Marriage Poems

by John Hollander

A sparkling collection of poems about virtually every aspect of courtships and weddings, adulteries and separations, domestic harmony, wedded bliss. Here are marriages made in many cultures and eras, delightfully evoked by poets ranging from Shakespeare to Omar Khayyám to D.H. Lawrence and Mona Van Duyn. From the rapturous infatuation of the Song of Songs to Ovid's cynical advice on 'The Art of Deceiving a Husband,' no facet of the matrimonial state remains unexplored.

Genres: Poetry

256 pages, Hardcover

First published April 29, 1997

Reviews

[Anna P (whatIreallyRead) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love marriage and I love poems, so this book seemed like an obvious choice to read 😁 I'm romantically minded to begin with, but I find love in the context of a committed relationship/marriage particularly touching.

She wanted nothing he could not bring her by coming alone.
She wanted no fetchings. His arms would be her necklace
And her belt, the final fortune of their desire.

This collection is split into sections such as: Courtship and Engagements, Weddings, Domesticities, Anniversaries, Separations, Symbolic Marriages, For and Against Marriage.

It features many well-known authors like Robert Browning, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Tennyson, Hardy, Rilke, Longfellow, Whitman, Larkin, Milton, Fronst, Donne, Kipling, Shakespeare, etc. and plenty of those I didn't know.

I enjoyed reading it 🥰

[Stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not really my thing, but still Everyman Pocket Poetry so I had to try.

[Charlotte Biddle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thought I would read a book of marriage poems before my wedding, shame I picked the most depressing collection. More about death, adultery and divorce than marriage. I liked the poems 'Witch-wife' and 'A second ring.' Vast majority of the poems were written by men and repeats of the same poets. Maybe Everyman needs to release a collection of happy marriage poems.

[Molly Love · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a poetry anthology all about marriage, I assumed it would not portray it as such a wretched thing. Clearly, that was my mistake. Certainly showing the harder, darker parts are necessary but this could have been edited and compiled far better.

[Sarah Dunmire · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well...I liked 13 of the poems...out of 125. Not a great percentage. Disappointed at the huge majority of male (and repeated) poets compared with female especially on the subject of marriage.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as hood as ocean poems or gratitude poems. The divorce ones were the best, not sure what that says about me 😅