Lyric Poem · Love
To My Dear and Loving Husband
by Anne Bradstreet · 1678
If ever two were one, then surely we.
If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee.
If ever wife was happy in a man,
Compare with me, ye women, if you can.
I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
My love is such that Rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but love from thee give recompetence.
Thy love is such I can no way repay.
The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray.
Then while we live, in love let's so persever
That when we live no more, we may live ever.
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“To My Dear and Loving Husband” by Anne Bradstreet — quilloak.com/poems/to-my-dear-and-loving-husband
Quick facts
- Poem
- To My Dear and Loving Husband
- Poet
- Anne Bradstreet
- Published
- 1678
- Length
- 12 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem, Couplet
- Themes
- Love, Family
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 12 lines · one 12-line stanza
- Line length
- Mostly 10-syllable lines (pentameter length).
Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake
Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Anne Bradstreet1612–1672
- Source record
- PoetryDBTo My Dear and Loving Husband by anne-bradstreet, PoetryDB transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- 1678
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 ddb1e7e5ea734d7b…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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