He wants to be the only one to bring her joy and make her smile. She does not desire to leave her husband and children but understands that life in Heaven with her Creator will be joyous. The river symbolizes her satisfaction in loving her husband just like water for a river can never be enough.
That she did not intend for her poems to be published, but in a moment of poverty she decided to let them go to see what would be of them. As Bradstreet scholar Robert D.
Even though her brother in law was the one that published her poems without her permission, Anne took the criticism as it came and made herself a better poet. This portrays a loving tone as she claims that they will both persevere to live until the end.
However, she does make the case that women are capable of achievement; for example, she argues that women can also write poetry and should not be censured for it. Nature Bradstreet, like most Puritans, revered nature.
Yet she extols the virtues of a loving and submissive wife. These were the conventions of gender that structured Puritan society.