Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children

After rereading Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children, I began to analyze it more and look deeper into it's meaning. As we discussed in class, we know that the flowers in the poem are Taylor's children. Throughout the poem, Taylor says, "A manly flowre out brake" and "another Flowre its sweet breathd mate", implying the birth of his first son and daughter. Although this part of the poem is happy and uplifting, the mood soon drastically changes to one of sadness and depression when we learn that the children die. After describing the sadness but also understanding that God took his children from his, Taylor rejoices in the fact that another son and daughter are born. How could a man be okay with fact that his children are dying? How does Taylor become angry with God for taking his children? Although Taylor lost his children(not all of them), he is calm in knowing that they are now with God. He is happy that the children are no longer suffering from illness or pain, but are now in Heaven where nothing can harm them.

In the first stanza of the poem, I noticed it talks about true love which led me to believe the first stanza is talking about his wife. "It was the True-Love Knot, more sweet than spice/And set with all the flowres of Graces dress/Its Weddens Knot, that ne're can be unti'de/No Alexanders Sword can it divide." My interpretation of this is that he has found his true love, and the true love they share cannot be broken by anything (Alexanders Sword). Even though the lines are simple I can feel the passion in which Taylor had written them. He truly loved his wife and his children, and this poem greatly exemplifies this.