"Wedding-Ring," By Denise Levertov

"Wedding-Ring," By Denise Levertov

 Denise Levertov was a British-born American poet. She was born and grew up in Ilford, Essex. Throughout her life she created a wide variety of poetry that portrayed her beliefs as an artist and humanist.

Wedding-Ring

My wedding-ring lies in a basket

as if at the bottom of a well.

Nothing will come to fish it back up

and onto my finger again.

                                      It lies

among keys to abandoned houses,

nails waiting to be needed and hammered

into some wall,

telephone numbers with no names attached,

idle paperclips.

                      It can’t be given away

for fear of bringing ill-luck

                      It can’t be sold

for the marriage was good in its own

time, though that time is gone.

                      Could some artificer

beat into it bright stones, transform it

into a dazzling circlet no one could take

for solemn betrothal or to make promises

living will not let them keep? Change it

into a simple gift I could give in friendship?

When one thinks of a marriage and a wedding, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Unity. There is no greater symbol for unity than wedding rings. They represent the union of two in marriage. The two rings create a bond between the two. Worn at all times to show commitment and the dedication that one has to each other. Her wedding ring is lying at the bottom of a basket, and she uses the simile to say that it is like it’s at the bottom of the well. Symbolizing how far away she wants the ring to be kept from her, the “out of sight, out of mind” mentality. This image shows the darkness and emptiness of the marriage the ring symbolizes.  She creates metaphors of how her ring is as important to her now as abandoned houses, nails waiting to be needed and hammered into some wall, telephone numbers with no names attached, and idle paperclips”. Nothing can be done with it now, because she doesn't want to pass on bad luck to anyone else, and she cannot sell it because at one time it brought her happiness, he brought her happiness. In the last few lines she explains how one could beat bright stones into it and transform the ring, but then the only significance it could bring would be friendship.   But now, all she has is the broken symbol of unity, a reminder of the emptiness she feels, the heart break she experienced, the love she once had, and the future she had hoped for and how now that was merely a dream.