Author Denise Levertov was born in
London in 1923 and was educated at home by her mother. Her formal education ended at the age of
12. She married Mitchell Goodman, who had been
studying in Europe on the G.I. Bill, and they had one son. She came to the United States in 1948. Both Denise Levertov and her husband were
political and anti-war activists. She
divorced in 1974. Ms. Levertov died of
lymphoma in 1997.
My wedding-ring lies in a basket
as if at the bottom of a well.
Nothing will come to fish it back up
and onto my finger again.
It lies
among keys to abandoned houses,
nails waiting to be needed and hammered
into some wall,
telephone numbers with no names attached,
idle paperclips.
It can't be given
away
for fear of bringing ill-luck.
It can't be sold
for the marriage was good in its own
time, though that time is gone.
Could some
artificer
beat into it bright stones, transform it
into a dazzling circlet no one could take
for solemn betrothal or to make promises
living will not let them keep? Change it
into
a simple gift I could give in friendship?
The
wedding ring in this reflective poem by Denise Levertov symbolizes lost dreams
and what used to be (rather than the traditional symbolization associated with
a wedding ring of love, commitment, and a promising future/wonderful dreams). The narrator is a woman whose marriage has
disintegrated. Her ring is at the
bottom of a basket, along with other obsolete items, such as keys to abandoned
houses, telephone numbers without names, random paperclips and unused
nails. It no longer symbolizes love and togetherness
to her as that part of her life is no longer existent, and she sees no hope of
her marriage being repaired in the future.
The tone of this poem is sad and suggests disillusionment concerning the
end of a relationship. The words leave
the reader feeling that the author did not want the marriage to end. Metaphor is used in this poem: “My wedding- ring lies in a basket as if at
the bottom of a well…” This indicates
that the wedding ring is no longer held in the same regard as it used to be;
that the wedding ring no longer holds the same symbolism for the speaker. Sadly, it no longer holds the promise of
love and commitment. The “bottom” of a
well suggests the depth, darkness and loneliness one feels when they reach the “bottom”
or a particularly low point in their life.
As mentioned above, the author of
the poem (Denise Levertov) divorced in 1974.
This poem was written in 1978 after the failure of her marriage and,
therefore, depicts the feelings she was experiencing with the demise of her marriage. The words of the poem give the reader the sense that there are still
ill feelings remaining, such as when she writes of her wedding ring, “It can’t
be given away for fear of bringing ill-luck.
It can’t be sold for the marriage was good in its own time, though that
time is gone.” The token wedding ring no
longer symbolizes faith and hope and commitment like in the past. It almost seems to represent something
superstitious. The narrator wonders if perhaps
her wedding ring could be transformed into a piece of jewelry not
representative of solemn betrothal or of broken promises and dreams.
The use of cacophony and euphony forces
the reader to stop at certain points in the poem for emphasis. It doesn’t have a rhyming pattern and appears
to be more in a paragraph form. People
can relate to this poem and empathize with the author over the end of her
relationship and the resultant changes in her life.
