In Judith Viorst's poem, "A Wedding Sonnet for the Next Generation," what does she mean when she writes “you are writing your own poem,”...

In Judith Viorst's poem, "A Wedding Sonnet For the Next
Generation," the line that reads "you are writing your own poem" can be taken two
ways.

The first obvious meaning of this line, based upon
what has come before in the poem, is that the bride (or groom or both) is writing her
own vows, rather than borrowing from the poetry of classic poets such as Shakespeare,
Yeats and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

However,
figuratively, "writing your own poem" could also mean that the
person that the poem is directed to is starting a life uniquely her (or his) own. Rather
than following the path others have taken before her, this woman has the opportunity to
not only write her own poem, but write her own life story. She can
decide upon the dreams and desires she wants: not copy or mimic those of a long-dead
poet, who lived in a world and time so unlike her own.

With
this said—that the woman writing her "poem" is creating her own future in some
fashion—the last two lines support this idea. The first six lines of the poem allude to
three famous poems by three equally famous poets. Viorst's point throughout the poem has
been to find a "sonnet" or poem that is not tied to the distant
past; instead she advises—strongly encourages—the reader to make his or her own way in
this new world. And in saying this, while she reminds the writer that the "poem" may not
be as perfect or as "studied" as those constructed in the past by "professional" poets,
there will be something of the " href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sublime">sublime"—"supreme" or
"outstanding" in creating a new kind of vow, a new set of standards for happiness. And
those standards, rather than raving over eternal beauty or fond remembrances from one's
lover, will be...

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