“To My Dear and Loving Husband”: Perspective, Tone, and Effect in Anne Bradstreet's Poem

A brief, critical essay on a timeless, classic poem of New World, English verse.

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…Bradstreet's poem is decidedly elegant and sublimely beautiful because of its subject, perspective, and tone. The subject is about love; the perspective is that of a wife to her husband; and the tone is one of eternal love and steadfastly-affectionate devotion (to the spouse).

Anne Bradstreet's elegantly-expressed love for her husband is admirable, heartwarming, and inspiring. The poem itself inspires one to be a similar kind of spouse for one's wife. But, in a more fundamental way, the poem moves one to be a similar kind of man for any woman in his life with whom he has a relationship…

By Ngoc Nguyen

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