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Below is one of our free research papers on explore the ways in which the poet vividly conveys the relationship between husband and wife in "Marrysong" by Dennis Scott. If the term paper below is not exactly what you're looking for, you can search our essay database for other topics.
‘Marrysong’ by Dennis Scott, is about a husband who is struggling to understand his wife and in doing so ends up being “lost in the walled anger of her quarried hurt”. The extended metaphor in the poem is the most important way in which Scott conveys the relationship between the married couple. The geographical idea to which Scott compares his wife could be a river, because her happiness is described as “cool water laughing”, her disapproval is describes as if she had “stones in her voice”, and he tries to “charter” her. The importance of this is that it portrays her as someone who is uncontrollable, and this is strengthened by the fact that “she made wilderness” and “roads disappeared” around her. Her uncontrollability implies that their relationship was dominated by the wife, with Scott acting like someone underneath to her.
Overall, the poem is significantly lacking in fluency, which is brought about by the repeated use of caesurae. Most lines are broken by pauses, such as “that territory, without seasons, shifted” in line 2, and full stops, like “under his eye. An hour” in line 3. The sudden stutter of “All, all” is particularly effective in changing the flow built up in the previous line. The syntax is often awkward, in places like “learned her, quite” and “An hour he could be lost”. This slows down the reader and creates a sense of uncertainty, and thus the writing is made to mirror the subject matter. Furthermore, the first five lines are heavily enjambed, while the...
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