The poem The Lover by Don Patterson.

The poem The Lover by Don Patterson.

The Lover - Don Patterson

The poem "The Lover" by Don Patterson explores traditional notions of

fate and romantic love. The title represents both of these ideas, as

the lover is a tarot card used by fortune-tellers to tell you your

fate, and "the lover" has connotations of romance. He also uses vivid

imagery describes how a human is knocked down by a car, and against

the odds, is brought back to life because of love.

The poem has three stanzas of equal length and it has a half rhyme.

The main theme is identified by how love is the strongest force on the

planet.

Pattersonbegins by saying,

"Poor mortals with your horoscopes and blood tests."

This is in such a tone, that it is suggesting that a higher being is

speaking, and through references later in the poem, it seems likely

that the narrator is a classic Greek god.

Pattersonmentions "horoscopes" and "blood tests". These are both

methods that humans try in vain to predict the future. Blood tests

have connotations of illness, which becomes relevant later in the

poem.

"Even if the plane lands you safely, why should you not return to your

home in flames or ruins, your wife absconded, the children blind and

dying in their cots?"

Patterson uses very emotive and powerful imagery to try to prove a

point that our small lives are irrelevant in the eyes of the world. He

then summarises this stanza by saying,

"Only the lover walks upon the earth, careless of what fate prepares

for him".

This quote suggests that the lover is immune to the day-to-day

harshness of the world. His word choice also effectively displays ides

of immortality. It tells us that love can protect you from the perils

of the world.

In the second stanza, Pattersonintroduces the main incident in the

poem. A car knocks down the subject.

"So you step out at the lights, almost as if today you know you are

the special one. The women in the windshield lifting away her frozen

cry."

This metaphor is very effective as it has clear connotations of time

standing still and fear. Patterson is now writing on a personal basis,

as before he spoke generally.

He continues his biblical references when he says, "A white mask on a

stick". This imagery describes Atropos, the Greek god of death

(somewhat like Grim Reaper) When the time has come, they come to take

to take you away. He continues the theme of the underworld by saying,

"The sun leaves like a rocket; the sky goes out."

Patterson's effective imagery has apocalyptic connotations. This

simile compares the flash of a rocket to the brightness of the sun.