Theme of Marrige in Ciardi's poems

The most universal ritual symbolizing a sacred union of a man and a woman, marriage, may be expressed by the joining of hands, an exchange of rings or chains, by the tying of garments, or by the symbol of an archway. Historically, the church has deemed marriage as a lifelong and sacred union that could be dissolved only by the death of one of the spouses. John Ciardi seems to capture the basic theme of …

…like waking up to a new marriage. While both of Ciardi’s poems are similar in theme and tone, the imagery in “Men Marry...” is quite different. The reader can see a couple that has been married for a while but every new day is a new beginning. The couple live ”...by the spitting shore” (30) and as long as they have each other nothing can break down their “...walls of skin and struts of bone.”(30)