Wedding Poems

The "blessed bond of board and bed" is how Shakespeare once described marriage. "It is leviathan," wrote Denise Levertov on the same subject, "and we in its bell looking for jo ." !r frantic "regor #orso, imagining his own nervous wedding, described it this wa $ I kiss the bride all those corn men slapping me on the back She%s all ours, bo & 'a(ha(ha& )nd in their e es ou could see some obscene hone moon going on* Then all that absurd rice and clank cans and shoes +iagara ,alls& 'ordes of us& 'usbands& -ives& ,lowers& #hocolates& -hat occasion calls for poetr * or inspires the writing of poetr *more than a wedding. Indeed, there is a long and rich tradition linking poetr to the marriage ceremon , beginning with the "reeks, who invented a form known as the epithalamium. This was a song in praise of the bride and bridegroom, sung at the door of the nuptial chamber on the wedding night. The song blessed the couple and predicted their happiness, often alluding to various n mphs, gods, and goddesses. The epithalamium was emplo ed as a literar form for the first time b Sappho, who wrote$ /aise up the roof(tree* a wedding song& 'igh up, carpenters* a wedding song& The bridegroom is coming, the e0ual of )res, much bigger than a big man. The form was popular with /oman writers such as !vid, #atullus, and #laudian, but it was lost until the /enaissance, when it was revived b poets like 1dmund Spenser, 2ohn Donne, 3en 2onson, 4ierre /onsard, and Tor0uato Tasso. Spenser%s "1pithalamion" is among the finest e5amples of 1nglish wedding poems. -ritten for the author%s own wedding, the poem consists of 67 stan8as meant to represent each hour of the wedding da . These da s, however, couples tend to be much more interested in poems that can be read aloud during the ceremon than invocations of n mphs and goddesses. )nd while the -eb is full of sill verse written clumsil for the occasion, if ou%re looking for poems that are both romantic and of a certain 0ualit , then perhaps consider the following$ "To 9 Dear and Loving 'usband"b )nne 3radstreet "/omeo and 2uliet" b /ichard 3rautigan "'ow Do I Love Thee." b 1li8abeth 3arrett 3rowning "somewhere I have never travelled,gladl be ond" b 1. 1. #ummings ") 9arriage" b /obert #reele "It%s all I have to bring toda :6;<" b 1mil Dickinson "#hateau If" b 4eter "i88i "!n the 1vening of a -edding" b "raham ,oust "' la 3rook" b /obert ,rost

") Slice of -edding #ake" b /obert "raves "To S lvia, To -ed" b /obert 'errick "The Loved These Things Too" b Lisa 2arnot "3ride Is a #it " b =irsten =aschock "-hen a -oman Loves a 9an" b David Lehman "-edding Da " b 9ark Levine "The )che of 9arriage" b Denise Levertov "The Stone Table" b "alwa =innell >I believe in ou m soul...?, from Leaves of Grass b -alt -hitman "The ,irst 9arriage" b 4eter 9einke "The 4assionate Shepherd to 'is Love" b #hristopher 9arlowe "The Two of @ou" b #8eslaw 9ilos8 "Sonnet ABII" b 4ablo +eruda "'aving a #oke with @ou" b ,rank !%'ara "The -edding Bow" b Sharon !lds "-ish for a @oung -ife" b Theodore /oethke "1pithalamium" b 9atthew /ohrer "1pithalamium" b Sappho "4rothalamion for an )utumn -edding" b 9a Sarton "Let me not to the marriage of true minds" b -illiam Shakespeare ") Ditt " b Sir 4hilip Sidne "1pithalamion" b 1dmund Spenser "Sonnet on Love AIII" b 2ean de Sponde "9arried Love" b =uan Tao(Sheng ") -edding" b 2ames Tate "! true and tried, so well and long," from In Memoriam b Lord )lfred Tenn son ") -edding Toast" b /ichard -ilbur "9arriage" b -illiam #arlos -illiams ") 3lessing" b 2ames -right "$9other of the "room" b Seamus 'eane "/estatement of /omance" b -allace Stevens )n e5cellent resource is the antholog Into The Garden: A Wedding Anthology: Poetry and Prose on Love and Marriage, edited b /obert 'ass and Stephen 9itchell, published b 4erennial.

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