What Is Love?

“I love you.” These three small words have such a powerful meaning. Love is something for which every human since the beginning of time has searched. From the quest for the perfect guy or girl, to yearning for acceptance, the search goes back to the individual’s desire for love. The dilemma is that love has become hackneyed and cliché. People fling around the word love as if it is nothing when in reality love is such a powerful word. People use the word love when in reality they should be using the word lust or infatuation. Society tries to replace a person’s need to be loved through sex, which does not work because that person just ends up getting hurt. Does true love really exist, or is it as bogus as a fairytale? The poems, “Let me not to the marriage of true minds,” “To My Dear and Loving Husband,” and “True Love” make the argument that true love is possible. True love is a very real thing, but people equate true love with romanticism. True love does not happen over night; it takes time and trust to build true love. True love is a powerful force which neither circumstances, time, nor any person can destroy. The reason for the twisted view of love is not because of Disney Princess movies, but instead is the result of the overuse of the word. People will say, “I love you” to someone they have only known a few days or to mere food. At times people treat loving others like admiring food; one cannot treat a person like food because food cannot actually return the affection. If a person commits to loving another, it is not right to leave if the significant other changes. This is not love, but rather a strong like or infatuation. True love is unconditional love and is not based on the lust or looks. The poems, “Let me not to the ma...

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...s time. True love begins as a friendship and gradually develops into love. True love can be a place of safety that people come to because it can cling to its beloved. Love is a refuge because in hard times true love is not fighting battles alone, but fights with its loved one. True love will never leave its lover hurt, but seeks to bring true joy to it. Not everyone experiences true love because all the false types of love distract people from obtaining true love.

Works Cited

Anne Bradstreet. “To My Dear and Loving Husband.”

Rpt. in Making Literature Matter.

Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2009

Print.

Sharon Olds. “True Love.”

Rpt. in Making Literature Matter.

Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2009

Print.

William Shakespeare. “Let me not to the marriage of true minds.”

Rpt. in Making Literature Matter.

Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2009

Print.