Human connection is one of the most important aspects of our lives. Many people struggle to let go of relationships, even when their respective relationships are toxic. In Elizabeth Stoddard’s poem “The Wife Speaks”, the narrator strives to not break her close bond with her husband.
She conveys her thoughts on her marriage through the use of multiple poetic devices. Stoddard’s imagery highlights the wife’s wish for her marriage to be full of passion once again.
The wife describes the day of her marriage, telling that “the sun that brought us to our bridal morn, Rising so splendid in the winter sky”. Stoddard’s personification insinuates the happiness the wife and husband shared at the beginning of their marriage. The newlyweds felt as if there was nothing but joy in store for the rest of their marriage.
The wife states that the dream was soon extinguished, and asks her husband if we would “rather — I will acquiesce — Since we must choose what is, and are grown grey, Stay in life’s desert, watch our setting sun”.
Stoddard’s personification of their marriage having turned into “life’s desert” conveys that the marriage has taken a turn for the worse. Whereas the marriage was once lush and full of life, it dilapidates into a joyless wasteland devoid of passion.
Stoddard writes of how the speaker in the poem deliberately contemplates whether her marriage is beyond repair. The wife reminisces on the joys of their marriage’s youth, and hopes to return to “ that great temple of the double soul that is as one”. Stoddard’s metaphor represents
the intense union the wife and husband once shared. The wife views their love as having been so great that it was as if they were one soul in two bodies. The wife admits they have fallen far from the pedestal of love they once so greatly admired, stating that perhaps they should relinquish their marriage, and “watch their setting sun”.
Stoddard’s imagery heavily contrasts with the rising sun of the wife and husband’s bridal morn. The paradox represents the two different worlds of the marriage: the joy and love of the marriage’s beginning, and the cold, dismal atmosphere of their current marital conditions.
The wife strives for her marriage to be repaired and to return to the joys of her past. She implores her husband to let go of their troubles, and “with courage” press on toward a future together. The author’s diction points toward the dreams of the wife. She yearns to return to the passion of the past, and recreate it through the courage of facing the demons of their marriage.
The wife is willing to relinquish their marriage’s troubles and, with her husband, “wait for a future which contains no past”. Stoddard’s oxymoron represents the lengths the wife is willing to go to gain back the love she and her husband once shared. By letting go of their past, the couple can embrace the future without the shackles of their troubles weighing on them.
Through multiple stylistic devices, Stoddard casts light on the love the wife still holds for her husband. Despite being buried in the troubles that have taken root in the marriage, the wife’s passion has not dwindled. Her love is a diamond in the rough, and the wife hopes this love will be enough to reignite the bond she and her husband once shared.
