Nature

The poem has an intense focus on nature and the foreboding landscape that serves as a proxy for the occasionally troubled course of a marriage. It is interesting that Atwood chooses to emphasize marriage as often existing on the edge of something else, as in “the edge of the forest” and “the edge / of the desert” as if to highlight the precarious state of the institution and the constant recalibration that comes with it (4-5). It is open to readers’ interpretation whether Atwood means to poke fun at, or merely highlight, how much of the world and our individual lives we attempt to control while overlooking how we live according to the whims of nature. Further, the introduction of fire serves as a bridge between humankind and nature, as it involves the raw materials given to us by the environment and a piece of human ingenuity...