The first published writer in the American colonies, Anne Bradstreet’s writings reflect the romantic values of the Puritans. Typically stereotyped as romantically and sexually conservative, the Puritans considered “married love a religious duty and source of happiness,” inspiring countless poems addressed to spouses, both current and future (Cambridge History 74). Displaying similar attitudes towards poetry and marriage, for Puritan writers the “form [of poetry] served function, and the primary function was to explore, understand, and preserve meaning” of religious merit, valuing poetry as means of exploring a relationship with the Christian god (Cambridge History 66). In Bradstreet’s poetry, her focus became “making abstract doctrine real and true to human experience through an intense focus… a way of channeling thought and feeling in language” (Cambridge History 68). Her religious influences are clear in her poem “To My Dear and Loving Husband,” where she explores the relationship between the two through religious metaphors drawn directly from the Bible.
Drawing on Biblical metaphors of marriage, Bradstreet writes, “If ever two were one, then surely we” (line 1). This references Genesis 2:24, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh,” creating the argument that marriage is a sacred bond joining together her and her husband to whom this poem is addressed. This joining of the two is reflected in the form of the poem: twelve lines arranged in heroic couplets, pairs of two lines which are inseparably linked together. The relationship between Bradstreet and her husband is defined as more “loved” and “happy” than any other romantic pairing, reminiscent of Ephesians 5:25, in which Paul compares marriage to the bond between Christ and the Church, commanding Christian men to “love [their] wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”
She continues with the Biblical references throughout, describing the love from her husband as worth “more than whole mines of gold, / Or all the riches that the East doth hold,” placing love above material goods (lines 5-6). This echoes the praise of the “noble wife” within the Proverbs: “Who can find a wife of noble character? She is far more precious than rubies. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will lack nothing of value” (Proverbs 31:10-11). This elevation of their love reminds that, in Puritan values, marriage exists as a symbol of “earthly love for husband and wife… as a living metaphor for the love of God,” modeling the ideal relationship as rooted in religious concepts (Cambridge History 75). This concept is brought together in the final line of “when we live no more, we may live ever,” referencing the Christian belief in an eternal afterlife (line 12). Her word choice here is careful, as she says “live ever” and not love ever. This reflects the Christian idea that “at the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven” (Matthew 22:30). Though they love now, Bradstreet acknowledges the only eternal love exists between them and their creator.
