Comment 1 of 3, added on November 5th, 2008 at 8:22 PM.
Denise Levertov’s “ Wedding-Ring”: An Analysis Of Figure Of Speech And
Literary Devices That Enhances The Symbolism Of Wedding Rings And Tone Of
Sadness.
Spending so much money and having so much for fun, picking the best and the
most beautiful ring ever. There is more to wedding-ring than just receiving
or given it on a wedding day. Denise Levertov’s uses figure of speech
and literary devices to depict the symbolism of a wedding-ring showing the
tone of sadness and the pain at an end of a relationship. Wedding-ring
symbolizes commitment, which can also be viewed as burden depending on the
perspective of whoever owns the ring.
Figure of speech can be used to convey feelings or give magnitude or
perception of an idea. Simile was used in the poem “wedding–ring” likening
the bottom of a basket to the bottom of a well. This indicates how far away
the woman wanted the ring to be kept, this mimics the idea of out of sight
is out of mind. According to the poet- Denise Levertov- biography, she
divorced around 1974 and this poem “wedding- ring” was written in 1978,
this can be termed as a reflection of what was happening in her life;
although, the poem Wedding was never recognized as part of her works nor
critiqued as a poem Layman).
Choice of words and arrangement of sentence can give more meaningful
message and idea about something. The literary device used in the poem
wedding ring is a good example of how to show loss of interest about an
item that has seized to be of importance to somebody: “It lies among keys
to abandoned houses, nails waiting to be needed and nailed into some wall”.
This shows that this entire item may never ever get used. It also shows
the finality of the relationship when it is “nailed into some wall”.
Symbolism of wedding ring is another item that can be critically viewed,
wedding ring symbolizes a token of love, commitment, trust, sharing and
eternity. All these are expected to be found and shared in marriages. A
marriage without happiness is more like a burden because of the commitment
that is expected of you. The Author of “wedding ring” described the
marriage has irrevocable as the ring cannot be given away for fear of bad
luck to the receiver. This shows that the ring to her is like a symbol of
bad luck if given to someone else since the protagonist marriage is
apparently not successful.
The tone of sadness can be explained as the mood of protagonist in the
poem. Just like it is portrayed in the “wedding ring” with the use of tone
that depicts sadness, example was where it says “It can’t be sold for the
marriage was good in its own time, though that time is gone”. One can feel
the pain of the speaker in the word “Gone” wishing wedding rings can be
made to symbolize much less than it symbolized so that it will not hurt so
much when one’s expectations are not met.
Meeting the end of a relationship is more painful especially when one has
put all one’s hope and effort wishing it to work only to realize it was not
meant to last to eternity when wedding rings are exchanged. This made it
harder to even wanting to see the wedding ring and also making up one’s
mind that nothing in the world could fish it back to one’s finger like the
third line in the first stanza of the wedding-ring. Wedding day to couples,
especially to the bride, is the happiest day. Wedding rings are exchanged
between the husband and the wife. To the wife, the wedding ring is a
symbol of commitment, sharing, ones and everlasting love. If the marriage
fails, the symbol of the union, the wedding ring is like an albatross to
the woman. Denise Levertov uses symbolism, similes and tone of sadness the
wedding ring represents in a marriage.
Tolani Bankole from
United States
Im in Love =)
fg from United States