Poetry is defined as a literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas through the use of style and rhythm badges. When most people think of poetry, love poems come to mind. Love has a unique meaning for individuals. Although love has no concrete definition, through the works of poets love has substance and meaning that can be identified. Love promotes a feeling of connection with a certain person as if they become one. In “To My Dear and Loving Husband,” Anne Bradstreet proclaims her bond with her husband in the first two lines. “If ever two were one, then definitely us. If ever a man was loved by his wife, then you;" (Bradstreet). She feels this love deeply and apparently her husband feels it too as she speaks for him too. “Bradstreet begins his poem with two bold, independent, declarative statements to emphasize his trust in this union of two strong and independent spirits” (Napierkowski). A powerful partnership of love has a spiritual and religious aspect. Bradstreet's puritanical view of marriage is evident in this poem. “And the two will become one flesh, and then they will no longer be two, but one flesh” (The Holy Bible). Christians and Puritans have a similar doctrine. In both religions, marital love is a symbol of the love between Christ and the Church. The love between husband and wife in the ideal state of marriage can be considered an analogy of the love between Christ and the soul or Christ and his Church” (Stafford). Love in a Christian definition is a symbol of relationship between God and humanity. “I value your love more than entire gold mines, or all the riches of the East. My love is such that the rivers cannot quench it” (Bradstreet). Bradstreet rei... middle of paper... won't go back to her. The guilt and pain of the statement "in my heart it stirs a silent pain" invokes the idea that it is not that she regrets the love but that the love is gone. “The central phrase in this section is “silent pain,” and almost an oxymoron suggesting that the narrator's pain is dulled or accepted. Millay also offers a brief glimpse of things to come: there will be no intimacy in the future” (Schurer). The mention of two seasons in the poem is symbolic of lifespan. “Thus in winter stands the lonely tree,” is an indication that this is near the end of the narrator's life and she is alone without love. “Winter brings stagnation and acceptance of what has been lost. Winter was inevitable, just as the loss of love was inevitable. I only know that in me the sand of summer for a while, that in me no longer sings,” is a symbol of youth. Millay passes it on