The line “it is leviathan and we” (8), refers to a sea monster who swallowed Jonah in the bible. She goes on to say that the married couple are inside the leviathan’s belly and are “looking for joy, some joy/not to be known outside of it” (10-11). The use of the word leviathan also uses a negative connotation to imply that marriage can have the qualities of a monster. By the last two lines of the stanza, the author is saying that when the couple enters a marriage, they are trapped and says that they are looking for happiness in the marriage because they think that’s the only place joy can be found. The cryptic line “not to be known outside of it” (11), implies that the only reason the couple is looking for joy inside the marriage or the leviathan’s stomach, is because they don’t know that joy is actually outside of the marriage. In addition to the use of connotation and allusion, the use of metaphor can also be found in the comparison of marriage and the
The line “it is leviathan and we” (8), refers to a sea monster who swallowed Jonah in the bible. She goes on to say that the married couple are inside the leviathan’s belly and are “looking for joy, some joy/not to be known outside of it” (10-11). The use of the word leviathan also uses a negative connotation to imply that marriage can have the qualities of a monster. By the last two lines of the stanza, the author is saying that when the couple enters a marriage, they are trapped and says that they are looking for happiness in the marriage because they think that’s the only place joy can be found. The cryptic line “not to be known outside of it” (11), implies that the only reason the couple is looking for joy inside the marriage or the leviathan’s stomach, is because they don’t know that joy is actually outside of the marriage. In addition to the use of connotation and allusion, the use of metaphor can also be found in the comparison of marriage and the