Emily Dickinsons Poem 732 Essay, Research Paper
Emily Dickinson s poem 732 I feel is about a man and woman who is married, but the man has lost the love for his wife. In the beginning of the marriage the wife seems to do everything to make her husband happy. After time the husband loses the feelings for his wife and keeps this as a secret.
The wife changed in order to be the person the husband wanted her to be, only to lose his love. Line one in the poem read She rose to his requirement ; meaning that she may not have been as proper or as sophisticated as he may have liked, but did so for him. She stopped all the things she had going in her own life to take on the responsibilities of an honorable wife. The poem mentioned she dropped all the playthings giving me the impression the she was much younger than he was. If in fact there was a big age difference this may be a factor in the lost romance.
As time went on she remained an honorable wife even though her new day had worn off and they were no longer newly weds. I think what the author is getting at with the new day is that things are starting to change a little bit. As with many marriages, things are so pleasant in the beginning but over time the road starts to get a little rocky. People start to really get to know one another after being married for a few months, and may find things
they may not like about each other. I think this is what has happen with this couple. I believe her feelings are still there but his has changed.
In line seven, Emily wrote about the Gold in Using wearing away. I believe she is writing about the wife working so hard, that her wedding band is showing wear. This is just another way that she points out how the woman tried to be a good wife.
After time goes by she continues to keep her vows but he knows that he no longer loves her and keeps it a secret. The poem reads It lay unmentioned-as the Sea Develop Pearl, and Weed . I think what the author is saying here is that he does not mention his lost feelings to his wife even though he his felt this way for a long time. A pearl develops from a grain of sand and takes many years to develop. Weed grows at the bottom of the sea and also develops over time but he keeps the secret to himself.
The poem mentions no reason why he keeps his feeling from his wife. In the last two lines of the poem Emily wrote But only to himself-be known the Fathoms they abide- It s possible that he just can t bear to break her heart, but I can t support this from the text. Or maybe he has a cold heart and wants to keep a good wife at home doing the housework for him.
We do not know what his reasons were we just know that he did not mention these feelings to his wife.
In conclusion, Emily s focus in this poem is how the wife dedicated her life and love to this man and he no longer shares those same feelings with her. The woman stopped what was going on in her own life and changed her own ways to live up to this mans expectations and for what? To remain hopelessly dedicated to a husband who knowingly no longer has the feelings for her that he once had. This poem is a reflection of many marriages around the world where either the man or the woman has lost the feelings for the other and hides it. Some couples do this today for the sake of their kids and some may do it just because they can t break down and tell the other. I m unsure what the reasons were in this particular poem but there was probably something that inspired Emily to write this. Emily may have known someone in this same type of situation or she possibly could have been writing about her lover the Reverend and his wife. Maybe the Reverend was keeping his lost feelings away from his wife trying not to break their home up. Maybe he lost those feelings because of Emily