Write a commentry on the wedding photograph, 1913 by Judith Wright, taking into account the effect of diction and imagery in helping to establish the meaning and tone of the poem.


The Wedding Photograph, 1913 by Judith Wright is a melancholic poem, with powerful diction and moving imagery, allowing the poet to bring across her messages effectively. Wright writes the poem in the first person, making the reader to react sentimentally to the poem, as the poet seems to be writing from her personal experiences. The “sepias” picture allows the poet to perceive much more than just a photograph, causing nostalgia to the audience.
The poem has a calm and sorrowful tone, sprinkled with instances of hope, joy and innocence. Wright establishes this tone by putting together dejected imagery such as “tweed shoulder sobbed-on”, with happy images like “ birds or pansies eyebrows”. She also uses contrasting diction – harsh words such as “increasing pain” and warm words such as “gentle”, “happy crowd”, and “smiling confettied”. This juxtaposition causes the poem’s meanings to come across strongly.
Despite all the difficulties that Wright may have faced, she seems to have an ironic appreciation for life and its pains. In A Grain of Wheat, by Ngugi Wa Thiong’O, Mugo, a hermit, has a similar situation – “ He was at the bottom of the pool, but up there, above the pool, ran the earth; life, struggle, even admist pain and blood and poverty, seemed beautiful”. Wright seems to find the same beauty that Mugo did. She uses phrases such as “moralities imparted shyly”, putting quaintness into something negative. She gives the audience a pleasing image of the “country couple smiling confettied outside the family house”, when she knows that the marriage will bring problems. She “lifts a glass” to the couple, showing admiration for their struggles.
Wright partial pessimism of life may stem out of her intricate childhood, as seen in many instances in the poem. She has the normal “dependent” nature, and is also rather “rebellious”. She seems to have had to make changes, and taken on adult problems – “through all I had to learn and unlearn, absorb and fight against”. She may have been suffocated by this. As a result, she sees herself as separate from others. Her detatchment is seen from the ‘overlooking’ tone of the poem. “Let me join the happy crowd of cousins, sisters and parents”, seems to be only a temporary arrangement.
Her closeness to her family is questionable, as she questions , “I look at you and wonder if I really knew you”. This could be a representation of relationships in general. It is questionable how much a person is able to know and understand someone else, despite what they may believe. Human nature is complex in itself, and attempting to comprehend the nature of a fellow human may extend to the realms of impossibility. Wright also explores the fragility of relationships – “She never thought of that, her second bridegroom standing there invisible at her right hand”. This image is strong, pondering upon the end of the relationship when it is simply beginning. This leads to another one of the major messages of the poem: the monotony of life, “Fathers and mothers enter an old pattern”. The poem’s title itself represents monotony: most people get married at one point or another, it almost becomes an obligation. In Louis Macniece’s ‘Prayer Before Birth’, he explored humanity as if it is “a cog in a machine, a thing”. Society is so caught up within its own rules, that a person’s individuality is usually overshadowed. Though the poem explores the idea of cycles and continuation, Wright seems to believe that “the pain increases, death is final, that people vanish”. People believe in the continuation of life after death, another cycle, but Wright seems to eliminate this idea. It is said that “Ignorance is bliss”, and Wright seems to agree with this. She, with hind sight, knows the result of the marriage, but she wishes them “The best of luck.. Be happy always”. One of the most admirable qualities about the people described in the poem is that they seem hopeful about their future, and this seems to reflect their innocence, in that they are not aware of their fate. The poem contains ‘innocent’ imagery, such as “faun-look, ears spread wide, she with her downward conscious poise of beauty”, establishing the message. Wright puts her messages across to the reader powerfully, using juxtaposition in her imagery and diction. She allows her audience to relate to the poem, as most of us have had a similar experience of reminiscence when facing an object from the past. Her influential imagery and resounding diction makes the poem stay with the reader, making them question the monotony of their own lives.