The Poem "to My Dear & Loving Husband" by Anne Bradstreet

Comparing Love Poems 1

The poem, "To my Dear & Loving Husband" by Anne Bradstreet is a beautifully written poem of love. The poem is one where the author Anne Bradstreet is conveying her love to her husband in figurative language that inspires emotion in the reader of how very grateful she is for the love of her husband to both her husband and to God, "The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray."(Bradstreet p. 108 vs. 10). The author evokes a feeling of love that is figurative rather than literal in comparison to "Huswifery" by Edward Taylor where his imagery of his love for god and his desire to have God bestow upon him virtues and elements of his holiness are depicted in a very descriptive language of wanting God to make him into the working parts of a spinning wheel and how each part would represent a characteristic virtue bestowed upon him from God. In Edward Taylors imagery lays a picture painted for the reader where the reader can envision God putting together the authors spirit and character as though he were building the textile machine as Edward Taylor's spirit and character, "Make me, O lord. Thy Spinning Wheel complete."(Taylor p. 142 vs. 1)

Amongst the two poems the reader can feel what Anne Bradstreet is trying to convey as her love for her husband, where in Edward Taylors poem the reader can actually visualize the author being built as a spinning wheel with all of its remarkable components as designed and ordained by God. Edward Taylor paints a picture for the reader that is both descriptive and animated whereas Anne Bradstreet is successful at creating a less literal image but arousing a feeling of love through her descriptions and expressing how difficult it would be

Comparing Love Poems 3

place a value of her love for her husband, "My love is such that rivers cannot quench" (Bradstreet p.108 vs. 7)

It is my opinion that both authors are indeed successful at creating an image for the reader and both are successful at portraying how they feel. Anne Bradstreet is able to do this by adjectives and verbs of feeling such as "happy, loved, pray and persevere" (AML, Bradstreet-p.108) and Edward Taylor is able to create a literal image by having the reader visualize himself being built by god as a machin