Marriage a-la-Mode

An Analysis of Poetry titled

Marriage A-la-Mode by John Dryden 

Marriage a-la-Mode tells about someone who doesn’t believe in marriage life and against it.

There is correlation between first stanza and second stanza.

In the first stanza of this poetry, it shows how the writer portrays that marriage is fool and useless. The writer tells that marriage is just an obligation that created by people to tie two persons in love. The writer sees that actually marriage is only the way to end love. Everybody can love, may love, and will love, but they do not need to marry. He thinks that marriage can make the passion of love disappears. He wants to say that love is a free one that can not be bound in a tie which is expressed by oath. Marriage is only a way to build a border around love itself. Marriage binds love. Marriage cage love up. Marriage does not give space for love. Gradually, love can be so decayed and it dies away inside the marriage. There is no real pleasure and love in marriage. This first stanza says that marriage is just so depressing and not so worthy.

In the second stanza, it shows the writer’s thought about marriage. It shows that marriage should not be an obligatory, but a choice. It depends on person himself whether he wants to get married or not. It shows that marriage is not the only way to get joyfulness. People can find their joy even without commit marriage. Without marriage people can love each other freely. No boundaries. No limits. No borders. They can not tie each other. It clearly shows that this stanza wants to say that the prime thing in love is freedom. Not bound. Sometimes, without marriage people can feel so happy and free in loving each other because they can not make some rules or prevention that make themselves feel so caged up and trapped.

This poetry wants to show that people should not make marriage as an obligation. Marriage is a choice. People may take it or not. Many people can find their happiness, joyfulness, and freedom of love without marrying each other, without binding each other in a sacred oath, without committing marrying. Marriage should not be a rule of something or for someone because not all people believe in marriage and not all believe that marriage can prove anything that mainly related to love.

-ULTRAUTOGIA-