"Letting Go"

This poem is all about a married couple who are dealing with the trials and tribulations of a divorce. The author employs similes that describe the relationship of the couple and irony that describes the couple's end. The author compares the couple to "inmates". When I think of this word with a negative connotation, I think of a prison. This made me think that the couple felt trapped in their marriage. Also, I thought that this could be interpreted as possible violence because it is followed by the phrase "beat the walls". The other simile occurs in the second stanza of the poem. The author speaks of the behavior of the couple as "heaving words like furniture". This statement also brings about the idea of violence and high levels of anger and frustration within the couple's time together. Even though the majority of the poem talks about the dissension between the two spouses and why it was best for them to separate, the end of the poem focuses on the positive note and happy days of the relationship. The only detail of the marriage before it collapsed, the matching hair and eyes, is in this last stanza. This stanza is where the irony of the poem comes. Even though the couple knew it was best that they separated, they cried on the final day before their divorce. As they parted, they held on tight to each other and then let go. This is ironic because the two spouses were so unhappy, yet wanted to hold on as they went their own ways.