Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In Louise Bogan's "Betrothed," the poet delves into the intricacies and complexities of love and commitment, marked by both passion and sorrow. The poem captures an emotional moment, where the speaker is conscious of her love yet also wary of its limitations and uncertainties.

The poem is set in a natural landscape "where trees are planted by the water," a traditional symbol of romantic idealism and renewal. The speaker is hyper-aware of her partner's actions, as he places "two hands upon me" and says her "name as a prayer." Yet, the love she experiences is not without its undercurrent of regret and unfulfilled promises, which her mother's voice hauntingly captures, "You do not love me, / You do not want me, / You will go away."

The speaker further explores this idea of unfulfilled love by referring to an uncertain future "in the country whereto I go," where she will be detached from her current love. In this prospective land, she will be stripped of familiar sights and relationships: "I shall not see the face of my friend / Nor her hair the color of sunburnt grasses." Love, in the speaker's view, was once associated with "lost delights, and splendor," but the reality seems to be something far less idealized. This contrast between idealized love and reality is perhaps most succinctly captured in the speaker's own words, "What have I thought of love? / I have said, 'It is beauty and sorrow.'"

As for the poem's structure, the absence of a consistent rhyme scheme or meter adds a fluid, conversational quality to the poem, mirroring the fluid and unpredictable nature of love itself. The poem culminates in a landscape filled with the "sound of willows" dipping their "long oval leaves in the water," encapsulating the tension between natural beauty and a kind of quiet desolation.

"Betrothed" is a masterful examination of love's duality: its capacity to inspire both joy and sorrow. It's an insightful piece that challenges our cultural assumptions about love, urging us to recognize its complexities and the emotional challenges it often brings. It invites the reader to question what they have accepted about love and what they expect from it, framing these universal ponderings in the specific, emotionally charged setting of a romantic relationship on the verge of change.

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