What is your honest opinion of this authors poem?

Question

My friend's daughter wants to use this poem in her wedding. My opinion is that it is not appropriate. What does everyone think?

Habitation by Margaret Atwood
Marriage is not
a house or even a tent

it is before that, and colder:

the edge of the forest, the edge
of the desert
the unpainted stairs
at the back where we squat
outside, eating popcorn

the edge of the receding glacier

where painfully and with wonder
at having survived even
this far

we are learning to make fire

Answer 1

the poem has a good message.but i understand your worries that it may be misunderstood.I had to read it a few times before i actually understood what it was saying but it shows your friend's daughter's maturity to marriage.i hope she'll be very happy.

Answer 2

If you will, think about it this way:
Your friend's daughter, if she identifies with this poem, has a realistic grasp of marriage.
When I read this poem, I don't think all of the glamour and romance of marriage (as most newly-wed couples do), I think of the primitive instincts and emotions that we all experience when we are joined to someone else: the fear, the unpredictability, the humor, the normality.

I particularly love the last line: "We are learning to make fire", as this refers to "the beginning": Of a marriage, similar to the beginning of mankind's existence.

Bottom line is: Your friend's daughter obviously appreciates this poem , and it is her wedding day. Whether anyone else thinks it's inappropriate is really a moot point.

Please wish her the all best and tell her kudos on choosing the
poem..I am also a big fan of Margaret Atwood's writing!

Answer 3

This is unvarnished wonder! I applaud the wisdom of the young woman who wants to use this. It is truly why the divorce rate is so high in the US, people do not understand what this poem says. They go in expecting it to be all sunshine and roses. It is not! And the moment it is rocky, the folks bail.

And though you are looking for confirmation of your own opinion here, I give you mine as an editor, a father, and a man who has been there. This poem shows dignity and wisdom. It is her wedding; your job is to say "Bless you!" and to mean it.

Answer 4

I guess it would depend on your idea of what a marriage is. A rather sugar-coated and naive view of life would find this a bit offensive, I guess, focusing on the surface of the poem and the things it says, instead of what's beneath: the idea that a marriage is something that must be worked upon in order for it not to fail, and not a thing out of a fairy tale.
I like it and think it's good.

Answer 5

Personally, I rather like it. It is almost brutally honest about ideas of "love" and "marriage", that marriage is more than just living together and doing things together, it is very complex. I think that it points out that marriage is something that requires work from the partners and no marriage starts out perfect; is something which is created by the determination and actions of both partners.

Besides, if the bride thinks it is appropriate, then she should use it. It is her day.

Answer 6

earlier living house i'm misplaced in an empty street, is only no longer waiting to stumble on a fine looking position to (more desirable healthful) my ft; no longer even a nook the position i belong, is only no longer waiting to locate (nor) a concept to make me sturdy. Oh! i pick stumble on the thanks to steer me living house.. I placed hesitating foot ahead, is only no longer waiting to assist feeling like a coward; each and each of the stares round, only keep pushin' me down, and that i (can) do no longer some thing, no braveness to even go back a frown. Oh! i pick stumble on someone to steer me living house! waiting for the end of all of it, attempting to locate someone, ruin my fall; attempting to locate an section the position i fit in, attempting to smile at the same time as my international does spin. Oh! choose i ought to wish to stumble on a earlier to my living house! living house.... the position i imagine I belong, the position i imagine i visit do no longer some thing incorrect, the position i imagine each ingredient is going ideal, the position i imagine the solar shines bright. Oh! choose i ought to wish to steer me back to my living house! its very large, it has also symbolic meanings in it for me precise right here living house isn't in hardship-loose words a house the position we are living yet as well the region the position our concepts stay there will be plenty drawn from this write i'd say it 9/9 love care and blessing Zahid from Pakistan

Answer 7

no,no not for a wedding. maybe as a 25 anniversary, and even then as something funny.
this poem is about the bare bones day to day of just getting along.
It is the daughter's choice, however, may I suggest a classic?


The Passionate Shepherd to His Love


Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That valleys, groves, hills and fields,
Woods or steepy mountains yields.

And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses,
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool,
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair-lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs;
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my love.

The shepherd swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning;
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.

- Christopher Marlowe
{1590's}

Answer 8

Deep - she knows what she means I expect. To strange for me.

Sorry !!

Answer 9

I think it's horrible and shouldn't be read anywhere much less a wedding!!!