that they are getting ready to fight with each other as if they are in war . Usually sunrises
express happiness and the start of a new beginning, but in this case it represents
disagreement and thus the end to couple’s relationship. In the third line of the poem, the
speaker describes the bed-posts as shining, which is ironic because it is non-living object
which is receiving the sunshine but the couple is not because there relationship is into
dark sunset. .
However, the condition which causes the poet to feel totally abandoned in his
relationship is described by the term Dionysian (Greek festival God) which shows that
he is so lost into his own world of unconsciousness that he doesn’t even know that his
relationship is ruining. The significance of magnolia as a symbol in the phrase “At last
the trees are green on Marlborough Street / blossoms on our magnolia ignite / the
morning with their murderous five days white” (Line 4-5) shows that magnolia blossoms
as "murderous” because magnolia
. This is expressed in the above phrase which suggests that the misunderstanding
between them is so intense that it has already started and can last longer without any
reason.
The image of the bed has been replaced by "Mother's bed" which shadows his
parents troubled marriage which haunts him all the time. In the 6-7 line of the poem “ a
fourth time faced the kingdom of the mad / its hackneyed speech , its homicidal eye”. It
becomes clear that the poet's wife must play a different role for the "fourth time" she has
had to hold his hand and drag him home alive. In this section we can see that the
author is in state of some physical deficiency , maybe impotency which is resulting in
her attitude towards him and the use of insulting language because he couldn’t satisfy her
sexual needs. She’s angry at him that she considers him as a child . While explaining his
present marriage life the poet turns back into his past when he first met his wife in
Greenwich Village, New York City in a bar . He explains how she was at that time sweet,
innocent and young and how he was shy, quiet and a love at first sight kind of guy.
In the lines 8-16, the poet addresses his wife directly. The phrase "Oh my Petite, / clearest of all God's creatures, still all air and nerve" ( Line 8-9)sounds detached from the poem, but within the context it defines the speaker's wish to let his wife know that he still admires and loves her even if his love is impotent Although she must act the role of Mother to him, he wants to think of her as his "Petite." And now he recalls the night, so different from this "homicidal" one, when he first met her. Again the focus is on setting rather than on emotion. The poet ironically recalls his former self, "once hand on glass / and heart in mouth,/ outdrank the Rahvs in the heat / of Greenwich Village, fainting at your feet”.(Line 10-12). This explains that he was so in love with her that his heart came up to his mouth this usually happens when you are nervous and can’t express what you want.
In the last stanza the poet says “Now twelve years later, you turn your back/ Sleepless, you hold / you pillow to your hollows like a child”. (Line 17-19) .She holds not him but her pillow to the "hollows" of her unsatisfied body of sexual desire. This shows the frustration of the poet that he wants to be with her and satisfy her needs, but can’t . He also complains that she doesn’t understand his feeling by saying “ your old fashioned tirade / loving, rapid, merciless / breaks like the Atlantic ocean on my head.” ( Line 20-23). This reflects the true identity of his wife when he says that she is old fashioned referring to the fact that she is a southern born lady whose traditions are of Old South. Here the poet desperately shows that his wife has no meaning to his feeling and she is repeatedly hurting him by using vulgar speech.
In the conclusion , I think that the author is trying his best to have a good relationship with his wife as they used to have before they married. But it seems like the wife has no intention to be with him anymore and she is completely ignoring him and his efforts on numerous occasion by insulting him and not responding to his actions . The author thinks that he is in a half body with no soul and is in turmoil of mental distress by his wife behavior towards him. An example of the ocean wave breaking against the speaker’s head makes the reader see that the relationship is in trouble and there is a possibility its end.
