‘A Letter to her Husband, absent upon Publick employment’ by Anne Bradstreet is a heart touching poem about a wife. The poem is written in a letter format. It addresses the husband of the persona in a way that it seems he is nearby. Such a beauty of love! After reading the poem, it becomes clear that the poetic persona, actually the poet herself is not feeling well. She was suffering from cancer.
In this situation, she somehow needs her husband and her son close to her bed. The husband seems to be burdened with public service. That’s why he couldn’t attend to her wife. There can be other reasons too. Like, the poet had not told her husband about her health. However, communication between distant places was very time taking. The poet might have been waiting for her husband to return.
Summary
The poem begins with the speaker telling the listener that she belongs to her husband totally. All parts of her have been given to his warmth. He is absent at this point though, traveling far from her as the sun moves from the earth during the winter months.
She frequently compares him to the sun and herself to earth. The speaker freezes without his presence and will only feel whole again when he returns to her “in Cancer.”
Meaning
‘A Letter to her Husband, absent upon Publick employment’ by Anne Bradstreet is simple in meaning. From the title itself, the concept of the poem becomes clear. The poet is writing a letter in a poetic format to her husband. The husband in the poem is not there to assist his wife in her drooping health.
He is busy doing his work at a public office. The reason for writing the letter becomes clear in the last section of the poem. She is suffering from cancer. That’s why she wants her husband to return as early as possible. She doesn’t only talk about her health too much. The specific focus is on her loneliness. The ambiance around her room with the disease inside herself is giving the poet a very tough time. The poet doesn’t know how long she can tolerate this, but she will be waiting for her husband until the end.
Themes
‘A Letter to her Husband, absent upon Publick employment’ by Anne Bradstreet presents different themes to the readers. The most important theme of this poem is absence. The speaker spends a great deal of time describing how much, and for which reasons, she cares for her husband. Her tone is wistful as she looks towards the past and the future, recalling their times together and predicting what is soon to happen.
However, in this way, the poet touches another theme in the poem. It is love. The essence of love remains the same but the expression changes with time. Here, the poetic persona expresses she depends on her husband and she longs for his care. It is another expression of love that connects two souls no matter how far they are.
It seems that she also longs for the love of his son who is also far away. There is also a theme of disease hovering around the poem. Certain lines in the poem reflect the mental state of a disease-ridden persona. If there is a theme of disease, there should be a theme of death. In the poem, the poet seems to be standing at a critical juncture. She is lonely, suffering from a disease, and can sense her approaching death. In her mind, she is ready to accept it but she wants to live till her husband returns.
Figurative Language
In ‘A Letter to her Husband, absent upon Publick employment’ by Anne Bradstreet, the speaker’s husband is directly related to one of the most important images of the text, the sun. The speaker refers to him as her “Sun” whose absence has made her “earth…mourn in black.” The metaphor extends throughout several stanzas, expanding to include astrological symbols.
Bradstreet specifically refers to her son being in “Capricorn.” He is off in winter, leaving her in darkness. In the twenty-first line, while she is speculating on his return, she refers to “Cancer.” He will be in “Cancer” when he returns to her breast and the warmth returns to the world.
Structure
‘A Letter to her Husband, absent upon Publick employment’ by Anne Bradstreet is a twenty-six line poem contained within one stanza of text. The lines are formatted as heroic couplets. This means that they are paired off and structured in iambic pentameter. Each line contains five sets of two beats. The first of these is unstressed and the second stressed. This format holds true for the first twelve couplets, but the final two lines are not full rhymes and are in iambic tetrameter. This means that they contain four sets of two beats.
The rhyme scheme of the poem follows the closed couplet form. It means that each pair of lines rhyme together. So, the rhyme scheme of the poem is AA BB CC DD. It goes on like that. In a closed couplet, each unit presents a different and complete idea. In this poem too, each couplet is complete in its sense and meaning. The poet does not use enjambment to connect the lines of the poem.
