An Undefinable Love
...radstreet would never want this poem to surface for her husband, or other Puritan women, to see. Bradstreet was possibly thinking that her husband, other husbands in the community, and women would banish her or simply look down upon her. Or is Bradstreet boasting about how happy her marriage seemed to be with her husband compared to other women? The line "Compare with me . . . if you can" seems to have almost a "bragging right" tied in with it. Perhaps she is saying, compare my marriage to yours and if you are as happy as I, then you will live an eternal life of love. In fact, the last line of the poem dictates a message of eternal love: "That when we live no more, we may live ever". She introduces this line with the phrase "I pray". She seems to be asking God to accept herself and her husband into the eternal after life, a common Puritan ideal and belief. Such encouragement can be seen in the second to last line, when she states, "Then while we live, in love let's so persevere". Most likely, she is implying, to her husband that what they do now in life will decide what happens to them in the after life. Bradstreet almost seems to be pressuring the idea of love, upon herself and her husband, so that they can share life in the eternal world. But can she convey this message to her husband openly? The Puritan belief dictates that the wife has to be subservient to the husband. Thus, if she purses this idea, then she's betraying her husbands superiority. The word "ever" appears three times at the beginning of the first three lines. Here, the word is being used as a comparison. What is she trying to compare: herself, her husband, or the combination of the two? She compares her love and marriage to that of "whole mines of gold" and "all the riches that the East doth hold." By this, she means one could not buy her love for her husband with these riches. Being a true Puritan, however, means that she should not be thinking of the "mines" from the "East" which hold "gold and "riches". Wealth should not enter the thoughts of such a supposed pure figure as Bradstreet. But being brought up upon Puritan values, Bradstreet should not be thinking of the "mines" from the "East" which hold "gold" and "riches". As being a true Puritan, wealth should not enter the thoughts of such a supposed pure figure as Bradstreet. The eight line, "Nor ought but love from thee, give recompense," is troublesome. The word "recompense" changes the flow of the poem, thus drawing attention to it. The word means a return for something done, suffered, or given, but is also defined as a repayment by satisfaction and/or restitution. Women during the 17th century were not highly valued in the status quo. Maybe that is why she thinks she owes him "recompense" through satisfaction. "Recompense" also makes the reader look more closely at the following line: "Thy love is such I can no way repay." She sees her husband's love for her as so dramatic, that she feels she cannot satisfactorily "repay" him. Why does Bradstreet see her love for her husband as inadequate? This may go back to ...