On the Marriage of a Virgin
On the Marriage of a Virgin - meaning Summary
Virginity and Awakening Desire
The poem depicts a woman’s shift from solitary, almost sacred virginity to the bodily intimacy of marriage. Morning and sun imagery merge with religious language—miracle, Galilee, loaves and fishes—to frame sexual union as both transformative and transcendent. The speaker contrasts her previous inward, luminous state with the tangible presence of a lover whose arrival alters her body and blood, portraying erotic awakening as simultaneously earthly, spiritual, and irrevocable.
Read Complete AnalysesWaking alone in a multitude of loves when morning's light Surprised in the opening of her nightlong eyes His golden yesterday asleep upon the iris And this day's sun leapt up the sky out of her thighs Was miraculous virginity old as loaves and fishes, Though the moment of a miracle is unending lightning And the shipyards of Galilee's footprints hide a navy of doves. No longer will the vibrations of the sun desire on Her deepsea pillow where once she married alone, Her heart all ears and eyes, lips catching the avalanche Of the golden ghost who ringed with his streams her mercury bone, Who under the lids of her windows hoisted his golden luggage, For a man sleeps where fire leapt down and she learns through his arm That other sun, the jealous coursing of the unrivalled blood.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.