Anne Bradstreet Analysis Essay

Anne Bradstreet Analysis Essay In the poem “To My Dear and Loving Husband” poem, Anne Bradstreet makes substantial use of pathos throughout the entire poem to emphasize her message. The intense expression of love and devotion achieve its effect through the use of paradoxes. For example the opening sentence “If ever two were one, then surely we” is a paradox because the phrase seems contradictory, but is actually true. The example of one plus one resulting in one represents how their love defies logic.The diction and structure of line two adds more emotion to the word “loved”. She wants the audience to understand that if any man’s wife had love for their husbands, it could never be as significant as her intimate adoration for her husband.

Bradstreet uses paradoxes in lines one and two, then shifts from the use of similes to a hyperbole in line five. She values his love more than gold and all the riches of the East. Bradstreet also compares his love to objects that are considered rare treasures.She makes use of artful diction again when she uses the word “prize” to show how much she takes pride in and is grateful for his love. She desires to convey to the reader that a love like her husband’s is a rare treasure and it is something to be admired and thankful for.

In the end of the poem, “Then while we live, in love let’s so preserve that when we live no more, we may live forever,” Bradstreet uses this sentence to end the poem by saying that even when they die, their love will live.She wants to preserve the love they share so that when they die their love still exists and they are still connected to each other through it. By saying that she wants their love to live on, she wants to express that she cherishes the love her and her husband share. The way she structures the sentence puts emphasis on how she desires for their love to live on. “…In love let’s so preserve that when we live no more, we may live forever. ” It is almost like she is saying that is how powerful their love is.

Anne Bradstreet uses pathos to get across to her reader the power behind the love her and her spouse shared. She plays on the reader’s emotions so that they may identify with her opinion on love and understand how a husband’s love is so potent and gratifying. Her tone of adoration is attributed to by the repetition of the word “love” as well as the title of the poem. Bradstreet truly adored her husband almost beyond words could express.