Forbidden Love: The Concept Of Forbidden Love

Mira - As a young adult, when one is asked not to do something, the allure of doing said thing is often greater than it was beforehand. This idea, can be found in young adults across the nation, and perhaps across the world; one thing prevalent to this idea of ‘doing something rendered as taboo’ is the concept of ‘Forbidden Love.’ Therefore, while the poems I chose to be presented in this anthology do pertain to the forbidden love ideal, they focus more on the life of the individual- when said ‘forbidden love’ has fallen apart, and the individual is left standing in the remnants of what they once had. With the presented poems: Just Friends by Lang Leav, Bad Luck Card by Langston Hughes, and Rubies by Carly Taylor, the ashes and consequences of a fallen 'forbidden love' are evident.

Just Friends illustrates the intricacies of a forbidden longing for someone that is just out of reach, and all the emotions that are connected with such. The reader can infer, that the speaker feels love for someone she should not. “I know that I don’t own you, and perhaps I never will…” With the emphasis on ‘perhaps,’ the reader is left feeling a certain empathy for the speaker, and a hopefulness that they will one day ‘own them.’ The emotions of empathy and hopefulness found within this poem, present a certain allure to a young adult reader; as they depart from the teenage angst of the everyday, this poem can provide hope to the reader. As a young adult in general, emotions run rather high; with this poem, the emotions brought forth are rather raw, easily read, and resonate with the reader afterward. With the idea that someone else can feel as you feel, there is an understanding of the speaker and their emotions. Young adults are left with the idea...

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..., that make it a quality piece of literature include the nature of its mostly free verse, the descriptive and visual imagery, and the slant rhymes found through the poem. With the stanza, “It hurt, putting them down, sill with the ghost of your hands on my skin,” the reader can visualize the love filled caress the speaker longs for, and how empty they feel now that their lover is gone. With the inadvertent description of the color red, “...finding treasure troves of rubies beneath,” the visual imagery is that much stronger, describing the struggles of the speaker offhandedly to the reader; in allowing their own interpretation, the reader can give their own interpretation, and could possibly finding themselves relating in a greater manner to the speaker and the poem. This leads the poem to be considered a quality piece of literature, that fits well in this anthology.