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Alek Bird

Dr. Minton

English1102/V

September 26, 2013

The Inner Workings of Love

Love comes in many different forms, shapes and sizes. People all over the world love

many different things. Some love a significant other while others love friends. In Anne

Bradstreet’s poem “To My Dear and Loving Husband”, love is emphasized toward the speaker’s,

Anne, husband. What unfolds in the poem is a manifest of imagery comparing the couples love

to unquenchable rivers stating love cannot be compared to wealth. On the other hand in

Shakespeare’s poem, “Sonnet 116”, love is meticulously explained and broken down into what it

isn’t versus what it is. Both poems stretch and squeeze love to its breaking points and in doing so

emerges a vivid picture of love, actual. Love can be analyzed in both poems, yet even though

there are two very different speakers speaking about love, neither can be calculated as true or

false.

Love is said to be everlasting and in these two poems there are similar views on the

strength of love. Bradstreet’s poem compares love to a magnificent, unstoppable entity, as an

extraordinary gift that can never be repaid, and as a means to achieve immortality. The speaker

announces, “My love is such that rivers cannot quench” (463), which is saying the love between

the speaker and her husband is so strong that even a river, with it’s never ending supply of water,

cannot satisfy the thirst of a love that exhumes from the couple. In “Sonnet 116”, Shakespeare

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states, “O, no, it is an ever-fixed mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken” (1213). These

words comparing love to a star or lighthouse, give meaning to love. Meaning it can never be

broken or lost and will always be shining like a guiding light. These two different views on love

are interconnected because they both are saying how strong love can be when something is worth

loving. Love between two people can be so strong sometimes described as unbreakable or

nothing can stand in between the two lovers. Both poems have sincere tones about how the

author believes their love is so strong. The poems imagery shows a love that cannot be forgotten

or broken, that all evidence points to love being unalterable.

In these two poems love has no price. It cannot be bought or sold or even have a value

placed on it. In Bradstreet’s poem, the love is so dear that it cannot be repaid by the “angels”

who gave it, “Thy love is such I can no way repay; The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray”

(463). Bradstreet also brings up how much more love can be valued than material items that have

extreme real world value. “I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold or all the riches that

the East doth hold” (463). Looking at love from the perspective of a priceless emotion can give a

fresh view on how meaningful and sincere love between two people should actually be.

Shakespeare shares a comparable view on the price of love. “Whose worth's unknown,” (1213),

Shakespeare bluntly states the truth about love. Loves worth cannot be determined or has not yet

been discovered, if it can be found at all. Both Bradstreet’s and Shakespeare’s poem allude to

love being priceless and in doing so build the image that true love in the present life might be

unobtainable.

Love can very well be seen as a stepping stone into immortality. Bradstreet ends the

poem by saying, “that when we live no more, we may live ever” (463). This suggests that when

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life ceases, one still lives on in an afterlife. Bradstreet’s emphasis on “we” shows that the love

shared between the couple will also carry on. Shakespeare shares a different view saying, “Love

alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out even to the edge of doom” (1213). This

says that love does not change little by little at small periods of times, but carries on until the last

day of life. This can be interpreted differently though, depending on when life ends. Does life

continue after death or is death the end? Even so, love can be considered as everlasting

contingent on beliefs.

A speaker’s voice determines the tone of a poem. It can give insight on how the author

thinks. Both poems share a confident speaker. Both speakers have sincerity in how the poem is

written. Bradstreet and Shakespeare prove to the audience that they know what they are talking

about and almost dare the audience to prove them wrong. In “Sonnet 116”, “The poet wishes to

admit no impediment to the marriage of true minds. The poet argues that, if love is as outlined in

the central ten lines, then there can be no impediment to such a marriage” (Kuiper 8), stating that

there is no obstacle, no barrier that can stop the love of marriage between two people who

actually love each other. On the other side of the spectrum Bradstreet dares the audience to think

differently of the speaker’s true love. “If ever wife was happy in a man, compare with me ye

women if you can” (463). Bradstreet shows that the speakers love is true and nothing can stop

the couple from loving each other. Bradstreet also uses a private voice in “My Dear and Loving

Husband”. Kenneth A. Requa, author of “Anne Bradstreet’s Poetic Voices”, writes that “The

private voice is original” (4), and “the private poet has more control of her poetry” (5), which

shows that Bradstreet confidence in writing poetry is a controlled factor that conveys a sense of

certainty and believability to the audience.

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Anne Bradstreet and Shakespeare have similar views on love, but at the same time have

viewpoints that differ dramatically. Love cannot be explained with one emotion in one poem.

Love is felt and experienced, what these authors try and do is mimic the emotions felt when in

love. Love is both strong and weak depending on whom the speaker is. Bradstreet and

Shakespeare believe love is strong, and that no price can be paid for an everlasting love.

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Work Cited

Bradstreet, Anne. “To My Dear and Loving Husband.” Literature: A Portable Anthology. 3rd

Edition. Ed. Janet E. Gardener et al. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013. 463. Print

Kuiper, Konrad. “Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116.” Explicator 64.1 (2005): 7-9. MLA International

Bibliography. Web. 11 Sept. 2013.

Requa, Kenneth A. “Anne Bradstreet’s Poetic Voices.” Early American Literature 9.1 (1974): 3-

18. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 11 Sept. 2013.

Shakespeare, William. “Sonnet 116.” Literature: A Portable Anthology. 3rd Edition. Ed. Janet E.

Gardener et al. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013. 463. Print