To My Dear And Loving Husband Essay

Anne Bradstreet broke barriers as the first published woman in the United States and as the first American poet, but what many do not know is that her works were never meant to be published. In fact they were secretly published by her brother-in law. Since her poems were never meant to be published they reveal so much more than what the typical Puritan would have wrote about in the time period in which she wrote her poetry. Although Anne Bradstreet wrote her poems in secrecy and they were not written with the intent of following puritanism's purpose of writing to glorify God, she did incorporate Puritanism and her belief in God in her poem,“To My Dear and Loving Husband”, making it possible to view the piece as a religious piece, that fits into the ideas of
Bradstreet showcases her puritanic side when writing of what she hopes happens after her and her husband die. Bradstreet states,“Thy love is such I can no way repay, the heavens reward thee manifold, I pray ”(Bradstreet 9-10). This quote definitely shows that Bradstreet believes in heaven and that she believes in the afterlife. It suggest that she thinks that God put her husband in her life for a reason. It also suggest that she thinks that her and her husband are good people, that have lived their lives accordingly and can get into heaven according to puritanism. Bradstreet moves on to state more about her husband and the afterlife when she states,“Then while we live, in love let's so persevere that when we live no more, we may live ever” (Bradstreet 11-12). This quote makes it more evident that Bradstreet thinks that her and her husband can get into heaven which correlates to her puritan side. It suggest that not only did she truly love her husband to death but that she hoped that one day when they both can no longer breathe, they can live with God, showing her puritan