Poetry is a form of literature which can be characterized by rhythm. Poetry may be short or may be long. There is no limit to themes that a poet may use for their poem. A poem can be about animals, nature, and a common theme, love. The two poems that will be discussed in the paper have a common theme of love. While one poem speaks of love for a woman, the other explains what love is in general. Theses two poems are "When You Are Old" by William Butler Yeats, and "Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds" by no other than William Shakespeare. In our first poem, "When You Are Old," Yeats uses his aesthetic language to rhyme about the love of a woman whom he addresses. He begins his poem by telling her that when she is "old and grey and full of sleep" and sitting by a fireplace, reading a book, she'll dream of the "soft look her eyes once had" as a younger woman. (Yeats 600) He continues by expressing how many men had loved her in her "moments of glad grace" which a youthful woman may possess. (Yeats 600) There were men who looked beyond her beauty and expressed true love and there were those who did not look at her inner beauty but the outer beauty with "love false." (Yeats 600) But there is one man, William Butler Yeats, who loved the questing, "pilgrim soul in [her]," and embraced and "loved the sorrows of [her] changing face "as she loses her youthful beauty. (600) As Yeats concludes his poem and the woman is by the "glowing bars," the fire place, she "murmurs, a little sadly," how love has escaped her and "hid his face amid a crowd of stars," which are always beautiful to look at. (600) Men's love for her will fade parallel to her beauty. As mentioned before, this poem was written for a woman he loved. She was beautifu... ... middle of paper ... ... love. Though it is interesting how both love poems use this star for symbolism. Symbolism is also presented in the love poems. The reader can imagine an old and grey woman sitting by a fire, nodding while she's reading a book or a crowd of stars. In the sonnet, there's not as much imagery, but one can visualize "rosy lips and cheeks." (Shakespeare 616) Reading both poems gives me a better idea of what love is, but many will never understand what love really is. Love is a timeless and universal theme that is used for poems and is different for each individual person. Though, as one reads different love poems, a comparison, besides the obvious theme of love, can be found amongst them, like the two poems discussed. I found that love poems are easier to interpret, but the theme is difficult to understand. Roberts, V. Edgar, "Literature", Third Ed. New Jersey 2005
Both poems represent the despairs and failures of the love they hone for their beloved, with brings a touch of sadness to the poems. From this the reader can feel almost sympathetic to the unrequited lovers, and gain an understanding of the perils and repercussions of love.
The poem goes on to tell of the women, who "...haven't put aside desire/ but sit at ease and in pleasure,/ watching the young men" (Murray 837). This work obviously shows how the women lust after the attractive young men, and clearly are not in love; any one of these men could have been replaced with another attractive man and would have m...
The Sonnet by Edna St. Vincent Millay, “Love is Not All” demonstrates an unpleasant feeling about the knowledge of love with the impression to consider love as an unimportant element that does not worth dying for; the poem is a personal message addressing the intensity, importance, and transitory nature of love. The poet’s impression reflects her general point of view about love as portrays in the title “Love is Not All.” However, the unfolding part of the poem reveals the sarcastic truth that love is important.
There are many different themes that can be used to make a poem both successful and memorable. Such is that of the universal theme of love. This theme can be developed throughout a poem through an authors use of form and content. “She Walks in Beauty,” by George Gordon, Lord Byron, is a poem that contains an intriguing form with captivating content. Lord Byron, a nineteenth-century poet, writes this poem through the use of similes and metaphors to describe a beautiful woman. His patterns and rhyme scheme enthrall the reader into the poem. Another poem with the theme of love is John Keats' “La Belle Dame sans Merci,” meaning “the beautiful lady without mercy.” Keats, another nineteenth-century writer, uses progression and compelling language throughout this poem to engage the reader. While both of these poems revolve around the theme of love, they are incongruous to each other in many ways.
He compares his love to a "vegetable," which means that it would not stray, but would grow "vaster than empires," and would do so more slowly (ll. 11-12). He claims that he would happily spend a hundred years praising her eyes, and gazing at her forehead. When that is over, he would spend two hundred years on each breast, and spend "thirty thousand to the rest" (l. 16). He then crowns this romantic hyperbole with the statement, "[f]or, lady, you deserve this state, /Nor would I love at a lower rate" (ll. 19-20). These statements serve to support one of the major themes of the poem:
The speaker uses metaphors to describe his mistress’ eyes to being like the sun; her lips being red as coral; cheeks like roses; breast white as snow; and her voices sounding like music. In the first few lines of the sonnet, the speaker view and tells of his mistress as being ugly, as if he was not attracted to her. He give...
The poem says that "since feeling is first" (line 1) the one who pays attention to the meaning of things will never truly embrace. The poem states that it is better to be a fool, or to live by emotions while one is young. The narrator declares that his "blood approves" (line 7) showing that his heart approves of living by feeling, and that the fate of feeling enjoyment is better than one of "wisdom" (line 9) or learning. He tells his "lady" (line 10) not to cry, showing that he is speaking to her. He believes that she can make him feel better than anything he could think of, because her "eyelids" (line 12) say that they are "for each other" (line 13). Then, after all she's said and thought, his "lady" forgets the seriousness of thought and leans into the narrator's arms because life is not a "paragraph" (line 15), meaning that life is brief. The last line in the poem is a statement which means that death is no small thi...
Unrequited love is a common theme in poetry. Nature, death, wars, religions are all significant themes but love is the most important. It gives the reader an insight to the author’s inner feelings. “When You Are Old” by William Butler Yeats is no exception. Yeats reflects upon his unconditional love for a woman who was not ready for a serious relationship.
topic sentence: The imagery contained in both sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barret Browning and Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare, while both used to portray there love, the imagery still differs between poems.
favourite out of the poems is Valentine as I feel it does show a very
This entire poem talk about how beauty fades with time. Thus, like any carpe diem poetry, one is urged to cherish time. In this case, beauty is associated with time and the narrator believes that both should be cherished with the same intensity. There is a tone of urgency to find physical love, as the narrator only addresses physical beauty, which fades. He wants the girl to learn to be "desired" and "admired" while she is still beautiful.
The types of love in a poem can be reflected in many ways. One of
shows that the poet is so fixated in one woman that he is blinded by
“Love Poem” is a twenty-four-line poem in six stanzas. The generic tittle is an accurate description of the poem; it is a clue that this may not be a traditional example of love poetry. Both poems have the same rhyme scheme because the second and fourth line of every stanza rhyme. However, “Magic of Love’ speaks of a general love bringing happiness, joy and comfort. While “Love Poem” is much more personal. The speaker talks of memories with his clumsy love. Both poems have a different point of view when it comes to love. In Ferrier’s poem, she describes love as something perfect, that fixes everything. However, in Frederick’s poem, he doesn’t speak about what the love does right but rather he talks
This poem is a beautiful recollection of love and how difficult it is to attain in our world. Yeats does not seem angry that he lost Maud, however he does feel God’s curse on men. He seems unsure if true love actually exists and thinks that he got as close as he ever will at finding it. Maud was unable to give Yeats the love he yearned in return, which is why Yeats felt the need to express himself through this poem. Perhaps this poem was the beginning of a healing process for Yeats. He was unable to express himself to Maud so he had to express himself through his poetry. His poetry, in turn was as difficult to write as his love for Maud was to accomplish. Yeats is just exhausted at this point and it is seen at the end of his poem.