Introduction of the Poem:
The poem appeared in The Unfinished Man (1965). It deals with the ecstasies of marriage in the beginning and the disillusionment that sets in later, Ezekiel, however, does not go into the causes of disillusionment in married life.
Critical Summary
Lines 1-4:
When a man and a woman are in love and they get married, they are in a state of bliss. They are certain that their love would last for ever and they would always remain together. They are convinced of the immortality of their love and their attitude towards each other is marked by grace and dignity.
Lines 5-8:
Everyone present at their marriage pronounce that the bride is beautiful and the bridegroom is lucky to have married her. No one finds fault with the look and appearance of the bride. They pay lavish compliments to the bride and the bridegroom. The ecstatic newly - married couple switch off the lights in their room to consummate their union and experience the thrill and sensation of delight in their bodies by shedding their clothes.
Lines 9-12:
The poet also got married and he thought that he was lucky to have acquired a pretty bride. Both of them had been so deeply in love with each other that they did not believe in the biblical fable of Adam and Eve and their consequent expulsion from the Garden of Eden. They thought that they would remain in Paradise forever; that their love for each other would never end; and that they would be happy in each other's arms for ever.
Lines 13-20:
They came together again and again till, there was an abrupt and sudden change in their lives. Soon their passion was spent. Their fervour was replaced by the repentance and remorse experienced by Cain after he had murdered his own brother Abel. The mark of Cain appeared on both the poet and his wife and they were troubled by a sense of guilt in having married each other; they felt that their marriage had been a mistake. The poet has attended several marriages after that. But he has become cynical about the institution of marriage; he cannot understand how the initial euphoria gradually gives way to disappoint, dismay and frustration in married life and how the couple are finally disillusioned with each other.
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