Gregory Corso’s poem known for its unconventional proposal to marriage is “Marriage.”
“Marriage” is one of Corso’s best-known poems and appears in his 1960 collection The Happy Birthday of Death. In it, the speaker considers the institution of marriage through a rapid, imaginative series of questions and comic possibilities. The poem’s energetic shifts between ordinary domestic images and surreal fantasy are characteristic of Corso’s style.
The poem is sometimes confused with Allen Ginsberg’s “Marriage,” written in 1957. Both poets were associated with the Beat Generation, and both used the same title, but they are different poems by different writers. Corso’s poem is especially recognizable for its playful treatment of wedding plans, social expectations, and the imagined consequences of becoming a husband.
Corso was one of the younger central figures of the New York Beat circle. He met Ginsberg in the early 1950s, and Ginsberg helped bring attention to Corso’s poetry.