2. recently married: late espoused (1), which also has
an
obvious
secondary sense: 'married but now dead.' Both meanings of the word late
('recent[ly]' or 'deceased') are important to the sense of the
poem.
The word espoused recalls its
Latin origin (spondeo, 'to pledge
oneself, promise') at the same time that it embodies a biblical
allusion to the Latin text of the Song of Solomon: Veni in hortum meum
soror mea sponsa, 'Come
into my garden, my sister, my spouse' (Canticum
Canticorum 5:1).