Headboard

The headboard symbolizes the speaker's husband. Physically, the headboard is a vertical board that attaches to the head of a bed. In "The Edge," the bed in question is the speaker's marriage bed. Glück employs a dichotomy between head and heart to represent the division between the speaker and her husband. When the speaker ties her heart to the headboard on her marriage bed, she binds herself to her husband.

Bouquets

Bouquets are a phallic symbol in "The Edge." The speaker uses a rhetorical question to state that she "[licks]" her husband's bribes and sets "his bouquets / In water" (5-6). In other words, the couple engages in a performative display of dutiful love that involves physical intimacy and romantic gestures. However, beneath the performance, the speaker feels scornful and the husband feels bored.

Lace

Lace symbolizes delicacy and beauty. That it belongs to the speaker's...