One Flesh (1966) by Elizabeth Jennings : A critical analysis

In  the poem “One Flesh” Jennings explores the withering nature of relationship between an ageing couple. It includes in her poetic Anthology ‘The Mind Has Mountains’. Jennings prospects the nature of marriage relationship in old age and we come to know towards the end of the poem that she is talking about the personal relationship of her parents.

The title of the poem has a Biblical reference. When a couple is combined in marriage they become one flesh. The word ‘one’ suggests their physical unity and Jennings‘ relationship to her parents as she thinks about them. She contemplates over how traditional marriage of her parents has ended up in physical separation and silence as she says: “Silence between them”.

In the first stanza we find them lying in separate beds; he is looking at a book without reading it and she is staring at the ceiling. All the excitement in their lives now has worn out. Everything seems to be routine. The words “lying apart”, “elsewhere” and “separate” suggests the rift that is created between the couple. “She like a girl dreaming of childhood” suggests that she is not happy and wants to be in the past. “Keeping the light on late” and “shadows overheard” shows the contrast between the couple now and before. Neither of them is talking to each other. The book does not interest him and the mother stares at the shadows overheard. Sleeping in separate beds depicts physical distance and a sign of being apart and a lack of communication between them. 

We can feel the desolation and speechlessness which exists in their relationship. But there is still hope left;  they can still able to dream. At the beginning of the second stanza their relationship is described as “flotsam from a former passion”. There is no passion left between them, it is broken into pieces and floating on the surface. Flotsam means wreckage floating in the sea. Here it refers that is all what is left after their passion as a younger couple. Chastity refers to the loss of passion of youth which has now faded from their lives. The stage in their relationship when they touched has passed. The words “confession” and “chastity” are religious and reflect that they keep to their promises even if they are unhappy. They have taken a further step and have reached chastity again. One might suppose that this is a step backwards, but still Jennings describes it as the reaching of “a destination for which their whole lives were a preparation”. 

It is the contrast in their relationship by which we are most interested. The only thing that is shared between them seems to be silence, but mysteriously there is much more left which ties them together. It is the time they have shared, all the common experiences, the difficulties and the beauties of life which lie behind them, it is the familiarity which links them. Their lives are not really separated; because they need each other. The only thing that has happened to them is the fact that they have grown old.

The lines in the third stanza “Strangely part, yet strangely close together, / Silence between them like a thread to hold”. The repetition of the words strangely suggests that the relation is now not as it should be. Their relation is compared to a thread is a simile which suggests weaker connection in old age not strong as youth. The last four lines of the poem are very effective as it says “And not wind in. / And time itself’s a feather/Touching them gently. Do they know they‘re old,/ These two who are my father and mother/ Whose fire from which I came, has now grown cold?”. This metaphor “And time itself’s a feather” is highly effective  because feather suggests it’s soft, fragile and delicate like their marriage. “Whose fire from which I came” is a metaphor which suggests that they once had a really strong passionate marriage in which their child was born. She ends her poem by asking herself whether they are aware of getting old .The last stanza is full of tenderness and a beautiful image is used when time is compared with a feather, which touches them so gently that they might not even realize it.

The poem shows the growth, fall and change in relationship with age and time. In reality parents or couple ideally cannot be separate. It suggests togetherness and bond but here the body language is contradictory than what it actually should be. The poem sounds heart breaking and depressing. The couple are unhappy.

The poem is written in traditional form. It consists of three stanzas of six lines each. The rhythm is mainly regular and consists, to a large extent, of iambic pentameters, the most common verse form in English poetry. The rhyme scheme is of interest, consisting of two stanzas both rhyming ababba, and the third one rhyming ababab. This underlines the contrast which exists between the first two stanzas and the third one. In the first two stanzas we feel sorry because their relationship does not seem to be as it should be. In the last stanza, however, we are told that their relationship has become like this through time, but this does not necessarily mean a loss of quality. It has simply become different through time. With this poem Jennings successfully creates an image of this couple in the reader‘s mind, and also so provides an interesting exploration of the way relationships develop through time .