"Epithalamium" by Nick Laird Explication and Analysis Essay
Epithalamium
Nick Laird
The New Yorker
January 24th, 2011
You're beeswax and I'm bird shit.
I'm mostly harmless. You're irrational.
If I'm iniquity then you're theft.
One of us is supercalifragilistic.
If I'm the most insane disgusting filth you're hardly curiosa.
You're bubble wrap to my fingertips.
You're winter sleep and I'm the bee dance.
And I am menthol and you are eggshell.
When you're atrocious I am Spellcheck.
You're the yen. I'm the Nepalese pound.
If I'm homesteading you're radical chic.
I'm carpet shock and you're the rail.
I'm Memory Foam Day on Price-Drop TV and you're the Lord of Misrule who shrieks when I surface in goggles through duckweed,
and I am Trafalgar, and you're Waterloo, and frequently it seems to me that I am you, and you are me. If I'm the rising incantation you're the charm, or I am, or you are.
Rubber and Glue In the poem, “Epithalamium,” Nick Laird describes a story of a newlywed couple, and how their love for each other runs off conflict. They both try to thrive off their feelings of superiority, but neither truly knows for sure whether their arguments toward each other are fitting. For over time, they become hesitant of their comebacks validity, and question whether they might fit their own characteristics as well. “Epithalamium” brings a new idea to the reader that conflict in some relationships can increase love for one another, for truths are realized in the process. Each other’s attitudes and emotions become clearer, and soon you understand how you fit together.
The poem is composed of five stanzas, all of them containing rebuttal. It isn’t until the end that the speaker suddenly realizes something critical. Laird leaves the reader questioning who is who, and which is what, allowing us to try to make sense of the genius poem. Even the title of the poem is confusing at first, looking to most like a made up word, yet its meaning is the first true hint of what the piece is about. The title literally means “a form of a
Nick Laird
The New Yorker
January 24th, 2011
You're beeswax and I'm bird shit.
I'm mostly harmless. You're irrational.
If I'm iniquity then you're theft.
One of us is supercalifragilistic.
If I'm the most insane disgusting filth you're hardly curiosa.
You're bubble wrap to my fingertips.
You're winter sleep and I'm the bee dance.
And I am menthol and you are eggshell.
When you're atrocious I am Spellcheck.
You're the yen. I'm the Nepalese pound.
If I'm homesteading you're radical chic.
I'm carpet shock and you're the rail.
I'm Memory Foam Day on Price-Drop TV and you're the Lord of Misrule who shrieks when I surface in goggles through duckweed,
and I am Trafalgar, and you're Waterloo, and frequently it seems to me that I am you, and you are me. If I'm the rising incantation you're the charm, or I am, or you are.
Rubber and Glue In the poem, “Epithalamium,” Nick Laird describes a story of a newlywed couple, and how their love for each other runs off conflict. They both try to thrive off their feelings of superiority, but neither truly knows for sure whether their arguments toward each other are fitting. For over time, they become hesitant of their comebacks validity, and question whether they might fit their own characteristics as well. “Epithalamium” brings a new idea to the reader that conflict in some relationships can increase love for one another, for truths are realized in the process. Each other’s attitudes and emotions become clearer, and soon you understand how you fit together.
The poem is composed of five stanzas, all of them containing rebuttal. It isn’t until the end that the speaker suddenly realizes something critical. Laird leaves the reader questioning who is who, and which is what, allowing us to try to make sense of the genius poem. Even the title of the poem is confusing at first, looking to most like a made up word, yet its meaning is the first true hint of what the piece is about. The title literally means “a form of a