The Power of True Love

“I love you.” Those three little words can change your life forever. Many people dream of hearing them. Women dream of their Prince Charming coming to sweep them off their feet while men search for the love of their life that can set their hearts on fire. Many people will say it’s just a dream and theirs no such thing as a love like that. “True love” is non existent and the phrase I love you is overused. Many people will ask themselves “is there such a thing as true love?” This question has been asked throughout history and no one can seem to come up with an answer, that is, besides Ann Bradstreet who expresses it through in a non traditional format; a classic love letter. Anne Bradstreet shares her feelings to her husband in such a loving way that it could make anyone believe in true love. In her poem “To my Dear and Loving Husband,” Ann Bradstreet expresses her eternal love and affection for her husband through the use of several literary elements including repetition, imagery, tone and other poetic devices.
Ann uses repetition to imply the concept of eternal love. In lines one through three Ann writes, “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.” The repetitions of the words if ever in these three lines indicate a theme of time throughout the poem. “If ever,” implies the concept of eternal love. Eternal love is a central idea that is repeated throughout the poem. Eternity is often used to show, as this poem is attempting to show, the magical power that love has. “Ever” here says nothing about how long their love will last, only that there has not been another to match it throughout history. To further illustrate such a powerful and exuberant love Ann uses imagery to convey her emotions. In line five Ann writes, “I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold.” The reader is clearly able to understand the strong love Bradstreet has for her husband. She values the love her husband and her shares more than anything. This presents a theme of wealth which is clearly illustrated through the use of financial imagery. Another line in the poem to show this type of imagery is line six, “Or all the riches that the East doth hold.” This line clearly illustrates how unimportant material possessions are when comparing them to the love she has for her husband. Furthermore, no material fortune is worth more to her than her love for her husband. Bradstreet and her husband share such a powerful love. She expresses her love to be so strong that not even a roaring river can satisfy them. Ann Bradstreet wrote in line seven “My love is such that rivers cannot quench.” This line depicts love as a river, soaring strong and nothing can stop it. Throughout this whole poem one can picture a love so powerful that can make anyone’s’ heart melt. Emphasizing how powerful a love is can be hard to put into words, but Ann Bradstreet does an amazing job of doing so with her use of tone in her poem. The theme of love is present throughout the entire poem. There is an obvious romantic tone to the poem, but there are other less obvious tones such as religious and adoration tones. In line ten Ann writes, “The heavens reward thee manifold I pray.” The words heavens and pray have religious affiliation to them. In this line it seems she is praying to the heavens that the greatest source of love is God. This line means that because she loved her husband so much on earth she prays the heavens will reimburse her for showing such devotion. They will reward her with eternal life of love with him in heaven. The reader can also feel a sense of adoration throughout her poem. Ann writes in line nine, “Thy love is such I can no way repay.” In this line she praises her husband for loving her in return and there’s nothing she can do to pay him back because she is so grateful for his love. She is praising him and saying if this love was a debt there’d be no way she could pay it off because it’s the most expensive gift anyone can receive.
Ann Bradstreet uses several other poetic techniques to help captivate the reader throughout this poem. The poem itself is written in Iambic pentameter which means there are five feet in each meter. Line one, for example, the syllables would be stressed in the following way; if e/ver two/were one/then sure/ ly we. In addition to meter, rhyme also plays an important role throughout this poem. The words at the end of each pair of lines rhyme; this is called end rhyme. Ann illustrates the use of end rhyme for example in lines three and four, “If ever wife was happy in a man, Compare with me, ye women, if you can.” In these two lines she is not addressing her husband but other women. She challenges other women to try to even compare their marital happiness to the one she shares with her husband. The last word in line three man rhymes with the ending word in line four can. These rhymed pairs are called couplets. In lines eleven through twelve which is the closing couplet there is the use of alliteration. In lines eleven and twelve Ann writes, “Then while we live, in love let’s so persevere that when we live no more, we may live ever.” Alliteration is the repetition of similar sounds in beginning words. There is the alliteration of line eleven’s, “while we live,” and line twelve’s, “When we live,” that ends Ann’s poem on a heartfelt note that Bradstreet’s wish for eternal love is granted. Throughout years many people have tried to have a love as strong as the one Ann and her husband shared. There have been countless love poems and love letters that have been written by those who have experienced love with another, or have seen love experienced by others. Love is one of the strongest and binding elements that we know of and at the same time it’s also the most precious and fragile things we all hope to encounter at some point in our lives. Ann Bradstreet illustrated all the wonderful emotions and feelings that are associated with love. Through the use of several poetic techniques Ann Bradstreet made it quite visible that true love does exist and the love she has for her husband will last a lifetime and beyond.