is clear that the persona is Ann Bradstreet and the purpose of the poem is bare, she adores and cherishes her husband so intensely that she wants him to know about it. With the basic answers provided, there are however many unanswered issues that seek further study and research (HICKSTUN, 2017). One may want to know who Bradstreet woman is, and where are her beliefs engraved in her purpose, and the essence of life. Puritan women are known from history to be adamantly silent and unemotional group and are not regarded as the type to randomly express their emotions (HICKSTUN, 2017). One then wonders why Ann is careless in expressing her rooted feelings to her husband, and the only feasible explanation is the fact that she was a poet, and poets always express their emotions for their readers to feel.
Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO1xWU4oEYM
In the above video, different voices mimic Ann Bradstreet's poem, ‘‘To my Dear and Loving Husband’’. This dramatic piece illustrates that perhaps Ann was in a loving marriage in which her husband never oppressed her, but genuinely cared and embraced her. The poem was published years later after her death. It is difficult to determine whether it was her wish for the poem to be read by the public, or it was meant for her husband alone (HICKSTUN, 2017). However, there seem to be no queries regarding the sincerity of the poem towards her emotional expressions towards her husband. Thoughtful consideration of the poem leaves one to conclude that it was not just a mere colorful message decorated with passion and love for her husband, Simon Bradstreet, but was written with public considerations in mind (HICKSTUN, 2017).
References
Bradstreet, A. (2017). To my dear and loving husband. To My Dear & Loving Husband , 1.
HICKSTUN, M. O. (2017). Contextualizing Anne Bradstreet’s Literary Remains: Why We Need a New Edition of the Poems. Early American Literature , 52 (2), 389–422.
