Tie - Conventions of a Traditional Courtship
While meeting his imaginary fiancee's parents, the speaker feels strangled by the tie he put on. The tie is symbolic for the conventions of the traditional courtship that the speaker insists on following through. He willingly puts it on, without any actual outside pressure, because in some way he craves it, yet resents it at the same time and feels strangled and trapped in it.
Facial Hair - Following an Unconventional Lifestyle
In his fantasy of a conventional suburban courtship, the speaker eventually imagines a wedding with the next innocent girl he courted. At the wedding however, he feels out of place as do the few of his friends that attend. The speaker imagines them all bearded, which is symbolic for them having eschewed this traditional lifestyle. Hair has been used as a symbol before to signify how civilized someone is, when the speaker imagines his hair having to be combed back before his new in-laws would accept him.
The wild, unkept growing of hair, both facial and on the head, is symbolic for the free lifestyle the speaker and his friends choose. On the other side, living a conventional lifestyle, hair has to be tamed, shaved, combed and neatly forced into place.
Niagara Falls - A Cliché Honeymoon
The speaker in his imaginary new wife spend their honeymoon at Niagara Falls, surrounded by dozens of other honeymooning couples. Niagara Falls is used as a symbol for the most cliché honeymoon that the speaker can think of. It is nothing special that singles the speaker and his wife out, they are described as being one of countless couples who are all there, doing exactly the same thing. It first follows the script that the speaker has set out for this courtship, as he has continuously staged everything as cliché and conventional as possible. This time however, he is unsettled by being one of the crowd and he is frantically looking for a way to show others that he stands out.
A Baby - Ultimate Chain to A Traditional Way of Life
In the sixth stanza the speaker’s wife gives birth to a baby. This time the speaker acknowledges that this experience, spending restless nights with a newborn, is the most common situation a man can find himself in and for the first time he doesn’t shy away from this. The baby is symbolic for a chain to an at least somewhat conventional life, where the speaker will make the same experiences as countless others before him without a way to stand out.
Pee Stains on Underwear - Failure
In the second to last stanza of the poem, the speaker finally reveals the reason of why he wants to get married so badly, namely that he is afraid to die alone as a societal failure. He describes the picture of being alone, in a dirty flat and the image of pee stains on his neglected underwear serve as a symbol for the failure he has become.
