In Judith Viorst's poem, "A Wedding Sonnet for the Next
Generation," the author begins by alluding to famous sonnets of the
past.
The first line, "compare you to a summer's day" comes
from Shakespeare's famous Sonnet 18; the Bard's first line
reads:
Shall I
compare thee to a summer's
day?
In this poem, the poet
attempts to immortalize his lover's beauty in the form of a sonnet which will not fade
with time as her loveliness will, but live on as long as there is someone alive to read
the poem.
In line four of Viorst's poem, she alludes yet
again to another famous sonnet: Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnet 43. Viorst's line
reads, "Count all the ways she loves you, way by way..." Browning's famous first line
is:
How do I
love thee? Let me count the
ways.
Viorst's line, "He'll
cherish still the pilgrim soul in you" alludes to William Butler Yeats' poem, "When You
Are Old." His line
is:
But one man loved the pilgrim soul
in you...
These lines draw the reader's
attention to age-old love poems that praise, adore and promise. Judith Viorst seems to
be saying that in this new age, it is time for a new "love sonnet" for a "new"
generation. Viorst infers that adjustments should be made for modern
lovers.
She draws our attention to some of the most famous words of
love we have known, paralleling her words to those of the master
poets that came before her; it is, however, as if she is adding a post-script to what
they wrote. She accepts that words of love today are important, but
she notes that perhaps there should
be...
....plainer words: Respect. Trust. Comfort.
Home.
These words are not as romantic or
"sublime" (as she puts it), but are more
realistic. Like a valentine, a poem may be sought after, appreciated and cherished by
the one who receives it; however, reality dictates that when the flowers and poetry may
stop passing between the lovers, that more steadfast elements should take their place:
respect, trust, comfort, and home. Note also that she lists each separately—capitalized,
with a period after each word, showing in print the singular importance of
each.
I expect that the author alternates between the pronouns "he"
and "she" to show an updated version of the love poem: the sonnets that came before were
written primarily (but not entirely) by men to
women. Here, Viorst is giving equal time to both genders—in a modern
context.
In the same manner, the poet uses
"sonnet" in the title, but does not write in the form of a
traditional sonnet. I would surmise that she does this on purpose as well—to show that
the "love poem" of today is not the traditional one of Shakespeare's day, or Marvell's
or Herrick's. It may have similarities, but like lovers of "old," today's sweethearts
look to something new—perhaps in their poetry and their
relationships.
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