"To My Dear and Loving Husband" is a poem by the Colonial American poet Anne Bradstreet. The poem was first published in 1678, as part of Bradstreet's posthumous collection Several Poems. Bradstreet was the first poet—and the first woman—in colonial America to write and publish a book of poems. The poem is autobiographical and describes the passionate love between the speaker and her husband. The speaker describes that love as pure and redemptive. The poem thus implicitly argues against some religious poets who describe love as a sinful or unholy act.
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The Full Text of “To My Dear and Loving Husband”
1If ever two were one, then surely we.
2If ever man were loved by wife, then thee.
3If ever wife was happy in a man,
4Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
5I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,
6Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
7My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
8Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.
9Thy love is such I can no way repay;
10The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
11Then while we live, in love let’s so persever,
12That when we live no more, we may live ever.
The Full Text of “To My Dear and Loving Husband”
1If ever two were one, then surely we.
2If ever man were loved by wife, then thee.
3If ever wife was happy in a man,
4Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
5I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,
6Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
7My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
8Nor ought but love from thee give recompense.
9Thy love is such I can no way repay;
10The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
11Then while we live, in love let’s so persever,
12That when we live no more, we may live ever.
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“To My Dear and Loving Husband” Summary
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“To My Dear and Loving Husband” Themes
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Love
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Women, Desire, and Tradition
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Marriage, Wealth, and Desire
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “To My Dear and Loving Husband”
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Lines 1-4
If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were loved by wife, then thee.
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can. -
Lines 5-8
I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompense. -
Lines 9-12
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.
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“To My Dear and Loving Husband” Symbols
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East
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Heavens
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“To My Dear and Loving Husband” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Hyperbole
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End-Stopped Line
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Anaphora
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Asyndeton
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Caesura
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Apostrophe
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Allusion
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Alliteration
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Assonance
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Consonance
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“To My Dear and Loving Husband” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Thee
- Ye
- Thy
- East
- Recompense
- Heavens
- Manifold
- Persever
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “To My Dear and Loving Husband”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“To My Dear and Loving Husband” Speaker
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“To My Dear and Loving Husband” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “To My Dear and Loving Husband”
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More “To My Dear and Loving Husband” Resources
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External Resources
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Anne Bradstreet Biography — A detailed biography of Anne Bradstreet from the Poetry Foundation.
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A Letter to Her Husband, Absent Upon Publick Employment by Anne Bradstreet — Another poem by Anne Bradstreet about her husband, Simon Bradstreet.
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Biography of Petrarch — A detailed biography of Petrarch, with comments on his legacy and impact on European love poetry, from the Academy of American Poets.
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Search on for burial site of America’s first published poet — An article from the AP on the search to discover Anne Bradstreet's burial site, with several photos of her manuscripts and early editions of her works.
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"To My Dear and Loving Husband" Read Aloud — "To My Dear and Loving Husband" read aloud by Liza Ross.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Anne Bradstreet
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