Anne Bradstreet

Anne Bradstreet

Literary Analysis: Puritan Plain Style—Syntax and Inversion

Just as the Puritans’ style of life was spare, simple, and straightforward, so too was their writing style. The Puritan Plain Style, as it is called, is characterized by short words, direct statements, and references to ordinary, everyday objects.

In addition, the structure of the sentences was often flipped—that is, the subject came after the verb. See this example:

From far away came the sound of thunder.

This sentence is an inverted way of saying “The sound of thunder came from far away.” Inverting sentences or lines is a more poetic way of making literal statements.

Subject | Subject

Some text here about the topic of discussion

Open Ended

If ever two were one, than surely we.

If ever man were lov’d by wife, then thee;

How would you invert these two lines to make them more literal?

Open Ended

I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold.

This line reflects the Puritan Plain Style in terms of its direct statement. Which other element of the style does it reflect?

Open Ended

My love is such that rivers cannot quench,

What common experience does the poet refer to in this line?

Open Ended

Then while we live, in love let’s so persevere,

That when we live no more, we may live ever.

Which part of this passage is an exception to the Puritan Plain Style rule of short words?

​Reading Strategy: Paraphrasing

The old-fashioned language and sophisticated imagery of Bradstreet’s poem can make it difficult to understand. When confronted with a challenging poem or piece of prose, you will often understand it better if you paraphrase, or restate ideas in your own words.

Bradstreet’s version:

If ever wife was happy in a man,

Compare with me ye women if you can.

Paraphrased:

No woman could be happier with her husband than I am.

Subject | Subject

Some text here about the topic of discussion

Open Ended

If ever two were one, then surely we.

Open Ended

I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,

Or all the riches that the East doth hold.

Open Ended

Then while we live, in love let’s so persevere,

That when we live no more, we may live ever.

Multiple Choice

Which statement below is the best paraphrase of this line from “To My Dear and

Loving Husband”?

If ever man were lov’d by wife, then thee.

• Love seemed foolish to me until I met you.

• You love me more than any other husband could love his wife.

• I love you more than any other wife could love her husband.

• I love you more now than when we got married.

Multiple Choice

What main emotion does Anne Bradstreet express in this poem?

• happiness in her love for her husband

• concern that her husband be rewarded

• fear of the deaths of her husband and herself

• anxiety that her marriage will not last

Multiple Choice

Which elements in this first stanza of the poem are an example of Puritan Plain

Style?

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.

• the rhyming lines

• the reference to love

• the everyday objects

• the simple, common words

Multiple Choice

Why does the speaker say, “Compare with me ye women if you can”?

• She is encouraging single women to get married.

• She is warning other colonial wives to love and obey their husbands.

• She is setting forth a challenge to other women in her community.

• She is urging husbands and wives to have loving homes.

Multiple Choice

In the second stanza, what idea do the comparisons to treasure make clear?

• the value of her love for her husband

• the value of her husband’s love for her

• the gifts that husbands give to show their love

• the gifts that she wishes her husband would give her

Multiple Choice

When the poet says “My love is such that rivers cannot quench..., ” t o what is

she comparing her love?

• a fire

• a river

• a prize

• a flood

Multiple Choice

According to the speaker, what is the only way in which her husband can repay

her for her love?

• by praising her in the community

• by showing love to her

• by praying for her

• by giving her gold and other treasures

Multiple Choice

Which element of Puritan Plain Style is most obvious in this statement?

Thy love is such I can in no way repay.

• omitted words

• repeated words

• a simple, direct statement

• a reference to an everyday experience

Multiple Choice

How does the wife in “To My Dear and Loving Husband” want her husband to be

rewarded for his love of her?

• with mines of gold

• with riches from the East

• by living forever

• by the heavens

Multiple Choice

Which statement below is the best paraphrase of these concluding lines?

Then while we live, in love let’s so persevere,/That when we live no more, we may

live ever.

• Let our love be so strong that people remember it long after our deaths.

• Let us love so faithfully that we will meet in heaven and live forever.

• Let us try so hard to love that it will seem as if we will live forever.

• Let our love serve as a model to all those who live after we are gone.

Match

Match the following

• quench

• recompense

• manifold

• persevere

satisfy a thirst

something given or done in return for something else; repayment

in many ways

continue despite hardship; persist

• satisfy a thirst

• something given or done in return for something else; repayment

• in many ways

• continue despite hardship; persist