What Do You Think the Feelings About Marriage Are in ‘a Marriage’ and How Does the Poet Present These Feelings?

401 Words2 Pages
The poet uses a conceit throughout the poem of ‘the ceiling’ being the marriage. This could show the importance of two people helping each other in the marriage because if they stop supporting each other the whole marriage will collapse. I also think the imagery of the house if used because a house is something that traditionally married people buy together this reinforces the idea of shared responsibility for the relationship. The structure of having the three identical stanzas further backs up the poets point at the end of the poem that ‘it can go on like this’. The identical stanzas show progress through the marriage whereas the last incomplete stanza shows how the marriage still has room to grow and that the relationship between the couple is always evolving and changing as time goes on. The break between stanzas one and two shows the surprise of the poet and reinforces how ‘unexpected’ he is that someone else is coming into his life. The use of enjambment throughout the poem shows the perseverance of the marriage and reinforces the message that you constantly have to work throughout a marriage and that it is not something that you can leave. It also gives the poem a story like feel which reinforces the message that the poet is trying to give to you. It also makes the poem feel more personal this is aided by the poets use of personal pronouns such as ‘you’ and ‘your’. It makes the poets message feel more personal and sentimental and makes you empathise with him. The poet emphasises the difference between having a partner and being single through the length of the lines. In the first stanza the lines are much longer hich gives the effect of fatigue and the weight of ‘the ceiling’. This contrasts with the shorter lines in stanza two which give a sense of lightness and enjoyment. This shows the way Blumenthal felt before he met his wife and the effect that
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