Analysis of A Letter to her Husband, absent upon Publick employment
Lines 1-6
My head, my heart, mine Eyes, my life, nay more,
My joy, my Magazine of earthly store,
If two be one, as surely thou and I,
How stayest thou there, whilst I at Ipswich lye?
So many steps, head from the heart to sever
If but a neck, soon should we be together:
In the first set of lines, the speaker collects the parts of her life, physical and ephemeral, together and dedicates them to her husband. They all belong to him and can be found in her “Magazine of earthly store.” This is a reference to a building that holds gunpowder or another type of ammunition. She uses the metaphor to compare her own emotions to this powerful substance. They too reside within a building that keeps them safe. The speaker also tells the listener that she and her husband are “one.” There is no doubt in her mind that this is the case.
The next line is certainly directed at her husband. She asks him how he can remain away from her while she is alone “at Ipswich. Their distance is like that from the “head to the heart.” There is a whole neck in between but if that was taken away, (if it was “sever[ed]”), then they could “be together.” These two words “head” and “heart” also speak to the way that her passion is all-consuming. It resides both in her head and heart.
Lines 7-12
I like the earth this season, mourn in black,
My Sun is gone so far in’s Zodiack,
Whom whilst I ’joy’d, nor storms, nor frosts I felt,
His warmth such frigid colds did cause to melt.
My chilled limbs now nummed lye forlorn;
Return, return sweet Sol from Capricorn;
In the next set of lines, Bradstreet introduces the most important image of A Letter to her Husband, absent upon Publick employment. It occurs within another metaphor comparing the husband to the sun. He is to her the light and warmth of the world. When he is gone, “so far” into the “Zodiak” of the sky, so too is her joy. He has moved beyond her reach and cast her into the winter. No longer does his “warmth” fend off the “frigid cold” or warm her “chilled limbs.”
The speaker goes on to ask her husband to return to her from “Capricorn.” He is out, as the sun, traveling through the constellation Capricorn. This only occurs from late December to mid-January, placing the setting in the middle of winter. The days are short, dark, and to the speaker, endless.
Lines 13-18
In this dead time, alas, what can I more
Then view those fruits which through thy heat I bore?
Which sweet contentment yield me for a space,
True living Pictures of their Fathers face.
O strange effect! now thou art Southward gone,
I weary grow, the tedious day so long;
In the next set of lines, she refers to the fact that she has only “those fruits” to comfort her. This is a reference to her own children who she “bore” through his “heat.” Although they are not the same as having her husband around, the kids do have some resemblance to their father. She can see in their faces “Pictures of their Fathers face.” It is “strange” to her to see him and yet still be without him.
The separation is clearly taking its toll on the speaker. Just as one would become weak without access to the sun, the speaker is growing weary. The days are “tedious” and “long.”
Lines 19-26
But when thou Northward to me shalt return,
I wish my Sun may never set, but burn
Within the Cancer of my glowing breast,
The welcome house of him my dearest guest.
Where ever, ever stay, and go not thence,
Till natures sad decree shall call thee hence;
Flesh of thy flesh, bone of thy bone,
I here, thou there, yet both but one.
The last lines of the text are more optimistic. Here the speaker plans for her husband’s return. She knows eventually that he will come “Northward” and “burn / Within the Cancer” of her “glowing breast.” He would have long since passed beyond Capricorn and entered into Cancer, its exact opposite. This is the time that his heat will be at its most intense.
Bradstreet once more utilizes the metaphor of a building for the speaker’s husband. Once he comes back, he will again be her “welcome house.” She is planning to ask her husband to never leave her again. He must stay by her side forever and “go not hence,” or away from her.
The final two lines are structured in iambic tetrameter and conclude the poem succinctly. Although she has been through a lot, their love has not been weakened. They are still one, just as “flesh” and “bone” are. This line is taken almost exactly from the book of Genesis in the Bible.
