The River Merchant’s Wife really drew me in the more times I read it. I began to understand where the woman was coming from and her transitions through life. The poem begins with the wife being a child and develops into her womanhood, the transitions of her life. The first stage of her life depicts the innocence of her as a young girl and her future husband. “Two small people, without dislike or suspicion.” There was innocence in their friendship as children, until the arranged marriage changed their lives. Their innocence transitions into a deep, extreme love and filled with sorrow.
The first transition from children to adults is when they are married. “At fourteen, I married My Lord you….At fifteen I stopped scowling….” At first, the merchant’s wife despised the fact that her childhood and innocence was taken from her. She was forced to marry the merchant. However, at the time this was normal. Parents arranged for their children to be married and the children didn’t have a say in the matter. Personally, I cannot imagine having someone choose for me who I will marry. Marriage is such a big leap of faith into the next journey in our lives and you’re choosing to take that journey with your marriage, together. The merchant’s wife does not get to choose what journey she will embark upon. Although the poem does not indicate why her husband left her, we can assume it was out of both of their control. This journey with her husband is a sorrowful and painful journey. “And you have been gone five months. The monkeys make sorrowful noise overhead. You dragged your feet when you went out. “
I can relate to this poem in many ways because I was once put in the situation of having to deal with long-distance relationship. Being away from someone you care about for a long amount of time, makes you sad. You wake up every day to get through the day so that it makes the future comes faster of when you will see your loved one. Time seems to drag by. In my case, whenever I got the chance to see my boyfriend, I jumped at the idea and took a road trip. Even if we got to see each other for ten hours, it made my whole week go by faster and put me in a happy mood. Unfortunately, the merchant’s wife does not get this opportunity. “If you are coming down through the narrows of the river Kiang, Please let me know beforehand, And I will come out to meet you As far as Cho-fu-Sa.” Their approximate distance is equivalent from Peoria to Chicago. In my head, I’m thinking oh that is not far because we can get there by car in three hours roughly. However, we have the luxury of cars/trains. The merchant’s wife did not have that luxury; she had her feet to carry her that distance. After about a four mile walk, I’m ready for a nap so I cannot even imagine walking from Peoria to Chicago to see my loved one. She loved him enough that she would have traveled any distance just to see her husband.
So far this has been my favorite poem we have read so far; mostly because I can relate to it. I like the transitions of the merchant’s wife from childhood to a woman. However, it is not so much the transitions of one’s life that make this poem so different but the outline of a beautiful love story.
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