The poems “To My Dear and Loving Husband” written by Anne Bradstreet and “How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning are both poems about unconditional love and adoration. Even though these women had hardships and difficult times in their lives, they were still able to construct these highly regarded genuine love poems. Comparing and contrasting these two poems, I find that one is written for a specific person while the other is for an unidentified loved one, each poet uses imagery and symbolism differently to convey their meaning, and both share a true devoted commitment towards your loved one. On the one hand, both poems are similar as both are written about someone they love completely. Yet they are so different that Anne is obviously speaking to her husband. When Anne refers to "thee" in the second line, "If ever a man were loved by his wife, then thee" (Literature for Life 508), I am sure she is referring to her husband, and the title of the poem also makes it clear for the reader. Instead, Elizabeth is more open with her poetry making me wonder who exactly she is talking to. There is no line in the poem that states who the poem is intended for. I imagine she wrote this poem for her husband too, since he learned more about the author Elizabeth Barrett Browning. I discovered that she had eloped with her fellow poet Robert Browning in 1846 (Literature for Life 509). Yet Anne's poem might be written about her husband, but it might be read by other women considering line four, "Compare with me, ye women, if ye may" (Literature for Life 509). In other words, this could mean that he wrote the poem for many readers, such as other married women, so that they could measure Anne's deep love for him... in the middle of the paper... it will only get better, even in the afterlife. As a result, after reading and comparing these two poems anyone will find themselves wanting to feel the same passion in loving someone so inextricably. I realize that poems can be written for a specific person or they can be more anonymous and just reveal a poem about someone loved so deeply. And that both of these poems use beautiful imagery and symbolism to emphasize and show how devoted, committed, and unconditional their love is and should be cherished above all else. Works Cited Barrett Browning, Elizabeth. “How do I love you? Let me count the ways. Literature for life.Ed. XJ Kennedy, Dana Gioia and Nina Revoyr. New York: Pearson. 2013. 509. Print.Bradstreet, Anne. "To my dear and loving husband." Literature for life. Ed. XJ Kennedy, Dana Gioia and Nina Revoyr. New York: Pearson. 2013. 508. Print.