Question

" To My Dear and Loving Husband"

1. Use a chart to explore aspects of the poem that are typical of the Puritan Plain Style.
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STYLE ELEMENT                               /   EXAMPLE
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Short Words
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Direct Statements
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Familiar objects/Experiences
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2. Which aspects of the poem do not reflect the plainness of the Puritan ethic? Explain.

3. (a) Which lines of the poem have customary syntax? (b) Which lines present examples of inversion? Explain your answers.

4. Paraphrase the last stanza as though you were explaining it to a friend.

Answer 1

1. Short words: If ever man were loved by wife, then thee

Direct statement: Compare with me ye women if you can

Familiar objects: My love is such that rivers cannot quench

2. The parts of the poem that doesn't reflect the planless of Puritan ethic are the ones referred to wealth ("I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold,/ Or all the riches that the East doth hold"). Puritans didn't appreciate physical worldly wealth, they thought their wealth was in heaven.

3. Syntax is the arrangement of words in a sentence.

A. Customary syntax is the normal syntax, such as "If ever two were one, then surely we. If ever man were loved by wife, then thee"

B. Inversion is the arrangement of words in no normal position, such as: "in love let’s so persever" instead of "let's so preserve in love".

4. "Then while we live, in love let’s so persever/ That when we live no more we may live ever" could mean that they should persevere in their love, fight for it and keep it strong, no matter the hardships and bad times, and if they do so their love would live forever even after death.