IN GOLDEN GATE PARK THAT DAY ... By Lawrence Ferlinghetti

At first impression the poem seemed to be an illustration of an idyllic scene, a tranquil day spent together by "the man and his wife". However the unexpected ending changed the reader's previous perspective. I had to read the poem again with a different viewpoint and I realized how the images dramatically changed their meaning. The impact was a woeful one. It's a sad ending displaying a dark revelation. There are several patters throughout the poem. Some lines are repeating: "which was the meadow of the world" appears twice and through the usage of that line the speaker changes the common place to a universal one. The line "without looking at each other" appears several times and suggests an emotional gap between the man and his wife, which is emphasized by the line "without saying anything". When the wife finally looks at her husband she had "a certain awful look of terrible depression". The last line of the poem leaves the reader inconsolable. At some level it seems to me that the poem represents the reality of most marriages. At first glance, most marriages seem submerged into normalcy but subtle details (such as the repetition of some suggestive lines) are present to disclosed that they are in fact sinking.