To My Dear And Loving Husband Analysis

Being in love is like an ocean; the further out one goes the deeper it becomes. In the poem “To My Dear and Loving Husband” we get a sense of how deep and real her love is for her husband. Bradstreet gives us an insight to her and her husband’s relationship and how deep and strong their love has become. She uses hyperbole and biblical allusions to convey how great their love is.

First, Bradstreet expresses that her husband’s love is worth more than the most expensive materials through the use of a hyperbole. On line five she states that she “Prize[s] thy love more than whole mines of gold.” By making “mines” plural and adding the word “whole” she creates a different type of effect. When she says “whole mines” she expresses the amount and worth of her husband’s love. In the 1600’s gold was sold for over one-thousand dollars; Bradstreet prices her husband’s love more than that amount.

In line one she says “if ever two were one, then surely we.” The amount of love they have for each other allows this idea that together they are one person rather than two. Bradstreet alludes to the bible which says “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2.24). By comparing the two quotes we realize that Bradstreet gets a sense of completion with her husband, which makes her feel like they are one person. When she tells about their love she says that “[Her] love is such that river cannot quench.” This alludes to a scripture in the bible that reads “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it” (Song of Solomon 8.7). In both quotes the water aspect is made plural to enhance the idea of how strong love is and that there is nothing that can essentially quench the thirst Bradstreet has for her husband’s